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According to LinkedIn, the public perception of 3.5-plus hours per week is a stark contrast to Arruda’s recommendation of 45 minutes per week.
The survey, conducted for LinkedIn by IPSOS Mori and Catalyst Research, covered 3,200 working professionals globally, including the 400 Australians.
Arruda, who partnered with LinkedIn to identify the optimum amount of time to spend daily on what he has termed ‘continuous career management’, said “fitting nine minutes of career management into your daily schedule is all it takes without adding stress or pressure.”
According to Arruda, nine minutes is the optimum amount of time recommended, “because it also gives you complete focus, and educators to psychologists agree that the ability to focus one's attention on a task is crucial for the achievement of one's goals.”
“Relationships require care and so building and maintaining them is a major component of successful career management. These days, we live in a highly connected and technology driven world, so building your online network on LinkedIn, is a critical career management skill,” Arruda says.
The survey also revealed that eight out of 10 Australians are more likely to stay at an organisation that has an environment conducive for career development and believe they are entitled to spend time during work hours to develop their career, with 40 percent saying they already use working hours to develop their career.
“Career management should be a continuous journey, particularly as the work place and the way business is conducted are evolving,” said Sally-Anne Blanshard, career coach and director at Nourish Coaching in Australia. “Whether professionals are looking for a new job, starting in a new role or simply seeking to get ahead in their current job, they need to proactively take control and manage their career. The good news is that it only takes allocating a small amount of time each day into their daily routine.”
LinkedIn says its survey also revealed a gender divide with 36 percent of the population thinking that men are better than women at networking, versus 20 percent believing women were better.
Despite what LinkedIn describes as this “workplace confusion”, Arruda says the nine minutes is easy to adopt, and he suggests nine activities professionals can do during their nine minutes:
1. Build your network - building and maintaining relationships are a major component of a successful career.
2. Maintain relationships by recommending and congratulating others in their careers – everyone enjoys being recognised and LinkedIn provides an easy way to do this.
3. Request recommendations from your network as credibility is critical.
4. Document achievements and wins on your LinkedIn profile to stay current and relevant.
5. Update your status every day and make sure your profile and photo is current.
6. Expand on your thought leadership; lead a forum or LinkedIn group; publish an article; start a blog; speak publicly or recommend books on the Amazon LinkedIn app.
7. Use the power of video and create a video bio of yourself for your LinkedIn profile.
8. Source staff – one of a manager’s hardest jobs. If you build your brand community, you’ll create fans who want to work for you.
9. Research - Make an effort to get to know more about your clients or partners and competitors. LinkedIn is a great place to start.
