Networking in today’s business world is vital if you want to get ahead in your chosen career. This may be a necessary evil for some as it does not come naturally to us all. It is about getting out there, building relationships and being on the radar in your industry sector. Good networking skills can help you get your dream job or move up the career ladder faster than you expected.

It may not be fair, but in life getting ahead is often about knowing the right people, building a good relationship with them and of course maintaining it over the long term. A portfolio of good contacts may not be immediately beneficial to you but if you have put in the work and built on those relationships, then eventually they may be in a position to help you meet the right people to get that dream job.

Join a Group

Get started by joining a networking group. There are different kinds, such as casual ones through which you can attend networking events and online networks which have become more and more prevalent in recent years – LinkedIn is a good example. For very industry-specific networking, which can often be very niche, for example the world of offshore wind jobs and recruitment, you should try knowledge networks of professional bodies and specific contact networks that meet solely for the purpose of building professional relationships. You should build up networks with a variety of people, including former and current colleagues, professional bodies, old teachers, lecturers and classmates. Don’t forget your friends and family – you never know who they might have contact with.

Successful networking does not happen overnight. You need time to build a relationship and become someone they might instantly think of as the right person should an appropriate job come up. This takes patience, practice (particularly if you are shy or introverted) and preferably the potential for a mutually beneficial relationship. You cannot expect a favour from someone you have just met. They will need to feel confident in recommending you to a friend or colleague.

Maintain your Contacts

Once you have landed that dream job, don’t just drop your contacts. First of all, that’s rude and very transparent that you were using someone. You need to maintain your networking relationships, as they could be mutually beneficial to you again in the future. Don’t forget to thank someone who has helped you, arrange occasional meetings to touch base or forward them some useful information or leads you might have access to.

Sometimes it can be difficult to stay in touch with everyone in your network as people lead busy lives and move around a lot more than they used to. Don’t forget to let people know if you have relocated or moved jobs. This is where online networking can be very useful but don’t forget the value of a phone call or face-to-face meeting. People tend to respond better with real as opposed to virtual contact and this will help you remain in their memory too.

This guest post was written by Francesca, a freelance writer based in the UK, who enjoys sharing her knowledge on a variety of subjects, from careers and business to health and fitness. She currently writes on behalf of En-spiral. Make sure you Tweet @Franki_blogs or @CareerAlley to share your thoughts on this piece.

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Linkedin is the Facebook of the corporate universe and anyone who’s anyone has an account. Therein lays one of its biggest challenges – everyone has a Linkedin profile and if you’re not careful, your account will be just another one in the crowd.

The go-to tool for business-related social networking, Linkedin provides a forum for both hiring personnel and job-seekers alike to post vacancies and source job opportunities. The home of digital résumés, cv’s and profiles from people all around the world, this site is worth its membership in gold- and employers treat it thusly. With a few simple clicks, a potential employer can quickly retrieve all the information you provide on work history, accreditations and accolades, business affiliations and photographs. It’s so convenient and in-depth it’s a little scary but don’t be afraid – with these simple steps you’ll be the boss of your profile and find yourself with more jobs offered to you than you ever thought!

1. Head’s Up:

Your heading is the first thing you have to concentrate on – not too hard though because too much is just too much. Let a few concise words be your guide and let them highlight the stuff you’re good at and the area you’re interested in. Don’t try to summarize a life’s worth of you into that empty space; it looks cluttered and disorganized. There are 120 characters at your disposal, use them wisely and highlight your expertise.

2. Educate With Your Education:

You don’t need to let your audience know that you aced 3^rd grade art class – keep this section up-to-date and relevant to your specialties and what you want to be known for. This portion of your profile should include High School & College / University information complete with you areas of study and awards you received. This is key in networking at this level; members of your alumni will be able to connect with you and who knows? They might have some inside information on a job you could be interested in.

3. Work It:

A lot like your education information, where you have worked and currently work are facts that people who use Linkedin want to know. Use this to concisely show where you started and the progress you’ve made during your career but don’t forget to be relevant. The lackluster wall of text itemizing every little thing you got paid for over that past 10 years is not going to impress or interest anyone. Your career is what you’ve contributed to substantially over time and that’s what people want to know about.

4. If You Like Me, Tell Everyone:

Linkedin has a nifty little space for recommendations and whenever possible, get your associates to use the heck out of it! Now, if you’ve had your account for a couple years and you’re still rocking your very first shout-out…maybe it’s time to do some spring cleaning. People read recommendations and take them seriously, so these need to be as recent as possible…potential employers aren’t moved by that one great thing you did that one time eons ago.

5. Activate Your Activity:

If you don’t actually use the networking site to…network…your profile will go stale and sink to the abyss of lost profile-souls. A little dramatic, we know, but true! You can post statuses, update your pictures, join groups, START groups, comment on threads – all these lets your viewing public know that you’re alive, kicking and eager. Someone that’s active is more likely to be viewed and taken a lot more seriously who just throws some stats up and lurks.

Use these tips and we promise you a fruitful AND fun Linkedin experience. Doesn’t get much better than that!

Abby Evans is an avid blogger who writes on everything from how to find jobs in Toronto to outlining the principals of how to write a killer blog post.

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One of my friends has been spending a lot of time building his LinkedIn contacts. He’s been working for over 25 years and is in the “500+” club on LinkedIn. He is in the process of looking for a job and, like all good job searchers should, he’s tried to leverage his network big time. Whenever he applies for a position he checks his contacts for direct connections at that company and lets his contacts know. Similarly, if he gets an interview, he will try to leverage his contacts as well,  going to “2″ level (connected through someone you know) or even “3″ level (connected through someone you know that knows someone – and no, I’m not kidding). For all of his work, this tactic does not really seem to help that much. What he has found very effective is leads from people who know his background and the work he’s done. Now I’m not suggesting that you ignore your contacts when interviewing or applying, but your greatest resource are those that know first hand what you are best at (so don’t expect too much help from your grandmother’s friend who happens to work at a company where you’ve applied). So where am I going with this? Read on.

Categorize Your Network – This may sound crazy at first, but think about it. Your network is most likely made up of friends, former coworkers, relatives, maybe an old girlfriend and who know who else. How many of your connections truly know the work you’ve done and your strengths? Whatever the number, these are your “#1″ network contacts and the group that is best positioned to help you land a new job. There are probably 10 different ways to categorize your networks, but I would suggest that the next tier in your categorization are those people who have worked with you, but not close enough to know your specific strengths. How do you categorize the rest?

• CATEGORIZING YOUR NETWORK FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT
• 36 Sources of Networking Contacts

Know How To Use Your Network – A few years ago, a guy I used to work with tried to leverage me in his quest to find a new job. I gave him a few leads and kept an eye open for opportunities. But this guy almost became a stalker. He would call me several times a week and send emails on a regular basis. It got to the point where he became too needy and he fell off of my “let me try to help” list. Leveraging your network is not as easy as letting everyone know you are looking for a job and then bugging them on a regular basis. Your #1 contacts (from the list you’ve just created after you read the paragraph above) are not only the most likely people to help you find a job, they are your most valuable resource and should be treated as such. Use them but don’t abuse them.

• Networking etiquette: respecting your professional contacts
• Top Ten Linked-In Do’s and Don’ts

The Art of Networking – Like all forms of art, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and Networking is no different. But art is art and there are some tried and true methods of networking that will help you get the best results.

• 5 Tricks from a LinkedIn Jedi
• Job Search and Career Networking Tips

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The way to find a job is changing and it is becoming more and more important to have a solid network to help you land a job. You are more likely to get an interview if you have a recommendation or an “in” at the company. With networking is becoming even more important, you will need to make building and maintaining your network a priority. You can expand your network through your friends and your parents, but you also need to make sure that you are worth the recommendations that you are asking for. Recommendations will not get you the job on their own, your experience, professional interviews and stellar job history are necessary as well.

Building Your Network

Take the time to make a list of your friends, family current/former coworkers for your network list. If you want to build your network, you also need to make an effort to meet at least one new person at each event that you attend from classes in school, to a business meeting or a job conference. The bigger the event the more you should try to meet. As you build your network, you need to make real connections, not just exchange business cards. It is easier to offer a reference or make a recommendation if you can speak about some of the skills of the person in question. When someone makes a recommendation for you, they are putting their reputation on the line as well. You can build a better relationship with an acquaintance through social media and future interactions.

Maintaining Your Network

As you build your network, you need to work on maintain the contacts you have made. You can do this by keeping in touch with an email every now and then or by making sure you stop by the business or greet them at each conference you attend together. Alumni associations and activities make it easier to maintain the contacts you cultivated while you were in college and professional organizations offer the same benefits to you. Make sure you stay active in these types of organizations. You should also make sure that you keep a positive and professional outlook when you are dealing with anyone. Your negative attitude may cause your relationships to become weaker over time. Even after you have landed a great job, you should work on keeping your contacts active since you may need them when you are looking for a job in the future. It also gives you the opportunity to return the favor in the future.

Utilizing Your Network

Finally you need to utilize your network in a way that allows people to make recommendations without putting too much pressure on them if they are uncomfortable in doing so. Make sure your LinkedIn account is active and updated. Add your contacts to your Google+ and Facebook accounts. Spread the word that you are looking for a job or that you are interested in applying to a specific company. The people you have networked with can recommend you to their human resources department or let you know about jobs they hear about before they are posted. This will give you a chance to prepare for the interviews. Finally be sure that you return the favor for the people in your network. Make recommendations when you can and let people know about available positions that may be a good match.

About the Author:

Charissa Newark is the resident blogger and the editor for AccountingDegree.net.  After graduating from the University of Maryland with a B.S. in English in 2005 and unable to find a “9-5”, Charissa began freelance writing and doing research for various websites. A few of the current topics she is researching includes accounting online degree and bachelor’s degree in accounting.

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2. Wish Upon a Job – Building Your Job Search Part I
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Not likely to help. Wishing for a job, that is. Wishing is nice from a “positive thinking” point of view but it won’t get you a job without putting in the time. Kind of like wishing to win the lottery when you haven’t bought a ticket. If you are first starting your job search, you have a lot of homework to do before you can effectively start the job search process. The good news is that once you are all set-up, the bulk of your job search time can be spent on looking for opportunities. Building your Job Search Toolkit should be your first priority. Depending on the circumstances leading up to your job search (such as job loss), you may want to hit the ground running as quickly as possible. So what can you do to begin your search immediately while continuing to build out your Job Search Tool Kit? Read on.

Resumes – the Lynchpin of Your Job Search -  If you could only have one job search document it would, of course, be your resume. Whether you are brushing up an old resume or starting from a blank piece of paper, you need to spend the time to get it right. There are tools that can help you quickly build the framework for what will become a great resume. Your resume is a living document that will change as your job search progresses. And while you want to get some version done as quickly as possible in order to get into the market, you should balance quality with speed. If you are new to resume writing (or just need some help), you should use a checklist process (what to include). Once you have what you think is a good working copy, compare it to other resumes and ask some of your friends and relatives to give an honest critique (painful but helpful). Now, as if all that work writing one resume isn’t enough, many people have multiple resumes each geared to specific jobs (see the link below).

• 10 Quick Resume Fixes in Less Than 10 Minutes
• Free Resume Resources
• How Many Resumes Do You Have?

Cover Letters – Introducing Your Resume – Yeah, a great resume is really important, but if no one reads it then what’s the point? While a resume on its own may get read by the hiring manager, there is a chance that it won’t just due to the shear volume of resumes. A cover letter provides a brief introduction and let’s the hiring manager know why you may be a good fit for the job (and why he should bother reading your resume). So, that being said, your cover letter is an important key to opening job opportunity doors. As with resumes, you will need several versions of your cover letters: one for recruiters, one for specific jobs and one for “generic” jobs (to name a few).

• Introduction to Cover Letters
• Why You Need a Cover Letter

References – Who Will Put in the Good Word for You – You will need references at some point and it’s better to get your list together at the start of your job search. This gives you the opportunity to create a list of 4-6 people who you know will put in the good word for you. More importantly, you need to talk to your potential references to get their “buy-in”. The list should be a mix of former (or current) co-workers, former managers and other professional contacts who work at other companies. Most importantly (and to be further reviewed in a future post), is the power of your LinkedIn contacts.

• References for Employment
• Making Sure You Get a Good Reference

Good luck in your search.

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“LinkedIn is for people you know. Facebook is for people you used to know. Twitter is for people you want to know” –

As technology continues to advance, social media platforms such as, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, continue to rule the web. When we find ourselves in times like these, when unemployment is high, people are prolonging retirement, and students continue to graduate into an unstable economy, it’s important that we realize the benefit of using these social networking websites. Knowing how to use social networking in a professional manner will be an advantage for those who want to retain a professional image to their colleagues, family and friends – with the internet; you never know who’s looking at your profile.

Be On Your Best Behavior. Depending on where in your life you are, you may have to screen your Facebook and Twitter accounts more carefully. For the new graduate, and even the occasional person who enjoys a party now and then, going through your social media pages and weeding out anything that may give you a negative image is vital. Would you let your mother see your Facebook pictures, or your tweets? Probably not. Privacy settings will become your best friend. Your boss may be checking your Facebook at some point too, so screen your page thoroughly – get rid of embarrassing photos, anything with curses, and clean up your profiles. Afterward, if you have no shame in adding your family members, you’re page may be professional enough.

Spell Check Is Your Friend.On all these networking platforms that people use, spell check is almost always automatic, with whatever work spelled incorrectly underlined in red. In our laziness, we see misspelled words, we may allow it to be auto-corrected (which is always a BAD idea), and we forget about it. In a Word document, you are alerted for spelling and grammar mistakes, but too many times you ignore it, incorrectly fix it, and forget to proofread. In order to be professional, using the spell check feature correctly is crucial – no one wants an employee who is careless in his or her work. Typos and careless mistakes will send your resume to the shredder.

Employment History Matches Your Resume.Resume embellishing is not an uncommon thing. In fact, many people don’t think future employers will even check their entire employment history, so they add information that may make them stand out. You see this often with people lying about military experience or where they attended college, just because it looks good on their resume – but more often than not, the truth ends up coming out. Employers seek integrity in an applicant, and lying on your resume or in an interview will get you a one-way ticket to unemployment.

Know Whom To Request Recommendations From.When professionally networking, and applying for jobs, your recommendations are very important to possible future employers. Future employers want to make sure you have desirable characteristics like being a hard worker, an honest person, and punctual. There are two types of recommendations that will help you in your job search – character references, and skill references. Both of these are extremely significant when applying for a job, or networking with other professionals. Often, you can receive both a character and skill reference from one person. Past employers, supervisors, or professors are the best people to ask for a reference, especially if you have worked with them one-on-one and they have gotten to know you. Recommendations displaying both good character and skill will help you stand out to any employer.

With these tips, you should have no trouble in keeping a professional image among your social networking platforms. Good luck!

Britania Starr is a content writer for College.com, and enjoys writing about education and career planning.. For more information, please visit her LinkedIn page.

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“Success is falling nine times and getting up ten.” – Jon Bon Jovi

This guest post is provided by Comparethemarket, a UK price comparison site that helps people save money on a range of financial products, including Life Insurance.

Whether you have just graduated from college into the middle of a rotten job market or your previous job has disappeared, it is essential that you get back into the game and that you do it as quickly as possible! The truth of the matter is that while jobs are scarce, there are a wide variety of options open to you. Consider some of these options and try as many of them as you can; you never know when you are going to get the jobs of your dreams.

Try a new industry: A career change, especially when you’re young, is a good choice if you are worried about being in the wrong field. If you are having issues finding something in your own niche, try someone else’s! While switching to a new industry can be a little risky, you’ll find that it might be the best choice that you have ever made!

Get some extra training: This may mean going to a trade school or going back for a master’s or a PhD. While this does not make you more money in the short term, you are essentially making an investment in your future. Choose training that has an end-goal in mind, and be sure that you know what kind of work you will be doing if you get the degree you are after.

Work on your social networking: Remember that everyone you chat with is a potential contact. Ask people to put the word out for you and to let you know if there are openings at their companies. This is something that can make a huge difference. They say that it’s all about who you know, but at the end of the day, it’s pretty easy to get to know someone.

Volunteer. If you are out of work, chances are good that you are going crazy from boredom. There is a limit to how much time you can spend filling out resumes, so get out of the house and go volunteer for a cause you find important. You never know when volunteering will let you expand your skills or provide you with a contact to a new job.

Consider affiliate marketing if you have a computer and a reliable internet connection. Affiliate marketing is a good choice if you are ambitious and a good people person, and it offers you valuable skills that you can take back with you to the standard work place. There are also plenty of people who try affiliate marketing and never look back. Choose a good company with a product you believe in for the best results.

Start a consulting business. Is there something that you do well? If so, there is a good chance that there are other people who want to do it. Working as a consultant allows you to freelance and to create your own schedule while offering your expertise to others at top dollar.

Start a crafting business. With sites like Etsy and eBay at your disposal, you can turn a crafting hobby into a crafting business. Think about the jewelry that you make or the drawings that you create. You never know when someone might want to hang it up in their den or their living room. This is a great way to start your own business while doing something you love.
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When is the last time you sat down with a newspaper to start looking for a job, dropped your resume off in person at a business, or even filled out a hard copy of a job application? These days we operate almost exclusively online, even when we’re searching possible new careers. We also tend to plaster our entire lives online without a second thought, something that’s a product of assuming that social media websites are more private then they are in actuality. In fact, most potential employers can find out just about everything they need to know about you just by searching for you on the Internet and pulling up your social media profiles. Because of this, social media has the power to make or break a potential job position for you.

Making it Happen

1.  Showcasing your talent

When it’s used correctly social media can be a wonderful opportunity to showcase any skills and talents that could be beneficial to helping you secure a new job. Having links to your work or to an online portfolio allows prospective employers to easily access all of your work so that they can get a feel for what you have to offer.

2.  Networking

Using social media as a tool to form relationships with professionals within your desired niche market is a great way to expand your pool of resources. You can use websites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to build relationships and to find events and conventions to attend and further network in person.

3.  Having a wide range of interests

You can also use your social media profiles to let others know you have a extensive variety of interests that contribute to you being a well-rounded person. Being able to see that you’re active in hobbies outside of work is an attractive quality that can aid you in your job search.

Breaking Point

1. Negative blasts

We have a tendency to use social media to Tweet or Facebook any and all of our negative emotions to what we perceive to be our friends. In reality, almost anyone can see anything you’re posting, including anything that could be potentially damaging when read by a possible employer.

2. Having questionable information online

All of those pictures posted from parties and other questionable activities that you’ve engaged in that you don’t think twice about could end up being detrimental to your job search. It can come across as unprofessional and unappealing to prospective companies who stumble on them while researching you.

3. Unflattering posts by others

Something that can be equally harmful when others are inquiring into you via social media is what others are saying about you. While it may be funny to you and your friends, take into account if it’s something you would want an employer reading, and delete anything that is questionable.

Social media can be a great tool towards helping you find a job with all of the different resources it offers. However it’s up to you to make sure that it doesn’t end up hindering your job search as well – every little thing adds up.

Author Bio:
This is a guest post by Coleen Torres from home phone service. You can find more about her at her profile.

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“You can make more friends in two months by becoming genuinely interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” - Dale Carnegie

Biography : This is a guest post from Geneviève Héon, a Community Manager at matchFWD, a social recruiting startup and also Employer Marketing Coordinator at Illico Hodes. She has a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations from the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM). She recently collaborates with Montreal Tech Watch to cover some tech events.
e-mail : genevieve@matchfwd.com

How To Avoid Crossing The Line In Social Recruiting
Savvy hiring managers know that running a slick social recruiting campaign is one of the best ways to land premium candidates. Seasoned recruitment pros also understand that there is a fine line when it comes to employees referrals, and crossing that line will undermine recruiting strategies and damage corporate reputations. Here’s how to make a social recruiting campaign both fruitful and professional:

• Make A Plan: Before hiring managers begin to use social media tools as a way to source candidates, it is important to develop a solid plan of attack. Employees referrals are a valuable tool when is comes to recruiting, but without a plan, you run the risk of appearing sloppy and disorganized.

• Establish Your Image:Even though social media is often considered to be a tool for casual, friendly interaction between friends and family members it is important that online recruitment remains consistent with your corporate image. Seek to strike a balance between friendly and professional
  in your social media image (think casual Fridays).

• Don’t Be Creepy: There are many tools available that allow hiring managers (and anyone else, for that matter) to search through social media history and profiles; proceed with caution. These tools can easily be used to cross the line to cyber-stalking, a sure-fire way to bring a complete
  stop to any employees referrals while quickly earning a ‘big-brother’ corporate image.

• Be Interactive: Social media is an interactive tool, so make sure you maximize opportunities to talk with, rather than simply talk at, potential candidates through your social recruiting campaign. Remember that people will be judging your company based on how you treat potential employees,
  so now is the time to establish a tone of positive, interactive and timely communication.

Follow these tips when developing your next social recruiting campaign to ensure your company image is maintained while you source your next great candidate. By focusing on positive, professional recruiting strategies you will encourage employees referrals while promoting your corporate image and culture.

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While successful job hunting is all about planning and executing on your job search marketing plan, there is always a bit of luck in the process. “Luck?” you say? Yes, luck. The best laid plan, a perfect match on job experience and a great resume won’t matter if you are too late for the opportunity or your resume does not get seen. Let’s face it, if your resume shows up the day after the job is filled it won’t really matter how good of a match you are, will it? While there is no foolproof plan for job search, there are some things you can do to help increase the odds in your job search quest.

Networking (yet again): Yes, you’ve heard it a thousand times, and I’m sure you have included networking as part of your job search strategy. But are you maximizing your network? You know the saying, “it’s not who you know, it’s how you use them” (okay, maybe that’s not they way you remember it). But seriously, just having a network and “staying in touch” is not going to cut it. You need to leverage your network to help you find out about job opportunities before the interview process starts. Make sure everyone in your network knows the types of jobs you are considering as well as the companies where you would like to work. Leverage LinkedIn to see who in your network works at a company you would like to work.

• 5 Tips for Leveraging you Social Network in Your Job Search
• How to leverage contacts in your network
• How to Leverage Social Networking to Get Your Next Job

“You will miss 100% of the shots you never take” – Wayne Gretzky: One of my favorite quotes and so appropriate for job search. The right people need to know you are looking for a job if you hope to get an advantage. Job search is not the time to be modest, it is the time to be “out there”. And, the “right people” don’t necessarily need to be in your network (of course it helps if they are). Make you list of the people who could potentially hire you. Maybe it’s the head of marketing at a well known manufacturer or perhaps the CFO at a financial institution. You need to let them know you exist. Send an email to them or, better yet, send your resume via snail mail.

• How to Get Noticed by Hiring Managers
• 12 Tips to Get Your Resume Noticed
• Five attention-grabbing ways to get hired in an overcrowded job market

Make the Job: Sometimes candidates create a job. Your credentials and experience can be so amazing that a role is created for you. It does happen, but not by itself. You can make yourself too good to pass up. How do you do this? Obviously you need the right experience and education, but if you are great at what you do, find a company that needs you. Maybe you really need to think “outside of the box” and actually create a job by leveraging what you do best. Take a look at some of these links.

• Break the Mold and Create Your Own Work
• Stop Job Hunting—Create Your Own Job
• Stop Crying That There Are No Jobs. Create One

Good luck in your search.

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