Know how to negotiate
Negotiations are not just for the big deal closers in life. It's for every one who wants something. Our students often email us after taking our negotiations course and sharing their success stories.

One person took the course for professional reasons, but it just happened to coincide with buying her first home. Her negotiation skills took $30,000 off the asking price and also had the owner invest an additional $35,000 in repairs before the closing.

Cultivate a relationship with a respected head hunter
The time to cozy up to your industry's hottest headhunter is not when you're desperate for a job. Instead, you want to have a relationship with a headhunter that you respect throughout your career.

Make it your job to stay in touch and communicate your successes. They want to know you, too and also any contacts you have that may be in the job market. Make it a win/win and develop a rapport where you can pick up the phone and ask candid questions about the market and how you play in it.

Make time
If you think you don't have time to take a class or get some training, think again. With so many classes moving online, you now can feed your brain without leaving your desktop. It just takes some planning.

Connect passion with purpose
When the skills are in place, we often hire people simply because we like them. This is where your passion comes into play. Are you an avid golfer or photographer? Do you ride a Harley or play the saxophone?

Your personal passions are also part of your resume and often the spark that ignites a conversation or connection in a job interview. Just don't wear your bike chaps into the interview itself.

Tell a story
Don't think of your resume as just a listing of your experience. What is the story that it tells the employer? Look critically at your experience, align it to the market and then make sure it weaves a story that sets you apart from the rest.

That story could be the stand up comedian on the weekend who knows how to use humor to make people work better together or the jazz saxophonist who gigs at the coffee house in the college town one night a week and who knows how to improvise to get things done.

Whatever your story is, let it shine with the confidence of someone who is on top of his game.

No matter where you are in your career, there's always room to improve your skills and position yourself for the next opportunity. Don't wait to prepare. Get your career in shape now and be ready when the opportunity presents itself. Here's to your success!

Contributing Editor Bill Mann is a freelance technology writer/instructor who has trained over 2000 people in the use of Microsoft Outlook. Check out his book, "How to Do Everything with Microsoft Office Outlook 2007" on Amazon.com. For more on Outlook, visit his website at http://www.living-with-outlook.com. You can also write him at Outlook2007@techforyou.com.