Seven Mistakes to Avoid When Networking

With jobs as scarce as they are now, the importance of networking has never been clearer. Together with a solid resume and strong interviewing skills, your abilities in the networking department can easily mean the difference between unemployment and a shiny new job.

Though just about all job hunters are well aware of the importance of networking, not all job hunters know how to do it well. If you want to get the most out of your networking efforts, you’d be wise to avoid making any of the following surprisingly common mistakes.

No Give and Take

Everyone’s after the same thing at networking events, help with their careers. If you want help, you therefore have to be willing to provide it in return. In other words, you can’t walk around talking exclusively about yourself. Listen to others and ask questions. Aim to help other people and they will be more than happy to try to help you in return.

Thinking it’s a Numbers Game

Successful networking involves acquiring high quality contacts. It is by no means a numbers game. Don’t run around networking events handing everyone your business card. Look for the few people that can genuinely help you. Endless names and numbers are never going to help your career. A single high quality contact however can completely transform it.

Not Looking Long Term

Effective networking involves establishing long term relationships with people. When you meet somebody at a networking event and you believe that they can help you, always follow up. A simple email or phone call is all it takes to demonstrate to a contact that you are serious about keeping in touch.

No Business Cards

Show up to a networking event without business cards and you may as well turn up without pants. You’re going to look equally stupid. Regardless of what comes out of your mouth, nobody is going to be impressed by the guy handing out napkins with his name on. If you don’t already have a few hundred business cards, it’s time to get online and order them. And if you already have them, make sure that you don’t forget them.

Not Listening

Those new to networking often worry quite a bit about what they are going to say to people. Though what you say is important, it’s even more important to learn how to listen. You learn by listening, not talking. And nobody wants to be around somebody who doesn’t take the time to listen to what they are saying.

Forgetting About Existing Contacts

Regardless of how much effort you have put into networking in the past, you are likely to already have quite a few existing contacts in the form of family and friends. Though you should certainly work to acquire more contacts, it’s foolish to forget about those that you already have. Let everybody know that you are looking for work. You might be surprised to learn just who that long lost uncle happens to be friends with.

Only Networking When You Need Help

Finally, networking isn’t something that you do solely when you are unemployed. Long term career progress requires long term networking. Just because you don’t need help now, that doesn’t mean that you won’t need it in the future. Regardless of how your career is going, keep your contacts close. You can’t expect someone to help you when you call them out of the blue.

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 26th, 2012 at 8:48 am and is filed under Career, Job Search, Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.