Ongoing career management – even when you’re happily employed – can go a long way towards advancement and security. But who has the time? On top of working a full day, we all have other things on our plate.

The good news is, maintaining/growing your network and staying on top of industry trends doesn’t have to take that long. While of course some things are more time consuming than others (I don’t know of any professional development classes that are just 10 minutes long!), there’s plenty that can be fit into event the busiest of schedules.

For example:

1)      Read an article; save even more time by setting up a Google Alert or updating your preferences on LinkedIn Today.

2)      Stop by a co-worker’s desk to say a quick “hello.” Internal networking is especially fast since you don’t even have to leave the building!

3)      Email a contact to wish them “happy birthday.” They’ll appreciate your good wishes, and it’s a good opportunity for you to stay on their radar.

4)      Send invitations to three potential connections on LinkedIn. Even though writing a line or two is a must, you can still send out a few in under 10 minutes.

5)      Join an association. You’ll have to participate to make the most of its benefits, but in less than 10 minutes you can become a member – and add this to your resume, LinkedIn profile, etc.

6)      Respond to a question in a LinkedIn group; do this enough, and you’ll start to gain a reputation as a subject matter expert.

7)      Share your thoughts by commenting on an industry blog; this is one way to establish an online identity – which can lead to opportunities from recruiters.

8)      Conduct a mini-informational interview by phone. Most people are crunched for time, so they’ll also be happy about the brief conversation; depending on the length of the answers, it’s possible to ask 2-3 questions.

9)      Send one of the articles you read (see #1) to a contact; the accompanying email can be as simple as “I came across this and thought you might be interested – hope you’re doing well!”

10)  Tackle a bigger project by dividing it into chunks of 10 minutes a day; you can write a blog post, read a book, listen to a teleseminar, etc.

Hopefully, the above list will get you started on creating your own ideas. Feel free to share what you come up with in the comments section!