It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at ThinkTalk. The staff is all gussied up and ready to go out tonight for our annual Holiday Extravaganza Party. It's all got me thinking about the ins and outs of office holiday parties. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Scrooge Day or something in between, you'll probably be attending at least one holiday party soon. Forbes ran an article about how to navigate your upcoming office get-togethers:

Remember that you are at a professional function and behave that way. That means listening as much as talking, keeping your conversation on safe subjects like hobbies, movies or family and deferring to superiors

"Don't outshine people who need the spotlight, or hold some aspect of job security in your hands," advises John Challenger, chief executive of the worldwide outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. "The holiday party is a great time to build relationships. Don't get into behaviors that might cause relationships to deteriorate or be damaged."

If you are looking for job over the holidays, parties can be a great way to build relationships and make new contacts. What other time of the year can you network, schmooze and eat fruitcake all at the same time? Quintessential Resume posted a good article on how to avoid the holiday blues by using the season to further your job hunt:

Use holiday get togethers with family and friends to seek out job leads. The people closest to you have your best interests at heart, and if you allow them, will assist you in uncovering potential leads to new jobs. Don’t expect them to be able to hire you, but do be as honest as possible about your current situation and the type of job you seek. Acting as your agents, they might surprise you with the job leads they uncover for you

Attend all professional holiday events — and bring along networking cards and copies of your resume. While holiday office parties and other events typically are not focused on work-related issues, people are generally in a good mood — which makes these quasi social gatherings the perfect place to refresh and grow your network of contacts.

Now you can have your holiday parties and eat them, too. Until next week...

"DSC01423" courtesy Andre-Pierre via Flickr Creative Commons