Career Management and Job Search for Top Talent Blog

Networking is about quality not quantity.

We manage one of the largest executive networking groups in Southern California known as the American Association of Senior Executives. All the members are at least VP's or higher in small to Fortune 100 companies. All have been told that the key to finding a job is networking. Yet none have been instructed on how to network. So they run from networking meeting to networking meeting to networking meeting. After about three months of this they are burned out and left scratching their heads why all this networking hasn't paid off. The experts are wrong and as a result they give up.

This happens because they were doing a lot of activity but that is all. They have stacks of business cards that they don't even remember if Pat was a male or female. The people they were networking with don't remember them either. Networking is an overused, over blown and completely misused term. Networking isn't about activity, it is about relationships.

The best networkers know that it is about building a relationship with others and that is how to get referrals. The key to networking is knowing how to turn a networking contact into a connection and then into a relationship. This takes time, multiple meetings, getting to know the person's background including their likes and dislikes. It isn't just passing out a business card and giving an elevator speech.

Most candidates would get far better results with 100 great connections than with 1200 contacts. Stop running from meeting to meeting. Instead pick a few meetings that you feel hit your target and go deep with those. Serve on committees, get on the board, attend meetings even when not looking for a job and most of all reach out and help others. They will remember this and help you when you need it.

Gives use your feedback on this article and let us know if you enjoy networking? Let us know if you have found jobs using networking?

Visit our candidate page at www.impacthiringsolutions.com.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!