3 tips on assessing and leveraging your network from our recent free teleseminar for our Leading Women members who are in transition.
Should I be networking to increase opportunity? By all means. Even in this digital age, personal contact makes a difference. People you know, or people they know, can provide leads to jobs, might have the perfect for you, can review your resume, help you role play interviews and much more. Just yesterday at a company sponsored workshop on being ready for the call to a new opportunity, women heard tips from very senior women about what they like in a resume or CV. Of course, you have to be willing to help them out as well...now or in the future!
Do you go through all the people you know and ask if you can set up an informational meeting with them to discuss options/ask for their advice? Do you develop a contact list and who should be included in your contact list? Absolutely go through all the people you know to create a contact list. Really, anyone might be helpful BUT only if you are very strategic about what it is you will ask them. SO, DO NOT ask to meet them for an informational interview. Have a specific purpose for connecting with each person. For example, you might want to ask Anne about a job opportunity at her company, but Lynda to introduce you to her former boss and Jack to take a look at your resume from the viewpoint of a hiring manager in a job like the one he used to have. Asking for an informational interview could be okay if you truly need to gather information about a job you think you might want to move into. But, if it's a ploy to get yourself in front of someone, forget it. Very few people have time for an informational interview that's a ploy for some other "ask".
Not all network contacts are equal, how do I recognize the true value and potential? There's no absolute way of knowing who really has value in your network until you make an ask and assess the outcome. That being said, the more clear you are about your Courageous Ask™, the more successfully you'll be able to leverage your contacts and in figuring out who to contact first. Even parents of your children's friends might have a lead or know someone who knows someone. What's a Courageous Ask™ - it's an unabashed, focused and clear request for assistance. More on that later.
