Today’s Tip: Networking Meetings – Work the Room!

The ultimate goal of Networking should be to create relationships. And these relationships will ultimately create opportunities. However, as I attend Networking Meetings and Job Clubs, I notice that the majority of the attendees are comfortable sitting at the table and waiting for lightening to strike. In order to accelerate your job search, you need to WORK the room. After all, these are willing and able people that attend these meetings and will be more than happy to listen to your elevator speech in hopes that you can help them or that they might be able to help you. You're not going to get a better audience of WILLING people that will go out of their way to assist you.

So, arrive 20 minutes early, get off you butt, and greet people (especially the "newbies") as they enter the room. Start off with small talk or an ice-breaker, move to business "size-up" mode and quickly decide if this is someone worth following up with at a later date and time. If yes, ask for their Handbill or business card and ask them if they would be open to meeting you for coffee within the next week. Then, after you tell them that you will follow-up in 1-2 days, write on the back of their Handbill or business card details about the "intelligence" that you learned about them. This might be companies that they know people from, industries that they worked in, common skills that you share with them, or maybe even personal data that you can bring up during coffee (ie. "How did your son's soccer game turn out on Saturday"). This will earn you respect and show that you care about them and that you are dedicated to this relationship.

Networking is all about your attitude, your ability to sell yourself, your willingness to help others, and the ability to not care about "keeping score". If done properly, the results will come. Networking is by far the best way to land your next position. So make sure you're doing it right.