How about at least one or two days throughout the week? Once a month?
Too many times I see professionals wait until they need a job to start networking.
I don’t know how many different ways I can say this, but…
Don’t do that.
Just because you are not looking for a job or in the midst of a career transition, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t boost your engagement with others now. Here are some good ways of networking and why you should do it regularly.
Join a professional industry association: On or Offline, to stay current on industry trends and boost your skills.
Become an active committee member for your department or company: When I was in corporate America, an HR committee was the first one I joined. Soon after a peer committee. Whatever problem I saw or wherever support was needed, I stayed ready to contribute. We were pretty successful too.
Build up your associates in other departments: I started at Sprint (yes this was eons ago) in the video conference reservations department which was similar to customer service. I was later hired into the video support operations center (VSOC). I had zero experience in IT, but because I built up my group of associates I ended up having a mentor. Same thing when I was finally promoted to senior level and the only other thing to do was to transition out of the department. I had acquaintances in other departments such as implementation and marketing. Because I built of this pipeline of contacts and regularly communicated with them, I never had problems getting interviews or another job.
Attend industry events: For similar reasons to my first suggestion, not only does this allow you to stay “in the know” of the latest, but you find out who the key players are. These can be conferences, trade shows, or public speaking.
Check out your local chamber of commerce: After Five and breakfast events are good. I talk about this in my book Let Me Get My Coffee! Then We’ll Talk Business. Chambers not only benefit entrepreneurs, but industry professionals and job seekers too. Do you know how many decision makers attend these events? Hundreds!
Get active on LinkedIn:
Of course, you know I have to add this. Although LinkedIn has 1 billion users globally, and 199 million in the U.S. alone, many users build their profile and rarely if ever become active. Or, they’ll get on LinkedIn to see what’s going on, but don’t engage. We used to call these people “lurkers.” Participate! This includes with recruiters too, so that they can get to know you.
So, are you networking daily or at least as often as you can?
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