"Tis the Season to Network, Network, Network"
December 6, 2010 by Mary Beth Maddox
Networking can be a powerful tool to help anyone find a job. Recently, this was demonstrated beautifully on TLC's "The Job Fairy". In the last episode, a woman had been out of work for almost two years. Her benefits were almost up and she needed to find work quickly. Among other tasks, "The Job Fairy" had her throw a party and invited lots of people from a variety of backgrounds. While at the party, the woman tried to meet as many people as possible, asked about job leads and collected business cards. The net result was two bona fide leads; one of which resulted in a new job!
After watching the show, the thought occurred to me that we are in the middle of "party season". Between football gatherings and holiday parties, each of us should all have multiple opportunities to network. So, the next time you venture out to a social gathering, think about this:
1. Try to meet and talk with as many different people as possible.
2. Talk to everyone about the type of work that interests you and ask for leads
3. Follow up on all job leads the very next day....don't procrastinate! you want them to know are taking their lead seriously.
4. Reach out to anyone that you met that might be a future source of job leads. You never know what they might hear of later and you want them to remember you!
Good luck! I would love to hear about your success stories!