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Career Feature

Importance of Job Networking

 Dated: 12-24-2009

Business networking comprises an important stage in the process of job searches. Networking helps you to move ahead in your career and achieve your desired targets. The term networking is often misunderstood. The networks and the support groups must be maintained for gaining professional benefits.

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After an initial meeting, it is pertinent that person establishes supportive mutual relation, by staying in touch through the follow up sessions. There are some important tips to make your networking more fruitful:

In the first stage the candidate is required to prepare an elevator speech. Make your self marketable and try to sell your self with in the 30 seconds of your speech. Your speech must be succinct and upbeat. Make sure that the speech contains all necessary information about your past achievements and is relevant to the requirements of the company. To gain self confidence and brush up your skills, you can practice the elevator speech in front of the mirror. This way you will be presenting your self in a better way in the networking event.




Job networking is like a political campaign, try and tap your existing contacts. Try and get in touch with the personnel, whom you think can be beneficial and can provide you with professional advice. Your job network can expand, when you ask for more referrals from the persons you meet. Targeting of trade groups can be a novel idea. You can come in contact with many professionals as you enter into the industry or trade groups of your locality. You can even provide voluntary services to these groups.

Instead of being self obsessed, try and generate interest about other people. The experts in the professional field firmly believe that generating interest on other people; help you to reduce focus from your own self. You can talk to professionals from other industries, and gain insight from their past experiences. Do not lose focus on your career while you are networking. Keep in mind the list of targets and goals you wish to achieve in your life.

Make sure that you are keeping a track of your contacts either on paper or in the electronic medium. You can also go for on line career networking. Hound.com, is one such site, where you can come in contact with the professionals from various industries, who can assist you in preparing not only a professional resume, but also make you aware of all the hidden jobs in the job market. You can also seek details about a particular organization, once you log into hound.com.

Your professional network can be comprised of your present and past co-workers, friends sharing common interest, your boss, business associates, acquaintances, and alumni’s from your university. The network can also be comprised of friends, family members and all those individuals you think can help you. The professional expert’s stress that you should not ask for jobs directly, as this may force the individual to say no. Instead it will be better if you seek professional advice from them. People tend to be more generous in the counseling sessions.

Building up of relationships is very important. Try and secure a relationship, before you are asking for any professional favors. You can drop in your contact details, while you meet the individuals in an industry event.

Even if you are desperately seeking a job, you should keep in mind that networking is a two way street, and you should not behave in a selfish manner. Once you come across a recruiter who is currently hiring, you must be generous enough and inform that to others who are looking for jobs.

Follow ups are very important; you can stay in touch with the recruiters or the professionals through simple messages and mails. You can cultivate ties even if you are not hunting for jobs currently. You must remember that 85% of the jobs are never published, so staying in touch with the professional networks can help you gather knowledge about the hidden job market.

While you are networking, you need to be an attentive listener. Apart from asking questions, make sure that you are listening to all the information furnished by him.

In case you have been referred to a new contact, you should carry a copy of the referral party, at the same time keep your referrer informed about your progress. You need to consider your new resource well and prepare the necessary questions. If the original contact has provided you with confidential information, take out time to analyze them. Come up with specific questions. After each meeting, make sure that you are thanking the person for the amount of time he spends on you. A simple thank you card or e mail can go a long way. You should stay in touch with the contacts you developed recently, keep them abreast with your latest developments.



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