Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

Networking tip: where to find great information to share

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Ball social mediaIf you want to impress your online audience with your expertise, you’ll need to share useful and interesting content via your social networks. It can be a challenge, because you don’t have a lot of extra time to peruse many online sources to tap into the best resources to post on your various social networks. Luckily, there are many sites that provide useful, easy-to find information. These are some of my favorites.

LinkedIn’s Pulse

Find it under the “Interests” tab on your LinkedIn toolbar. You can choose to follow influencers, major media outlets and topical content areas. It’s extremely easy to share the content to LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter right from Pulse.

Alltop.com

This is an online, virtual “magazine rack” of blogs. Use the search bar to identify topics that interest you and follow the blogs that produce the content to interest your audience.

SmartBrief.com

Offering many free subscriptions to online newsletters, Smartbrief editors read and cultivates what is published about topics of interest and sends newsletters with links to articles and brief summaries. They have newsletters covering health care, marketing, education, business, finance and more.

These are just three places to find useful content to share. Feel free to post your favorites in the comments!

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Read the whole post on Vault.com.

Get my book: Vault Guide to Networking

How to be a resource for people in your network

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OpeningDoorsAre you a valuable networker? How can you tell? Are you willing to help people without the promise of anything in return? Do you help colleagues and new contacts open doors? If so, you’re much more likely to succeed at networking than the person who spends all of his time hoping to get something in return for a favor. One of the unwritten “networking laws” is to give without expecting anything back. Don’t make it “all about you.”

Instead of trying to win something from the people you meet, think about how you can be a “connector,” someone who makes a habit of introducing other people to each other.

Get my free white paper: 5 Mistakes Preventing You From Landing a Job This Week 

How can you become a connector?

  • Think about other people first.
  • Get out of your comfort zone. You can do this even if you are introverted or shy.
  • Meet more people! You can’t introduce people if you don’t know anyone!
  • Join organizations. Don’t join “in name only.” Get out and attend meetings.
  • Be curious and ask questions.
  • Improve your listening skills.
  • Think ahead and be strategic with your networking.
  • Be willing to reconnect with people you haven’t seen in a long time.
  • Be a resource. How can you be helpful to the people you meet?
  • Follow up, or you’ll miss a lot of opportunities.

Read all of the tips to help you network better on Vault.com.

How to grow your job search network

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networkDon’t rest on your networking laurels if you’re in the market for a job — of if you are thinking of starting or growing a business. Once you identify your network, you’ll want to get to work expanding it. You never know who “knows someone who knows someone.” Everyone you meet and impress with your skills and savvy is a potential link to your next great opportunity.

Incorporate these plans into your networking:

Learn how to introduce yourself. This is more important than you may think, and you’ll want to spend time planning out your pitch so it will interest other people, not bore them to tears. (In other words, don’t plan out a two-minute elevator story. It is unlikely to amaze and impress your new contacts.)

Do not go around telling everyone you are looking for a job. No matter what your friends told you, if you focus on your status as a job seeker, people may lose interest in your story from the start.

Get my free white paper: 5 Mistakes Preventing You From Landing a Job This Week 

Be generous with your expertise and identify ways to help your network. What problems do they have that you can help solve?

Listen carefully. Don’t talk so much when you network. People appreciate a good listener. Let that be you.

Find new places to network. You can meet a new contact while in line at the post office, but it may be worth your time to target professional groups where your target audience is likely to gather.

Track your contacts. Use all the tools at your disposal so you don’t waste any opportunities. If you meet someone and never follow up, that’s a lost opportunity.

Click through for details about these topics, including specifics about how to create a great pitch, how to keep the proverbial doors open when you’re networking, details about ways to be helpful for your network, techniques to be a better listener and suggestions about how to track your contacts.

Read the entire article on Vault.com.

How to identify your job search network

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ManWomanShakingHands-6Have you ever told someone you can’t network successfully because you don’t have a network? While it may seem as if your network is small, especially if you don’t put a lot of effort into growing it, or you are a new professional, you probably have a much larger network than you realize.

Learn how to:

Identify your network by expanding your definition of professional networking (both in person and online).

Pinpoint your network’s strengths and broaden your ideas about where networking happens — including random meetings!

Focus on the different levels of networks you have — including people you know directly and more distant contacts in your extended networks.

Get my free white paper: 5 Mistakes Preventing You From Landing a Job This Week 

Read more — including some inspiring networking stories — via my article published on Vault.com.

In addition, if you’d like a guide to help you through every step of your networking journey, I authored one for Vault.com, and it’s available now. Vault is known for its influential rankings, ratings and reviews of thousands of employers and hundreds of internship programs. Vault.com also shares information about what it’s really like to work in an industry, company or profession—and how to position yourself to launch and build the career you want. You can find the Vault Guide to Networking available online.

 

Networking tips you need to know

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Vault GuideDo you think of networking as a dirty word? Is it something you want to avoid at all costs? You are not alone. However, if you’re a hesitant networker, there’s good news for you! With a little preparation, the right expectations and a strategic plan, networking is probably a lot easier than you think.

If you’d like a guide to help you through every step of your networking journey, I authored one for Vault.com, and it’s available now. Vault is known for its influential rankings, ratings and reviews of thousands of employers and hundreds of internship programs. Vault.com also shares information about what it’s really like to work in an industry, company or profession—and how to position yourself to launch and build the career you want. You can find the Vault Guide to Networking available online.

In the meantime, click through to learn:

  • Compelling statistics to prove networking deserves your attention.
  • What is networking — and what it is not.
  • Networking myths.
  • How to network for success (including some tips to help you become a networking sleuth).
  • How to look beyond the obvious.
  • Understand what you offer.
  • Why networking isn’t about asking for a job.
  • How to time your networking to your best advantage.
  • Why it’s important to be a good listener.
  • Why it’s important to be persistent.

Get my free white paper: 5 Mistakes Preventing You From Landing a Job This Week 

Read the entire article on Vault.com.