How To ACE Networking

Networking is easy. Okay, okay, I hear your disbelief. Networking CAN be easy.  It is all in how you look at it. Like most things in life, Attitude is Everything.

How can networking be made easy? First, consider your approach. Networking is all about what you can do for someone else. Yes, you read that right. It is not what others can do for you. It is all about what you can do for someone else.

When you are considering how you can help others, they will naturally want to reciprocate. That is the networking connection. That is the networking payoff. Here is how to do it.

Awareness

Great, you met someone, now you have to put yourself in their field of awareness within a week of connecting. Within seven days, you send an e-mail and say, “It was so nice to meet you at …”

reCall

Recall what they said to you. At some point, they are going to say something personal and you need to recall it. By remembering to listen and focusing on them, it will take the pressure off you and make this encounter easier. You still need to have your “elevator speech” or Brand-You Sound bite, at the ready to communicate who you are and what you’re about. However, if your focus is them, they will remember you. You will stand out from the crowd of people who only want something from them. You will be refreshing.

Extra

You have to give them something extra, nothing to do with your business, just a nice little gesture. The next sentence in your email could be, “I remember you talked about wanting to show your dog. Here is a cool website link to dog show preparation and procedures.” This does two things for you. First, you flatter them by remembering something personal and non-business related. That makes this a personal connection. Second, because you aren’t asking for something, they will want to do something nice for you in return.

Networking is all about personal connections in a business environment. Personal. Not business related. Let’s say they talk about wanting to get ahead at their job or branch into another field. If you provide information to help them achieve that transition, you are still helping them achieve a personal goal. So, if the “cool website link” is to this blog or other leadership site, you are still providing a personal boost.

At the very least, you will get a response to your email. At the very most, you will win yourself a brand-new network connection. Now is when you can ask if they know of any job openings in your field or anyone who might be able to help them. Networking is very like barter. You have to provide the goods or payment up front.

Stay in their Awareness, reCall their personal interest, and provide something Extra for them. You can ACE networking! And, you too will gain valuable connections.

This Week’s Coaching:

This is all about getting out of your comfort zone and meeting new people. For each new person that you make a face-to-face connection with, follow the above steps. Stay in their Awareness by sending them an email or making a phone call within seven days. ReCall that personal thing about them. Provide that something Extra to them (website, article, information, a lead, another person, etc.). Do this for five people. You can mix it up with some old contacts and new contacts. You will notice it gets easier as you go along.

You can ACE networking. It can be easy. Get out and do it today!

What is your best networking tip? Please share it below so everyone can benefit from your knowledge. We are in this together and together we’ll get through these tough times and thrive.

A dream with a plan is a goal. A goal without a plan is just a dream.

All things are possible,

Elisabeth

Elisabeth Adler-Lund

Executive and Life Coaching

Telephone: 916 • 803•1494

E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com

Eight Tactics for a More Effective Job Search

How many of these are YOU doing? The fact is, the more diverse your job-hunting strategy, the more effective it's likely to be, and the more opportunities for success you’ll find. 1. Contact /Join Professional Organizations in Your Field National, regional and local professional organizations exist in great part to help their members with career development. This is just what you need. Many organizations include field-specific job listings on their Web sites or in their printed publications. Check them out! 2. Visit Company Web Sites Many companies and organizations post their job openings right on their own Web sites (usually under an "Employment" or "Career Opportunities" link). This is also a good time to do some research. 3. Apply Directly to Companies that Interest You Do you know you want to work specifically for Company X? If so, send a well-written cover letter and your résumé directly to the person who would likely make hiring decisions for the part of the organization that interests you. It isn't always easy to find the right person to get in touch with; you'll have to do some digging, which brings us to… 4. Network, Network, Network Generally, the most effective job-hunting approach. Networking is simply talking to people to either track down helpful personal contacts or learn about job openings that may not be advertised at all. Let everyone in your life know you're looking for a job, and give them an idea of what type of job you want. Ask others if they’ve worked for your target company(ies) and can offer any insight. If you can, get an informational interview with someone (anyone) at the company. Fifteen minutes of face-to-face interaction will be good as gold in your search. It can also confirm (or contradict) the research you’ve done. 5. Visit / Write Your Campus Career Center Yes, even if you haven’t ever responded to the alumni appeal. Yes, this is mainly for entry-level jobs. They can tell you what campus recruiters are looking for. Is there an area you need to improve? 6. Participate in Job Fairs A job fair is employers coming to you. Yes, there is a lot of walking, but you are meeting a lot of people, too. Get their business cards. Follow-up with telephone calls. Bring your résumé (at least 10) to hand out directly to the employers. 7. Use a Recruiter / Headhunter Even if they can’t find you a job, they may provide other assistance: market information, areas in which to look, markets to avoid. If they tell you there is a glut of people with your skills; that may help you decide to take a sideways approach to your job search. Heads-up: While most of these organizations receive their fees from employers, some will seek money from you. Also, some will want you to sign a contract. Don’t. So make sure you know who's paying the bill and for what services. 8. Consider Temping Sometimes, by working as a temp for a company, you can position yourself to be hired for a full-time, permanent position that opens up later on. Even if that doesn't happen, however, temping can help you see various companies from the inside, meet people, build your network, and earn some money. - ☼ - Contact me now to begin the journey of discovery and adventure as we get you to where you want to be. Telephone: 916 • 803•1494 E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com

Who You Are, Not Just What You Do So who ARE you? Secure, lifetime jobs are a thing of the past for many workers. The economy changes quickly, companies change products often, and the world market changes. People used to look at jobs as lifetime commitments in which they identified closely with their particular job or company. For many, this way of looking at themselves is no longer useful. A change in the way people view themselves is necessary. Rather than saying "I’m an auto worker for General Motors," the new worker will learn to say, I’m a person with skills which can be used building cars for General Motors, building computers for IBM, working in a small machine shop, or a plastics manufacturer." This way of looking at yourself is called branding. It is way to think of yourself and to project yourself as different from other workers. It is a way to highlight your unique skills and abilities so that managers or employers can see exactly how you will fit into the job or fill a need they have. This will ultimately help you find a new job or get the promotion you want.

Looking At Yourself In A New Way You start by identifying exactly who you are and where you want to go. Let’s start with these questions:

• What are your values?
• What do you want in your next job?
• What do you NOT want in your next job?
• What do you want to think about 8–10 hours a day?
• What gets you excited about work?
• What type of working conditions do you want? (inside, outside, at a desk, in the field, …)
• What is your personality and preferred work-style?
• And so forth.

These questions and the answers they bring forth will help you identify who you are and what you want in a job. For example, for a person who values generosity, has an outgoing personality, likes to occasionally work alone and loves to work with people. They want to be able to have influence on which projects they take on, they get excited by innovation and don’t have a preference about the work environment. This combination would make a great reporter of technology, science or medicine. The budding journalist may have to spend some time writing obituaries or advertising, until they have paid their dues. But, they will know their goal.

The same combination of attributes would make a person who worked on a computer processing loan applications miserable. That person would value stability, dislike change and find comfort in the unchanging environment.

Let’s go back to the budding journalist. What can they do to maximize their ability to get the reporter job? What have they done in the past that uses the skills and abilities required of a reporter? Do they have writing samples? Have they managed projects? You get the idea.

It is separating out what you do, from who you are. It is about identity.

Often times our job and the job title morph into our identity. Then when we lose the job, we lose our identity. Sometimes we lose the job due to a personal or professional failure. Many successful people say they are more defined by their failures, than by their successes. Thomas Edison failed over a thousand times before he succeeded with the light bulb. Failure is an essential component of building character and gaining knowledge. How we handle failure and adversity becomes part of who we are.

If we identify too closely with the job title, we are empty when we lose the job. "If you are what you do, when you don’t, you aren’t." When I heard Wayne Dyer say that, I laughed in recognition. I had lost my job after eleven and a half years. I had worked over sixty hours a week. I had no "spare" time for friends. My life had been my job – period. It was devastating when it was gone. I no longer "did." With apologies to Descartes, "I laugh, therefor I am." That’s when I realized I needed a new way of looking at myself and how I presented myself to others.

Recently, this new way of looking at myself has become known as branding. It is a job in itself to define yourself in this way. It requires introspection and persistence and honesty. Not everyone is up to the task. The reward is being able to say confidently, who you are and what you offer to the world. I now think of myself as a unique bundle of skills, abilities, experience and knowledge. When people ask me what I do, I no longer reply with a job title. I now reply with a clear and balanced identity. Losing my job was a blessing. It gave me time to define myself and identify what is important in my life.

A brand is built upon what is valued by a person or a company. If the values are clearly identified, it is easier to stay true to the values. The identity will build to a larger vision, and the brand can be carried forward, regardless of apparent obstacles. It will become your foundation. A strong foundation can withstand a hurricane of change and upheaval.

Your particular brand will flow from this foundation. What you do and the results you produce becomes your brand. Your success, will come from your ability to be authentic in times of change.

So who ARE you?

Contact me now to begin the journey of discovery and adventure as we get you to where you want to be.

Telephone: 916 • 803•1494 E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com