by Thomas E. Kenny.
You have followed the advice of career experts and have "dug the well before you're thirsty." Preparing for your next job search by continually building and strengthening the relationships of your professional network. However, now that you are in a job search, you may be wondering how to leverage that network!
Asking your network for job leads is not a best practice of professional networking. Instead you need to find and determine jobs that you are a match for and then find advocates to assist you.
by
Thomas E. Kenny.
REAP is a concept I learned thanks to
Jason Alba's
JibberJobber Career Management radio show.
Many people get into networking and think it's just a matter of collecting names and contact info for reference later on. Or if you are in a job search adding to the list of people you can nag or beg for a job.
by
Thomas E. Kenny.
The LinkedIn (add-on) applications feature was added on October 28th, 2008. Although LinkedIn applications have been available for a while many may not be aware of them. There are currently 10 applications and I have grouped them into 5 categories below.
by
Thomas E. Kenny.
ETP Network's Jersey Shore Networking Group typically meets on the fourth Thursday of each month. On even numbered months we meet in Toms River, NJ. While on odd numbered months we meet in Manalapan, NJ.
by
Thomas E. Kenny.
Have you heard about
Pink Slip Parties? It seems the mass media has latched on to this catchy phrase and it's spreading like wild fire.
Pink slip parties are basically a new form of Job Fair integrated with a networking event. Rather then being at a hotel or conference center, pink slip parties are held at more relaxed venue such as a bar or restaurant.
by Thomas E. Kenny
The
ETP Network has free weekly teleconference calls to help professionals improve their job search and career management skills. For details please view
http://www.etpnetwork.com/
On last night's call during the Q&A segment
Rod Colon discussed the importance of advocates during your job search and how to utilize LinkedIn relating to introductions to potential advocates. If you missed the call, a recording is available to CEO members of the ETP Network.
Have you searched for your name on LinkedIn to assure you don't have multiple profiles?
I've found that about 1% of my first degree connections have duplicate LinkedIn profiles. It is very easy for this to happen when you are new to LinkedIn and have not added all your valid email addresses to your first account.
Below is a link to an excellent blog post regarding how to eliminate multiple LinkedIn accounts:
http://www.coherentsalesconsulting.com/blog/do-you-have-multiple-accounts-in-linkedin/
You are cordially invited to the October meeting of ETP's Jersey Shore Networking Group!
This free event is open to both
ETP Network (
www.etpnetwork.com) members and non-members.
Date: Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Time: 7:00-8:30PM
Location: Toms River, NJ
Our meetings offer face to face networking opportunities with like minded business professionals. The networking principals of our group is for each professional to develop warm trusted relationships which will be of mutual benefit as a result of ongoing reciprocity.
Rod Colon the founder and CEO of the ETP Network and the leadership has based many of our principals from Keith Ferrazzi's book "Never Eat Alone", as well as, other classic works and our own experiences.
Although we are not a business leads network and no selling is permitted. Such results may occur for those that are willing to invest in long term relationships via this group.
There will be a brief educational presentation and a round table discussion on how the group may help each attendee. There will also be an opportunity for extended social networking at a near by coffee shop after 8:30 PM for those interested.
To receive an invation for this event from eVite.com please send email to
JerseyShoreNetworkingGroup@gmail.com requesting an invitation. We manage the RSVPs via eVite.com to assure we do not overflow maximum capacity of our meeting room.
Space is limited so please request and invite and RSVP by Friday October 17th to avoid disappointment! Please note that all of our past meetings had been reserved to capacity. So if you wish to attend please respond now before it is too late.
If you have any questions please contact us via E-mail at JerseyShoreNetworkingGroup@gmail.com
Last Thursday evening the Jersey Shore Networking Group met in Manalpan NJ. It was a great networking event with excellent sharing of valuable information!
Below is the schedule of upcoming JSNG meetings which are free and open to the public. They will be conducted from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM on,
Tuesday October 21st in Toms River,
Thursday November 20th in Manalapan, and
Tuesday December 16th in Toms River.
Meeting dates for 2009 have yet to be established yet.
Below is just a sample of the unsolicited testimonials we've received!
Yesterday was the first meeting that I have attended, and I must commend you (and the rest of the group) on a very enjoyable and worthwhile meeting. Having others to support you (and to interact with at a professional level), whether you are "in between assignments" (as I like to call it), or "currently working at", is wonderful since it gives the individuals a new perspective on alternatives possibly available to them , by hearing what others are going through in their lives.Stated by Batsheva Salberg Ph.D., Industrial/Organizational Psychology.Thanks very much for arranging everything. You did a fantastic job.Stated by Michael Procopio, Web Services Developer.
What a powerful group, and a great first meeting for me at JSNG. Thank you Rod and Tom for caring and giving so much energy and enthusiasm -- it is contagious.
To everyone: If you all have not read through Tom's LinkedIn FAQs, you probably should. Although I have been in LinkedIn for 3 or 4 years, mostly as a passive user, I have been using LinkedIn heavily the past two weeks since my position was eliminated. It is pretty intuitive, yet can be complex. For example, do you all know that you can simply ask your network a question? I did not until reading Tom's FAQs. ...
In my first meeting with ETP, I learned how to suggest ways I can help others while giving my introduction. I will have a more interesting intro for the group in October.
Stated by Bob Zimel, OD and Learning Executive.Invitations will be sent in a week or two for our next meeting in Toms River. If you have not received invitations in the past but wish to receive them for future meetings. Please send a request to be added to the invitation list via E-mail to JerseyShoreNetworkingGroup@gmail.com
LinkedIn wants to assure they keep the spammers out of their system. Thus they put in place many safe guards. One of them being the "I Don't Know" you button in response to receiving an invite. It only takes 5 people to click this button to get your account locked. To get your account unlocked you'll need to click the link at the button of a LinkedIn page for Customer Service and submit a question to plead your case. Realize that once you are this situation you are at LinkedIn's mercy and it will take a while, probably days, to get a response.
Once you do get unlocked you're going to need to be extremely careful as they may not unlock you a second time. Once unlocked, you may even want to withdraw old invitations to reduce the risk of getting locked out of LinkedIn a second time.
When you wish to establish a connection on LinkedIn. It would be best to contact the person outside of LinkedIn (in person, telephone, email) and ask if they are open to receiving a LinkedIn invite. However, if you've lost touch and don't have any way of contacting the person outside of LinkedIn you should customized the text of the invitation. Realize that you may remember the person better then they remember you. Thus it is best to send a personalized message reminding the person how you know each other. You certainly shouldn't write a book, but you should mention not only the company, school or organization, but also some details to help refresh their memory. For example, I once worked on many different projects in a company with over 100K employees. Somebody saying they know me from that company might not help me recall them!
Another best practice is to never use the default canned invite message. Doing such seems to indicate an impersonal attempt to establish a connection, that might not to develop into a warm trusted relationship. Considering that you did not take the time to personalized your invitation.
LinkedIn makes it easy to import your E-mail address book from many different sources. Once LinkedIn has your address book you can broadcast invites to all or a selection of the imported list. This is how people often get their accounts locked, because they don't realize the number of people they have in their address book that are just acquaintances that will likely press the "I Don't Know" you button. Although this is import feature may be a quick and easy way to build your network on LinkedIn it is very dangerous due to the risk of getting your account locked, but in addition you're blasting a generic impersonal message to everybody as well.
It may be time consuming, but connecting with one individual at a time in a personalized custom manner is always a best practice of professional networking. The investment in time is well worth the rewards you'll receive in the future, from your warm trusted network.
You may also wish to review a blog post on this topic by my friend Jason Alba at "
I Don't Know You (OUCH!)".
