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#Networking : Please! Don’t Make Me Network! Great Two(2) Min Read!

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I think it is safe to say that networking is often considered the most dreaded activity for someone in a job search. For some of our clients, it is the worst aspect of their job search process.

Through the years, I have gotten many calls at 8:30 PM from clients who are driving home from a networking event.  They called just to vent and decompress from the stress of the evening.

“Do you know how hard it is for me to go to one of these meetings?” They would ask.  “Don’t you know how exhausting this is for someone like me? I’m totally stressed out by this! Tell me again, why do I need to do this?”

When I get these questions, this is always my answer: “Yes! Yes! I DO know how hard it is for some people to network, and my team and I genuinely applaud our clients for their effort.”

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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Fortunately for me, I don’t dread networking.  It doesn’t bother me to go to these meetings, and very often I feel really good afterward because ultimately, I meet someone new, or see someone that I haven’t seen in a long time.

The reason I enjoy networking is that I approach it in this way:

I go to meetings where I think I will most likely meet people who I would personally want in my business network.  I’ll state this again: I go where I think I will meet people that I would find interesting and who I would like to have in my community of professional relationships.

With this intention, I tend to be more relaxed and have more meaningful conversations that make an impression and are more memorable to me and to the person to whom I am talking.  To me, this is truly the act of building a network.  And by the way, just for fun, I am collecting the name tags from the events that I have attended just to see how long it takes me to fill the jar!

You hate networking?  Think about approaching it completely differently and remember, people, do business with people they like.  People hire people they like, too!

 

FSC Guest Author: Susan Howington is a sought-after expert in the Executive Career Transition field, applying her practical knowledge and visionary wisdom as a consultant, coach, author and industry speaker. Her success derives from her understanding that in circumstances of job search, nothing replaces the effectiveness of human interaction and person to person connections. Through her company, Power Connections, Susan utilizes her highly respected reputation to assist companies in transitioning their employees during outplacement initiatives.

 

How Smart People Sabotage Their Job Search
Susan’s book How Smart People Sabotage Their Job Search is on Amazon. Be sure to check it out and order your copy today!

 

FSC Career Blog |  April 21, 2020

The Art Of Great Networking.

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Networking has a bad reputation and is often abused for social activity. However, great networkers know the value and importance of the necessary and professional skills that make great networking a powerful strategy for building brands, developing strong partnerships, strengthening brand equity and credibility and increasing profitability for their companies.

What Is Great Networking?

Great networking is an intentional and cognitive exchange of ideas and information between professionals who share a commonality, special interest and/or opportunity. This exchange can be in person or virtually in information systems and professional social online forums. It is important to note great networking is not attending a meetup of anywhere from twenty to hundreds of local business people who are drinking, eating and sharing the latest rumors or assumptions about businesses and professionals. Great networking is a strategy not to be taken for granted.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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Why Networking Is Important

Great networking, when intentional and strategic, affords a professional an opportunity to create value, gain value and share value. The energy expended often results in an expansion of relevant knowledge and information associated with specific objectives aligned to key performance indicators. The expectation is all about results — developing and building key relationships; gaining support; and acquiring key data to continue progress and increase productivity. Improved professional credibility, brand equity, organizational and partnership vitality and profitability are a few positive and lasting outcomes from great networking.

How To Develop Great Networking Competencies

• Develop great networking skills. Honesty is always the best policy. Practice and execute active listening. Ask great questions that draw out key data and information naturally. Be sincere and authentic — always. Be approachable. Be prepared and organized. Most of all, be credible and trustworthy.

• Know why you need to network. Know where is the best location for networking, who you will need to network with, what you will need to create value while networking, when it is the best and optimal time to network and how you will create the highest and best value of your time and theirs.

• Research. This is a significant part of the “why.” Do your homework and prepare a solid strategy so you are maximizing your success and cultivating positive, lasting value for yourself and your organization.

• Collect resources. This is another significant part of your “why.” Prior to coming out of the gate, and parallel to the research, gather information and acquire the necessary tools and key resources to ensure the path to great networking is paved with optimizing each step. Consider resources such as communications, marketing and key team and leadership support that complement your efforts to connect and create valuable opportunities.

• Strategize. Establish a plan in advance. Engage your key team and leadership resources. Acquire necessary funding and tools to support your journey to connection and achievement. Write your high-powered scripts loaded with key questions. Then, practice, practice, practice to achieve those high-impact conversations that create business magic.

• Manage your energy. Make sure you are not wasting your energy on frivolous and worthless events, activities and socials. Be intentional and selective. It will pay dividends and create a vortex of positive experiences, lasting professional relationships and abundance for you and the company. Make sure to track and measure your connections, events and the impact of each. As Stephen Covey says, “Begin with the end in mind.”

• Be responsible, accountable, disciplined, courageous and humble. These key traits will get you far and connect you authentically to the people and companies that will assist you in reaching your goals and achieving success.

• Be grateful. When all is said and done, even along the way, show appreciation and be grateful for the support and milestones completed. Verbal thank-you communications are great in person, while the old-fashioned thank-you card is still king. Email thank-yous are ok, too, if coupled with either a verbal or note card approach.

When all is said and done, look back at the energy and resources spent and acknowledge best practices and lessons learned, and remember to follow up — internally and externally. Don’t get lost in the social network vortex that often crumbles the integrity of a professional and the organization they represent. Be the professional who is prepared, organized and highly credible and is known to earn the respect of others authentically. These are true signs of a great networker.

 

Forbes.com | December 11, 2019 | Lori Harris

#CareerAdvice : #Networking -How To Become A #SocialMedia Marvel In Nine Minutes. A #MustRead for All!

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Digital branding is my primary focus these days, and that means helping clients get past their resistance to social media. The number one reason they tell me that they don’t engage in social media is:  “I just can’t find the time to do it.”

So what if you made a habit of committing no more than nine minutes a day. Could you find nine minutes?

You can actually get a lot accomplished, deliver value to your audience and not wear yourself out when you’re willing to commit a few minutes a day. To make this work, though, you need to commit to doing it every day. When you do, your nine-minute habit becomes three hours a month of social media engagement.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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Here’s how to make it happen:

Step 1: Focus On One Platform

Don’t squander your efforts by being on every platform—Facebook plus Instagram plus Twitter plus LinkedIn plus YouTube equals social media taking over your life. It will be impossible to be consistently visible on all those platforms unless you make it your full-time job. Instead, choose up to three, preferably just one platform to start. How do you choose, you ask?

Pick what sits at the intersection of these two criteria:

  1. You enjoy them. There’s no sense picking YouTube if you abhor creating videos. You’ll be more likely to keep up your 9-minute daily social media habit you’re having fun with it. If you like to write brief, pithy content, choose Twitter. If you love visuals, choose Instagram
  2. Your people are there. When using social media for professional purposes, the goal is to be visible, valuable and available to the people who are making decisions about you. There’s no sense in tweeting at the frequency of Kim Kardashian or Donald Trump if your target audience isn’t on Twitter.

Step 2: Choose The Right Time

Identify your best time to engage in social media. We know that true habits are easier to form when they take place at the same time every day–like brushing your teeth. Your social media habit might take place first thing in the morning or right before you leave work or during lunch. Or, to make it even more efficient, consider a time when you can double up on productivity. For example, if you commute to work on a train, that’s the perfect time to also connect with your online community. If you wait in line every morning for your triple tall half-caf, iced skim caramel macchiato, get your phone out and make the wait more productive.

Step 3: Engage

Be strategic in deciding what you want to talk about. Your topic should help you demonstrate your thought-leadership and give you an opportunity to express your point of view. Remember, being visible on social media does not mean creating new content every day. If you’re just starting your social media habit, here’s a good mix of items for your daily do:

  • Like and comment on content that was posted by others.
  • Share others’ content, adding your point of view to make their post even more valuable
  • Share something you learned, a favorite quote, a relevant statistic
  • Post your own content (article, tweet, picture, video, etc.)

Step 4. Make It Easy

There are lots of things you can do to automate the time-consuming parts of social media.

  • Use a social media posting tool like Hootsuite or Buffer to post multiple items and schedule them over time.
  • For responding to your connections/followers’ content, create shortcuts on your phone for standard responses. Apple iOS makes it especially simple to do this.
  • If you prefer speaking to typing, just talk your message or update.

The point is to find ways to make your social media habit more efficient and more aligned with how you like to work. Personal branding is all about being authentic, so if you dread your social media routine, your posts will seem phony or forced. Do whatever you need to do to keep your new habit from feeling onerous.

That’s it! If you have been reluctant to engage in social media, follow this process. Commit to your nine-minute habit and watch your digital brand soar.

Author: William Arruda is the cofounder of CareerBlast and creator of the complete LinkedIn quiz that helps you evaluate your LinkedIn profile and networking strategy.

 

Forbes.com | September 16, 2019

#CareerAdvice : #Networking -5 Types of Connections you Need in your #LinkedInNetwork .

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Having a robust professional network can be a game changer when thinking about your career journey. The people in your network can help make future connections, refer you for a job, provide advice, and so much more. But building a thoughtful–and more importantly, actionable–professional network, can seem daunting. Who should you connect with and why?

Based on our research, the number of connections to kick-start the value of LinkedIn’s network is 30. Once you hit this many connections, you should start to see a more relevant news feed and engagement on your posts and new opportunities start to open up. However, this only works if you connect with people you know, as this ensures the notifications and information coming through are relevant to you.

With that in mind, here are the five types of people we recommend you connect with and nurture a relationship with on LinkedIn.

FRIENDS AND FAMILY MEMBERS

This might seem like overkill to some folks, but it’s important to consider your family members and friends as part of your professional network. Yes, you can probably pick up the phone and give your relatives a call for some professional assistance or call your friend who works at your dream company to help you get your foot in the door.

But, by actually adding your friends and family members to your LinkedIn network you will get insight into their unique professional network that you might not have known about otherwise. Maybe your father-in-law actually knows the hiring manager at that dream company, and he might be the best person to engage with to get your foot in the door. Or, your good friend has an old classmate who is on the career journey you’re aspiring to be on and is happy to connect you two for a coffee meeting. That’s the power of a robust professional network.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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CLASSMATES OR SCHOOL ALUMNI

Whether you’re currently a student or have recently graduated, connecting with your classmates (present or former) is another great way to build your professional network. Find people you worked with on a group project or studied with for that big final exam you aced. Your classmates are also looking ahead at their career paths, so it’s a good chance to help each other find new opportunities.

CURRENT AND PAST COLLEAGUES

The people we work with are more than just teammates–they help us make it through the day and can also help us get ahead in our careers. We spend the bulk of our day with these folks. In fact, 95% of working professionals think it’s a good idea to have friends at work, and 63% say they have relationships with their coworkers outside the office, according to LinkedIn’s data.

We all spend a lot of time each week interacting with our teams at work. But you can strengthen relationships by liking, commenting on, or even resharing what your teammates are sharing online.

Another benefit of connecting and engaging with your current colleagues on LinkedIn? If someone on your team is leaving the company (or if you are leaving), it will be easier to stay connected for the long-term. With messaging on LinkedIn, it doesn’t matter if contact information changes from job to job, you can always stay connected—which is why it’s also important to connect with your past colleagues. Whether you’ve only had that one summer internship, or you’ve held numerous roles in your career, we recommend connecting with your old colleagues on LinkedIn and staying in touch.

Previous colleagues can serve as a great reference for future job opportunities or can help talk through job challenges with an outside perspective you can trust. This is how you can turn a handful of meaningful relationships at one company into a powerful network of connections all across your industry.

SOCIAL ACQUAINTANCES

It’s important to have a diverse professional network, including people from different backgrounds and working in different industries and roles as you. This might seem like a difficult task since most of the people you interact with might be at your current job or past job (so same industry), but it’s time to think outside of the workplace.

So, you are part of an evening soccer league, a volunteer team, or a local church group? Put these social connections to work in your professional career. The people you meet through these types of organizations are a great addition to your network, since they likely add new perspectives and diversity to your current network.

SOMEONE YOU CAN HELP IN THEIR CAREER

Your professional network shouldn’t just be about adding people who can help you with your career. It’s about both getting and giving help. Make sure you consider accepting invitations or reaching out to people who are looking for career advice you can provide or to open the door for those who might be looking for a new gig.

These should still be people you actually know, such as a former coworker who is earlier in their career journey and might need advice, someone you met at a conference or networking event who is looking to build their career, or even someone you’ve interacted with via Linkedin Groups or InMail. Pay it forward, and pass along the professional goodness you’ve received in your career to date.

These are just a few of the types of connections you should be making on LinkedIn, but this is a great place to start as you build and nurture your professional network. As your career changes direction and evolves, your network is there to help you. The stronger your network, the further everyone goes.

FastCompany.com | June 26, 2019 | BY LIZ LI  4 MINUTE READ