Work, success, and meaning at every stage of your career
Matthew Barrett, founder of Brain Trainers, is the speaker for our November 18 WorkSource Professional Network meeting. He says that there are five ways you can move information from your short-term “desktop” to your long-term “file cabinet.”
Matthew Barrett, founder of Brain Trainers, is the speaker for our November 18 WorkSource Professional Network meeting. Barrett has a Masters degree in Psychology and calls himself a “personal trainer for the brain.” His lessons take cutting-edge cognitive neuroscience and turn the science into entertaining and accessible presentations for his audience. We spent some
If you’re planning to relocate to another city, your jobs search complexity increases by a factor of five: distance, time, cost, market intelligence and the challenge of building a network long distance.
I’ve written before about mistakes people make when networking, so it’s only fair that I also write about people who get it right. One of the best things you can do when asking for help in your job search (or any venture) is to reconnect with the person who helped you. Recently, someone I connected got it right, and I hope that jobseekers can benefit.
We all have stressful days when everything seems to go wrong. Advance preparation can keep a bad day from becoming a disaster.
“Networking is often given a bad reputation because some people use the concept in a way that is inconsiderate, inappropriate, unprofessional, or just shortsighted.” Yup – that about covers it.
Networking is about deep connections, but it’s also about wide ones. Gladwell estimates that most of the benefit you get from your network does not come from strong connections (former bosses, personal friends, etc.) but from what he terms “weak ties.”
Think about all the information that comes across your desk in a given week. Instead of using things up and throwing them away, take the value that is there for you and think ‘Who else would be interested in this information?’
Even if you’re an extrovert, the term “networking” can make you anxious. It may be hard for you to meet new people or reconnect with those you haven’t seen for a while. If you’re unemployed, your confidence may be low; you may hate the idea of being in the position of asking for help instead of being able to offer it.
One of the most important networking skills you can acquire is the ability to make people feel appreciated. It’s an art form that doesn’t come easily to some people, but, like most social skills, it can be learned.
