Every few weeks, HR professionals around the world gather to share their ideas and insights in the HR carnival. It’s LGLs turn to host, so I asked for advice on “Growing Your Career.” After all, if you had a dozen HR folks in a virtual room, what would you ask ? And so I offer you, expert advice on growing your career. Please add yours through the comments.

Becoming a Better Leader

John Hunter provides great advice on Building Your Circle Of Influence. There is a temporal component to your circle of influence. Building that influence is possible by proving the value you can provide. By helping others achieve success you increase the chances they will pay attention to your suggestions in the future. For more posts relating to a career in management improvement see http://management.curiouscatblog.net/category/career/

Alli Polin shares important lessons from her personal experience in Leadership Challenge: Responsibility Without Authority What do you do when you’re given responsibility for a task but never really handed the full reigns to get it done?

Jon Mertz shares Trust Is About Giving and Receiving. In our careers, trust plays a key role. It needs to be evident in how we build and work with teams. It needs to be evident in how we act when given certain responsibilities. Trust provides a solid foundation in which we can flourish in our career paths. Don’t miss his creative video.

Prasad Oommen Kurian shares an edgy post on leadership development. It’s not just about leadership programs. Be sure your leadership development path has depth and breadth. Simplicity @ the Other Side of Complexity

Taking Charge of Your Career

Julie Winkle Giulioni shares great pragmatic advice in,  Career Development Today: Is Your Head Screwed on Straight. Formal, organizationally-orchestrated and condoned career development programs and paths are simply incapable of accommodating the number of people who want to grow on the job. But that’s no reason to sit idly by and stagnate. Change your mindset. Get your head screwed on straight. And start growing today.

Your strengths can hurt you by Robyn McLeod offers important tips on how to prevent your strengths from becoming derailers to your career. In order to grow in your career, you need an honest and consistent loop of feedback on your performance and presence at work. That feedback and your own self-awareness tells you what your strengths are and where your weaknesses show up. There are times when your strength can turn into a weakness

Matt McWilliams gives great advice for when you find yourself in a toxic environment in, “I Can’t Afford to Lose this Job.” He shares how to warm-up your network, fast.

Ben Eubanks shares How Stale Are You? Be sure you don’t go “stale” over time. Here’s how to continuously grow your skills and abilities, even if you don’t change venues. Good stuff.

Mike Henry Sr, founder of The Lead Change Group shares, Kristy Smith’s Post, Is Sharpening Your Skill Set Along the Way the Fine Print to Career Success? Leadership is never handled. There are so many great resources… to grow your career… ENGAGE. Excellent.

Andrea Hrab reminds us of 5 reasons to begin a mentoring relationship in Five Ways Mentors and Mentees Can Grow Their HR Careers Important read.

Leena Thampan provides solid resume advice in her post, 6 Creative Resume Ideas to Find You a Job. Resumes still matter, and Leena’s post can help.

Ian Welsh raises an interesting question in his post How Important is Career Integration for Happy Families?, “Is it better that career is distinct and separate, and that family living and hobbies provide the light relief – the real living?

Practical Career Skills

Need to hone your negotiation Skills? Look no further than Jennifer Miller of the People Equation. Jennifer gleans great career advice from an interesting source: reality TV’s Pawn Stars. See her tips for Six Ways to Be a Better Negotiator.

Whether you’re a recent college graduate or searching for your dream job, Frank Sonnenberg offers practical advice in, Simplify Your Job Search.  My favorite line, “dreams, unlike eggs, don’t hatch from sitting on them.”

Amit Bhagria reminds us to say sincere “thank yous” along the way. I would like to kick it off by thanking “Evil HR lady“, Suzanne Lucas, the woman behind one of the most successful blogs on Human Resource Management, who is an inspiration for my blog on HR. I started following her blog in 2009 and since then have been a fan of her writings and her take on the HR world. I am also thankful to Shauna Moerke (better known as HR Minion) who runs the famous HR carnival and every month she sends reminders to us for submitting our best work for the upcoming HR carnival.