As a career coach and consultant, individuals often ask me to share a tip or two about careers so that they can succeed. My reply to them is you cannot succeed in a career simply by doing a thing or two. Career success is a strategic juxtapositioning of a number of career initiatives. Knowing yourself in terms of strengths and weaknesses obviously is important. More critical is being ready to respond to the right opportunity at the right time with the right combination of your knowledge, skills, abilities, expertise and experience. By having a career coach, he or she can guide you to develop this elixir for your career success.

Whilst having the right work-related knowledge, skills, abilities, expertise, competencies and experience may secure you interim work or a job interview, an increasing number of employers are looking for candidates with good to excellent social, relational and interpersonal skills. An experienced coach can often be an excellent objective evaluator and adviser of communication and soft skills. But there must be a readiness to listen to feedback and proactively responding by making adaptations and adjustments to your attitudes and behaviour.

Staying focused on your genius and not your mediocrities is one way to move ahead. Do what you're best at. Sure, you can swim upstream in a raging river. But wouldn't you be happier swimming downstream with the current? A key element in developing your elixir of career success is having a keen awareness of your strengths and weaknesses. By having this awareness, you can then use your strength optimally whilst downplaying your weaknesses.

By asking probing questions, the career coach assists you in enabling you to uncover latent and hidden factors, which may be a constraint or impediments to your career. You can then take appropriate remedial action to cope with your weaknesses and endeavour to enhance your strengths.

An often-overlooked advantage is the use of various personality profile tools. Personality profile tests are like blood tests; they give you an indicative profile of you as a career person. Career unhappiness often comes from not knowing yourself well enough to choose the right work environment. One such test is the P3 personality profile tool. An inexpensive tool available from Jobs DB Singapore, the report supplied is written in simple easy to follow statements. It gives your profile on 4 critical elements in your personality make-up, viz. dominance, extroversion, patience and conformity. The report also demonstrates the inter-relationship between these factors. By knowing this, you are better able to adapt your behaviour in the workplace for success.

Sharing your experiences and achievements of your career is a public relations campaign and may generate friendships and relationships as much as career results and better rewards. You have the work, the income and the company but that isn't all. One successful job hunter said to me, 'I create relationships; the relationships create the job offers to move on.' Don't get so focused on the present priorities and crises that you forget the bigger picture: chances are, you won't always be in your present job, and you'll need friends.

Career results are important, but the people around you are important too, especially today, in increasingly team-oriented environments. Spend 50% of your time getting results, and 50% of your time developing career-sustaining relationships and communicating, both inside and outside your organisation.

Never be unemployed, even for a day. If you lose your job, volunteer immediately to put your skills back to work, for a friend, for a consultant, in a non-profit agency--anywhere. Seek part-time, project, or consulting work as well as full-time employment, because part-time engagements tend to expand and go full time, whether you want them to or not.

Practice success skills. In career, as in football, there are basic skills that produce results. In football it's blocking and tackling. In business it's showing up on time, finishing what you started, doing what you say you're going to do and helping others win.

Nothing good happens fast. Don't wait to attend a communication or career workshop or look for a career coach until you're fired, short on cash, burned out, and need a new high-paying job in less than a month. The best time to develop your communication skills and plan your career is right now - when you are still employed!