Work, success, and meaning at every stage of your career
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.
We talk a lot about growing your network; it’s one of the most important things you can do to speed up your job search. But it can be hard to decide how to expand – who you should meet and get to know. I’ve heard jobseekers say: “All my friends are in the same industry; many have concerns about their own jobs. I’m not sure my network is going to help me, much as they’d like to.”
And they might be right.
When people connect with you online, what do they see? If you’re just keeping up the basics, they see where you’ve worked and what pages you link to and keep up with. Joiner says that people will also want to see who you are connected with, and more importantly, what they have to say about you.
So having a significant gap in your employment history puts you in good company, and doesn’t reflect poorly on your skills or work ethic. Does that mean you should just wait and hope that things get better? There is one sure way to keep busy, expand your network and close up that employment gap.
This is a re-post of an article from Career Rocketeer, by Chris Perry.
One feature you job seekers may not know about or have fully explored is LinkedIn Groups. LinkedIn Groups are free to join, and you can choose to join up to 50 groups from a list of thousands of user-created groups for literally just about anything.
Turnover presents different challenges in your job search – the jobs don’t always hit the street in public postings. These jobs are the classic “hidden job market.”
Follow up is both an art and a science. Jobseekers who want to get hired work hard at following up on leads and interviews. Here are some tips for effective phone follow up.
By now, you know that LinkedIn is a great resource for professionals in a job search. It’s a great way to enhance your in-person networking. Like in-person networking, there are right and wrong moves you can make that will affect your outcomes. Here are some mistakes users make on LinkedIn and other social networking sites.
By now, you know that LinkedIn is a great resource for professionals in a job search. It’s a great way to enhance your in-person networking. One of the weaknesses of personal networking is that you meet only the person you meet. You might get to chat with him or her for a few minutes at a professional or social event; you might even, in that short time, get to know what he does or where she works. What you don’t get to know (much) about is who she knows. Each of us is valuable as a contact, but it’s our network of contacts that really adds value when people meet us.
Your Work, Your Way 