Accomplishing the day’s tasks, and more, is possible with today’s smart phones. With a simple click or touch, you can send a text, organize your personal calendar, buy movie tickets, and even give your career a fresh boost if you’ve been stuck in a rut.
The following smart phone apps for your cell phone or mobile broadband device will help you build an online presence using social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn; book lunch or dinner meetings over a friendly bite to eat; create an electronic rolodex of job-related contacts; keep your work files and documents in order; and even search for a better opportunities around.
Here’s a list of 5 essential apps that will help you further your career:
1. Business Card Reader ($9.99 – from BlackBerry)
Imagine that you’re at a very important networking event, you collect a fist full of business cards, among them a potential job lead. What can you do to ensure you don’t lose it? The Business Card Reader app from BlackBerry helps you keep all of your important contacts in one light-weight, centralized location. Simply snap a picture of each business card with your smart phone camera, and Business Card Reader app will import all the vital information directly to your phone’s address book so it will always be available when you decide to follow up.
2. Documents To Go (Free – for Android)
Business takes a lot of paperwork, and if you’re trying to further your career you best keep your paperwork in order. The Documents To Go app can help by keeping all of your Microsoft Word, Excel, PDF, and PowerPoint files in order by synching all files in the cloud. And files are available for viewing and editing on demand.
3. LunchMeet (Free – for iPhone)
This great app makes it a snap to organize a lunch meeting quickly and conveniently. Simply sign in via your existing LinkedIn account, and then ask app to suggest a lunch spot based on who your meeting (e.g., a business contact, a customer, or a friend), when you’d like to meet, and what area you’d like to lunch within. The LunchMeet app will then find a suitable establishment. And if you’re dining alone, but would like to use this as a networking opportunity, this app can find other networkers in the area and send them a lunch invite so you can pick their brain (over lunch not for lunch, obviously).
4. Jobs by CareerBuilder (Free – for Android)
If you’ve been dreaming of a job database containing nearly 2 million careers—CareerBuilder is for you. You can search for your dream job by keyword, geographical location, desired company, position, and more! Plus, this app allows you to use your smart phone’s GPS to identify jobs in your immediate area, and it sends you a regular rundown of jobs that match your employment preferences.
5. Labor Stats (Free – for iPhone)
Regardless of if you’re actively seeking employment or just dipping your foot in the waters of new opportunity, the Labor Stats app will keep your finger on the pulse of job-related info with up-to-date statistics on employment in your area, job-related news, and all of the Bureau of Labor statistics concerning things like unemployment rates, average hourly earnings, and hot new industries so that your next move will be an educated job move.
About the Guest author:
Jane Johnson is a writer for GoingCellular, a popular site that provides cell phone related news, commentary, reviews on popular providers like T-Mobile.