Five Ways to Jump-Start Your Network When Your Network is Nowhere

Is this you?

You know networking works. You know everyone says networking is the best way to get a job. Maybe you even got a job from a lead a contact gave you. But you’ve been too busy doing your job to keep your network alive, or maybe you’ve never networked.

And now your network is nowhere.

You keep meaning to get out there and get started networking. When you have time. When you need to. When it feels right.

Now you’re afraid you waited too long.

You’re afraid that your job may be in jeopardy, or that you are being passed up for a promotion, or that you are stagnating where you are, or that you need more professional visibility.

Or maybe, the worst has happened—you’ve lost your job and you need a network NOW.

Jump Starting is Your Answer

Building a vibrant network of professional and personal contacts doesn’t have to take years. You CAN jump-start your network—even if you’ve not networked for months or years. Even if you have never networked.

Using just five simple steps you can create an action plan that will get you out there, get you known, get you traction, and get you set for a lifetime of powerful and satisfying networking. Follow these five simple steps to jump-start your network and create career momentum:

1. Be your own advertising agency
2. Be your own PR organization
3. Become visibly involved in industry groups
4. Get personal with one-on-one calls and meetings
5. Go virtual to get personal

The steps are not hard, but you will have to work hard to make this happen in a compacted timeframe. Remember—you likely have a lot of catching up to do! But with a plan and with passion, you can make it happen, and make it happen faster than you think.

Use These Five Steps to Jumpstart Your Network

1.  BECOME YOUR OWN ADVERTISING AGENCY.

Successful networkers project clarity, emotional appeal, and ROI value, just as great ads do.

People respond to clarity. Employers respond to ROI value. Before you jump-start your network, you need to know your personal brand, your fit for your target audience, and your value to that audience. You need to prove you can pay your own salary and make some profit, too.

• Determine your top selling points. You need to be able to say what you do, for whom you do it, and what you deliver (the classic branded elevator speech). Until you can do that, you are not ready to network.
• Think carefully about your top personal and business attributes. Get feedback from trusted friends and associates. Choose the top-five or so to guide you in determining your professional persona—your personal brand.
• Consider your best successes—write at least five for your personal use (these will be very helpful later in interviews), and do so in classic CARS format—Challenge faced, Action taken, Results delivered, Strengths demonstrated. Analyze them as representative of your body of work. What strengths do they show? What impact to they present? What do they say about your ability to produce meaningful, profitable work for your current company or next company?
• Finally, get strategic. Decide what you are going to “advertise.” All products have many features (what they do) and benefits (what they provide). People buy benefits not features. They buy differentiation. What is your benefit? What is your differentiation? Prove it by describing three top-benefits (value propositions) that you provide. Then go even deeper and prove it with just one irresistible benefit. The single most important thing that would cause you to be hired by the right company.

Then, and only, then, will you have the mental magic needed for jump-start networking (or any resume writing or job search activity). In jump-start networking there is no time to course-correct, or reestablish first impressions. You need to know who you are and why you’re hirable from your very first contact.

Jump-Start Tip:
Don’t be tempted to skip this first step! Do your brand homework and create powerful a powerful brand statement and/or 30-second elevator speeches.

Here are two examples to get you started:

1. Within traditional financial services firms people know me as visionary and ethical rainmaker who gets great satisfaction from conceiving ideas for new businesses and new products and then making them happen. I’m a bit of a rebel when it comes to ideas, but I always use them to produce. It’s not unusual for me to propel triple-digit advances in growth and revenue from a concept that did not have a lot of early support. Most effective in a core leadership role (VP or above)—in growing, forward thinking financial services firms—I’m at my best creating or revitalizing products, client relationships, and internal groups. 
2. Crisis leadership is where I do my best work. I’m never more energized than when I’m called upon to profitably meet challenges that baffle the experts or must be tackled yesterday. My best fit is with companies struggling in downtrending markets. In fact I recently revitalized a failing $27 million organization, taking it from a $9 million loss to a $1 million profit within just twelve months.

2.  BECOME YOUR OWN PR ORGANIZATION.

People won’t know who you are or what you want unless you tell them!

You know more people—far more people—than you realize. People who, if they know you need help, will want to help you if they can.

Once you commit to jump-start networking, immediately get the word out to as many personal and business contacts as possible (don’t forget your alumni association, your doctor, accountant, lawyer, real estate agent, baby-sitter, hairdresser, and myriad other connections you might not immediately think about as part of your network.).

Use phone calls, letters, e-mail, or a combination approach—whatever works best for you.

• If you are in active job search, make this your first step, and do it fast.
• If you are in a confidential job search, be very careful to contact only highly trusted associates and family members, and to emphasize the confidential nature of your search.
• If you are networking for career management, use this step to bring your contacts up to speed with where you are, what you’ve been doing, and where you are going.

Jump-Start Tip:
Good networking is about healthy reciprocal relationships; it is not about grasping, needy relationships. No matter what you need, whenever you contact your circle of friends, family, and colleagues, offer to be a helpful resource in your area of influence. People remember generosity far more than they remember need.

3.  BECOME VISIBLY INVOLVED IN INDUSTRY GROUPS.

People don’t know who you are unless they can see you!

Run, do not walk, to join relevant professional organizations involved in your current and/or target industry. But don’t stop there. Just because you are a member doesn’t mean anyone will know you. Remember, this is jump-start networking!

• Be active—join a committee and actually work in it. Be sure to attend the committee meetings (the members will get to know you and will become part of your PR machine.). Volunteer for the jobs nobody wants. Do what you can to get visible and to get known.
• Get to meetings early. You’ll be able to meet other early arrivals and have less competition for their time. Early arrivals are often movers and shakers who hate being late, or who are just staying for networking and skipping the rubber-chicken dinner.
• Volunteer to be a greeter at the meeting registration table. Everyone will have to stop at your station and get a nametag. You will have an opportunity to shake hands and introduce yourself to almost everyone. Be sure the delivery of your 30-second elevator pitch is fluid, offers value of some sort, is memorable, and is completely natural. You may want to shorten it a bit for this situation, but make sure you don’t lose your impact.
• Write by-lined thought leadership articles for the organization’s newsletter and post to on-line bulletin boards, user groups, blogs etc. Do this soon and do it consistently. You’ll quickly be noticed as a new expert in the organization. If you can’t write well, hire a journalism student or a free-lance editor to help you.

Jump-Start Tip: Be useful to be known. Jump-start networking wisdom? Be useful FAST, to be known FAST!

One of my executive coaching clients, I’ll call him Jim—had a family emergency and, after 20 years away (with no job, a family to support, and a very ill widowed mother), had to quickly move from the West Coast back to his home city in the Midwest.

Jim needed to get a job fast and he needed to ramp up a new local professional network, fast. He used steps one and two immediately (defining his brand and value and then announcing his new status and needs to all his contacts) and then he joined his local professional association.

Arriving early at his very first meeting (always a good strategy) Jim met and conversed with another early arrival—the president of the association. Later, the president said to him, “Jim, I wonder if you might do me a huge favor? The head of our programming committee has moved and we need someone to fill that gap right away. We need someone who can speak to the leaders of our local companies and persuade them to come and speak at our meetings. Would you be interested?”

Jim jumped at the chance to hold a leadership position in the organization and to interface with exactly the people he’d be targeting in his job search. His work with the organization did not result in a job, but did result in the type of networking contacts who could  supply the internal intelligence Jim needed when interviewing for a position he found on-line. The information helped him ace the interview and get the job. And having a leadership position on his resume didn’t hurt!

4. GET PERSONAL.

One-on-one calls and meetings make a difference.

Get gutsy and get going on creating opportunities for personal calls and personal meetings with contacts who are in the know about what you need to know.

As Jim did, if you need information on target companies, trends in your industry, people whom you should get to know, or all of the above, use your network to make introductions to people who can help you with these things.

These contacts don’t have to be people who can give you a job. They can be people who know people who can give you a job, or people who know the inside track on trends, corporate culture, possibilities of movement, etc.

Your job is to create their desire for a meeting with you! Use your contacts to help with introductions. Have a strong value proposition that will capture their interest. Offer to share network contacts or industry intelligence that you have gathered during your job search or networking efforts. Be sure to say thank you and to ask your new contact if he or she knows anyone else to whom you should speak to or who could use your information.

Jump-Start Tip:
Contacting speakers whom you have heard at business events or seen profiled in the business news or professional journals can be a great way to establish a relationship and get referrals to other contacts.

One of my executive clients, we’ll call her Samantha, is in the early stages of jump-starting her network. She recently heard a speaker discuss the challenges of accelerated growth for technology organizations—an area absolutely relevant to her area of expertise. Her question—should she contact him, and how? We worked on an approach e-mail and he replied to Samantha within hours. They had a 30-minute conversation, he asked her permission to distribute her resume to his network, he gave her the names of three people he thought she should know (and made the introductions, as well), and Samantha is scheduled for lunch meetings with each of the three new contacts in the coming weeks.

5.    GO VIRTUAL TO GET PERSONAL.

On-line networking, on-line portfolios, and blogging may seem new, but they are proven and they work.

On-line networking sites are where industry experts, entrepreneurs, executives, recruiters, and employers are hanging out, making connections, and sourcing candidates. As a jump-start networker, you need to be there.

• A few of the most trusted and noteworthy sites are www.linkedin.com, www.ecadamy.com, www.ryze.com, www.zoominfo.com, and www.ziggs.com.  Even Facebook is becoming a networking tool for business, not just for students.
• These sites offer the chance to build your own network and connect with others—sharing network contacts and making virtual introductions.
• Most sites allow you to look for industry experts, search for people who work in your target companies, join special interest groups, get testimonials, etc.
• You can create a profile that allows others to see as much of your professional background as you care to share.
• You can ask references, associates, previous employers, vendors, etc. to post testimonials about you and your work.

Recruiters consistently say that they use Google and other search engines as well as these networking websites for sourcing passive (ideal) candidates. In addition, recruiters like bloggers. Recruiters look for passion because passion typically accompanies excellence. And bloggers have passion.

• One of the best ways to manage your on-line presence so that you have control of your brand and employment messages is to create an impressive, tech-savvy on-line portfolio that clearly delivers your brand and value.
• Such portfolios tend to be listed on the first pages of web searches about you and are quite useful in creating the chemistry needed to capture interviews. For this, they work far better than on-line resumes alone, and in fact, the URL to an on-line portfolio can be included in your resume.

If you choose to blog, be sure that you have a point of view, commitment to posting regularly, and an expertise in / passion for a particular niche when you begin. Your blog needs to be a platform for your thought leadership. It’s a place to build community—and community equals visibility and networking.

Jump-Start Tip:
Join an on-line networking group and immediately send your trusted friends and business associates invitations to your on-line network. Keep in mind that your name is attached to the contact and they reflect on you. You need to be sure that these people are people to whom you could give a strong recommendation of competence should someone want to meet them. Virtual networks are built upon this concept.

The faster you build your virtual network, and the more you encourage your invitees to build their networks, the faster your network will expand—it’s an exponential thing. For instance, someone with only 40 direct first-level connections will have a second-level network of about 1,300 connections and a third-level network of over 130,000 connections. Some sites can go to six levels. That’s a lot of contacts!

NEXT STEPS

Once you’ve jump-started your network, you must continue to build it and keep it vibrant for the life of your career. The services of a good coach or a mentor who is an experienced networker can be invaluable in helping you with ideas and in keeping your enthusiasm high. These books from leading experts can also help. 

• Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty,  by Harvey McKay
• Professional Networking for Dummies, by Donna Fisher
• The New Job Security, by Pam Lassiter
• Make Your Contacts Count, by Anne Baber & Lynne Waymon
• How to Work a Room, by Susan RoAne
• Masters of Networking, by Don Meisner
• Networking for Job Search and Career Success, by Michelle Tullier.
• Never Eat Alone and Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time, by Keith Ferrazzi, Tahl Raz
• I'm on LinkedIn, Now What??? and I'm on FaceBook, Now What???, by Jason Alba
• Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand, by William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson

Comments

[Shawn Graham]

One and done won't cut it. If you reach out to a contact and don't get a response, wait about a week and try again. If email doesn't work, try giving them a call. You don't want to go overboard with your contact (a good rule of thumb is no more than one call or email within 7-10 days and no more than 3 attempts per contact), but you also don't want to give up after only one try.

[mike]

networking works if you work at it...don't forget Twitter...its simple but effective if you do it religiously...
follow me at http://www.Twitter.com/headhunt

[Youth Football Helmets]

Great tips for self esteem