You go to work, you know your job, and you get it done.

But there's more you should be doing: Learn it is always a good idea to know what the competition is up to!

"Who is your major competition?" asks Kathryn Troutman, president of The Resume Place and a federal career coach. Troutman says if you go to work and just know your job, and that's it, you might not have the vision to think beyond your job to the office manager, or the supervisor's job.

The government has competition. They have contractors out there doing the same work. If I were a federal employee, I'd be looking at what contractors are doing in my line of work. You need to know what the other side of the desk is doing. You need to do better than them. Then, when the competition comes along, you're ready to compete.

But first, you must know who your competition is.

They do know. they're not looking, but they know. They know their competitors, but they're not watching them, and I think they should be.

Troutman says always have a Plan B, and keep that resume up to date. It is very easy to get comfortable in that office chair, and resume writing is never fun.

Resume writing isn't fun, and people don't really want to look at their own resume. They think it is negative. It is very hard to update four, five, seven, eight years. It is much better to do a year at a time.

Take off the really old stuff that's not important, add the new stuff, and then when you do find that perfect job announcement, you're ready.

And you can learn more about resume writing by going to the aptly named resumewriting.com.