Business networking is a valuable tool for everyone, in particular for those who are actively looking for a job or to gain business from new clients. Networking is a way of reaching out and increasing your visibility by letting people know who you are and what you do.
By effective networking, you can make it so that people remember you and what you do. As they go about their business they may find that they or someone they know may need someone of your particular talents. If you have successfully made an impression, they'll seek you out.
Some people believe that you must know the right people in order to be successful at networking, but this is simply not true. Networking can be done anywhere and with anyone. Never rule anyone out as not having the ability to be useful. You never know who they may know or possibly run into at some time in the future. Take a genuine interest in people around you.
Find out what they do and where they work. Don't be shy; ask if there are openings and if it would be possible for you to get in for an interview. Tell people what you do and what you hope for. Make up some business cards and hand them out liberally. Some of them may end up getting tossed into the trash but just having your name, occupation and phone number out in circulation gives you more of a chance of getting a contact.
When networking, always be courteous and professional when dealing with anyone. This gives a good impression of you and people remember this.
It would be a good idea to build some kind of filing system of all the people you come in contact with. If you were to receive a call from someone out of the blue as a result of previous contact, it leaves a lasting impression on them if you are able to remember exactly who they are and the circumstances of your initial meeting. This makes people feel special and they are more likely to want to help you.
A simple way of doing this would be to file their business card, if you received one, with a simple notation of whom the person is and where you met. If you didn't receive a card then simply note the person's name and occupation along with a brief description. People feel special when they're remembered.
Remember always, networking isn't just about you. Listen to the people you meet and keep their information on file so that if you were to hear of an opportunity you can let them know also. If someone you know has helped you by getting you in the door then take some time to thank them for their help.
-----
For more information on networking from Sharon Alexander, and to get a free job hunting report, visit Claim That Job at http://www.claimthatjob.com. Claim That Job is the ultimate Career Management and Job Hunting guide. You will be taken through the strategies and tips required to be a success in today's competitive job market.
I love it when I have a spare 10-15 minutes to sit around and fool with Twitter (where you can follow my seemingly random muses and rants at http://twitter.com/djazzycool1, and blog specific updates at http://twitter.com/fastforwardlife). A quick explanation for those of you who haven’tcomeacrossallthepress on the micro-blogging service, Twitter ‘purpose’ is to answer the question, “What are you doing right now,” and share that answer with a few thousand followers instantly, and allowing those followers to potentially share that answer with the millions that have signed up for the service. Twitter has allowed me the chance to get back into the chat-room experience minus the hassle of chat-room moderation. In the past week I was able to have sustained conversations on the TV show 24, Terrell Owens’ signing with the Buffalo Bills, the Obama stimulus plan, and coffee. In any spare 10-15 minutes I can see what is going on in the lives of thousands of real friends, friends I’ve only met on the internet, and other random people (and more than a few celebrities) who are interesting, entertaining, or informative.
But there is always a con to every pro, and my con for Twitter is that since I am ease dropping with permission on a lot of diverse conversation, I get sucked into skimming through a lot of promotional garbage at times. I ironically also contribute to that garbage with various completely useless random thoughts of my own (@djazzycool1 is threatening to turn on the air conditioner) along with blatant blog promotions. Sure, all those who receive my information have given me permission to blab as much as I want to type. And I have given the same permission to all that I follow to push whatever they want my way in 140 characters or less. I can stop following any overly chatty personality with a few mouse clicks, and plenty of people that get tired of me stop following me as well.
It is only when Twitter is the only means of communication that I have with people, and for some people it truly is, completely dropping a follower becomes a problem. That is the basis for the hate part I have with social media. Other issues:
- Back in the day when I though it might be cool if people would fill out there profiles Yahoo! so that it would be easier to communicate, nobody wanted all that personal information just floating on a server somewhere in California. Now, the only what I communicate with some old friends is thought social networking sites.
- A year ago I asked a friend who was going through a rough path how she was doing. She told me to check out her MySpace status. She said this as she was standing right in front of me.
- I talk to my teenage cousins through MySpace and text messages, and since they only talk/type in text speak, I have no idea what they are saying most of the time.
- I have held hour long conversation with people sitting next to me in IM spaces because it was more convenient.
And so on and so forth. I’m sure you have your own loves and hates with communicating in the realm of social media. But for all of the drawbacks that come with being attached with living on the internet, the positives outweigh the negatives by leaps and bounds.
Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Friend Feed, LinkedIn, and other online connectivity services allow the average person a chance to connect to every single one of the over 6 billion people on the planet. You can ask a question and get answers from experts almost instantly. And the reach of businesses large or small, even with the amount of exploitation that is used, makes it less of a necessary evil and more of a daily annoyance or chore
Which is a long winded way to bring us to the title: promoting versus annoying. You wouldn’t think of driving around your neighborhood, knocking on every door, and announcing that Tuesday is tuna fish day for lunch. But you can do that in your online neighborhood. In fact, it might even be encourage as a way to foster a more community feel.
You would also be hesitant to go door-to-door selling your wares in today’s society. But inbox-to-inbox, as long as you have permission and are not overly annoying, is perfectly acceptable.
But there has to be balance. Unless you’re an entertainer or comedian, you can’t get by with just dropping funny quips. Unless you have the greatest product in the world or truly don’t care home many people you annoy to make a sale, you can’t just pitch links to your affiliate marketing programs.
It is okay to be a citizen, salesman, and statesman to various degrees within your online social networks. But just like in real life, a message can get really old and offensive a lot quicker that one may suspect. Expect to lose a follower or friend occasionally for various reasons, but try not to give them your excessive status yapping as a reason.
A friend recently sent me an invite to her LinkedIn network, a place for business networking and housing an online resume. When I looked at her online profile, she had a gaping hole in her work listing. The time missing was her time at the company we both actually worked at together.
There is a lot of talk about what to do on a resume to deflect hole due to long unemployment. Not much is put into filling holes of employment from employers you would love to forget every existed, but you will settle for a way to leave them off the resume. The former employer I'm talking about offered a barely functional work environment, and my friend did great work while she was there.
I am sure she listed the old job when looking for her current (and much better) job, but now has the power to spirit the experience away. I wonder what she will use as an explanation should she need one, since it looks like a 7-year gap in employment (I suspect she misdated some jobs on her profile).
I left the company at my own choosing, but under duress, as did a flood of others at the same time during a changing of the guard. I still list the company, although my work there was concurrent with my current day-job employer. The experience I gained, the skills I picked up, and being able to use the bad experience of the job as a story of survival, seems to be work the ink. It was apparently not for my friend.
But I need to give you a little useful advice, so let’s get into how you can address a resume gap before it becomes a black hole in your career. Assuming you want to address it.
The first step is to remember to be honest in your explanation, even if you don’t turn out to be perfectly honest. Don’t allow the interviewer to turn a gap in your resume into a major concerns.
Make sure you come up with a good reason for your resume gap (while sticking to that whole honestly step). Some basic reasons include relocation, family emergencies, personal and educational goals, or a medical situation. In the case of a medical situation, be aware that the condition may raise some questions, which may or may not be legal.
Long periods of unexplained unemployment is a red flag for employers. Maybe you don’t need the work and could flake out and leave them high and dry at a critical point, or maybe you aren’t good enough to fool most employers that you are a bad employee, and they don’t want to be the company that falls for your nonsense.
Welcome to my new blog. This is where I will chronicle the next phase of mis-adventures of my life. Thank you for staying on the ride, and for you newcomers to the inside of my mental mania, I will do my best to make sure the trip is both entertaining and educational.
Life In Fast Forward: The Blog is still a bit of a work in progress. Keep checking in for new posts and site updates.
About Blog
This blog supports some of the thoughts and interjections from the folks at Fast Forward Business Properties. Our ideas, things we test, and a few random thoughts will show up here.
Name: J. Cleveland Payne
Home: Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
About Me: News is my profession, so it only fits that I am a news junkie. I'm a radio show/segment producer for a news/talk radio station in Little Rock, Arkansas.
