Networking. WHAT a buzz word. And for most people it gives the same feeling of fear and trepidation as if you had said the words "root canal" or "The Jonas Brothers."
To make it less painful, the best practice is to just continuously network throughout your schooling or career. People used to make fun of me at Syracuse for constantly befriending everyone I came in contact with. When I graduated and moved to New York my (fantastic) craigslist roommate from Boston University was so convinced that Syracuse was a cult because she was constantly meeting people and could not believe all the different industries that everyone was involved in.
While I worked at WMA, I was calling people around the country for my job, sometimes the same people everyday at the same time - you build up a great working relationship. I even have a friend in Denver, who I've been friends with for nearly 4 years and still haven't met her, but we used to call after business hours and just chat it up.
When friends bring other friends around, definitely try and get to know them, not for any reason in particular, other than if your friends are friends with them, why not try and make your original friendship better? Bring your camera out to places too... this way you can tag them in pictures later on Facebook and get to know them through status updates and things. Help them with things they post about, and hopefully in turn, they'll do the same. Assuming they were good pictures of quality group shots, not inappropriate drunken photos.
IN general - just take more time in your day to day to be friendlier. Friendliness = networking, and it sounds a LOT better. Not to mention it makes stronger relationships overall.
BUT if you're job searching like I am and need a quick network boost after exhausting the one you have, it can be really tough. I blogged about Twitter yesterday, but it really is the new networking tool. Case in point, I contacted my career services department at SU last year for resume help. I stayed in touch with a professional there, mainly on twitter, and I stopped in to say hello last week when I was on campus. She recommended I follow someone on Twitter, who works at a local recruiting company. We immediately hit it off on there, and she asked me to come in for an informational interview this afternoon and gave me some great resources to follow up on. It really is that easy.
I am more of a watcher sometimes, but basically - get in the game. Be friendlier today because it could help your career tomorrow. Happy Friending [networking].
To make it less painful, the best practice is to just continuously network throughout your schooling or career. People used to make fun of me at Syracuse for constantly befriending everyone I came in contact with. When I graduated and moved to New York my (fantastic) craigslist roommate from Boston University was so convinced that Syracuse was a cult because she was constantly meeting people and could not believe all the different industries that everyone was involved in.
While I worked at WMA, I was calling people around the country for my job, sometimes the same people everyday at the same time - you build up a great working relationship. I even have a friend in Denver, who I've been friends with for nearly 4 years and still haven't met her, but we used to call after business hours and just chat it up.
When friends bring other friends around, definitely try and get to know them, not for any reason in particular, other than if your friends are friends with them, why not try and make your original friendship better? Bring your camera out to places too... this way you can tag them in pictures later on Facebook and get to know them through status updates and things. Help them with things they post about, and hopefully in turn, they'll do the same. Assuming they were good pictures of quality group shots, not inappropriate drunken photos.
IN general - just take more time in your day to day to be friendlier. Friendliness = networking, and it sounds a LOT better. Not to mention it makes stronger relationships overall.
BUT if you're job searching like I am and need a quick network boost after exhausting the one you have, it can be really tough. I blogged about Twitter yesterday, but it really is the new networking tool. Case in point, I contacted my career services department at SU last year for resume help. I stayed in touch with a professional there, mainly on twitter, and I stopped in to say hello last week when I was on campus. She recommended I follow someone on Twitter, who works at a local recruiting company. We immediately hit it off on there, and she asked me to come in for an informational interview this afternoon and gave me some great resources to follow up on. It really is that easy.
I am more of a watcher sometimes, but basically - get in the game. Be friendlier today because it could help your career tomorrow. Happy Friending [networking].