Part 31 (1/2)

Regards, Steve

Stephen Forsyth, Director Product and Strategic Management Link: /in/stephenforsyth/.

WHERE ELSE TO NETWORK ONLINE

Chat rooms, networking web sites, and other community forums exist all over the Internet. Many industries have specific sites they use for sharing knowledge and discussing trends. Yahoo! has the largest a.s.sortment at groups.yahoo.com. Some other accessible ones include: * Vault.com ( ()* Lycos Communities ()* America Online ()

There are hundreds of networking sites on the Internet. The easiest way to find one that may be useful for you is to enter this phrase into Google: ”List of social networking web sites.” It will bring you links to web sites that have indexed all the major social networking sites.

The biggest challenge with social networks is that you're still relying on the kindness of others to send your request for a referral forward to the intended recipient. Of course, nothing stops you from finding the name of someone you want to talk to and contacting the person directly. If you do this, bear in mind that there's no guarantee the person will be receptive to hearing from you. They may report the violation of the terms of agreement for using the site and that may cause your account to be suspended. I suggest you obey the rules posted on each site. It's been my experience that most people respond to my request for a referral within 24 hours. I know other recruiters who will simply pick up the phone and call, saying ”Hi you and I are connected on and I was wondering . . . . . .”

SELECT TWISTS ON TRADITIONAL NETWORKING

Okay, so maybe you want to network in person. If that's the case, here's how to find the venues you need and what to do when you get there.

Networking Venues

Every town and city in the United States has a ”hot spot”; a place where all the ”heavy hitters” congregate. Find it and join. The easiest way to locate these business or professional alliances is to ask professional people such as your banker, insurance agent, or investment consultant what groups they belong to. The main job of bank managers is to solicit new business, and to do that they go where the influential people in town congregate. It will probably be a civic organization, golf club, or industry a.s.sociation. It really depends on where you live.

Your contact network should always be growing, and the best way to expand it is to seek out new people and build relations.h.i.+ps. It doesn't really matter whom you choose, as long as you like them, they like you, and you can help each other. And when you get a job, let them know they helped with a quick note of thanks.

Cla.s.smates.com

The granddaddy online community-based networking is Cla.s.smates. com. The basic version is free. Using Cla.s.smates is closer to traditional networking because it's based on your alumni. At Cla.s.smates, you can join a network of people you went to school with (high school, college, or university) as well as military, industry, or company alumni. The challenge with using it to source contacts is that you need to search by state. I did a search for PeopleSoft in New York State and found only one connection.

On the other hand, if you want to reach out to people you went to school with to reconnect and network, then Cla.s.smates is the way to go.

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A WAR STORY.

Dave Opton

One Cla.s.smates.com member, a Notre Dame alum, read in member, a Notre Dame alum, read in BusinessWeek BusinessWeek that more CFOs attended his alma mater than any other university, so he obtained the list and wrote to them all. His ”good old college try” netted him 3 interviews and one offer. that more CFOs attended his alma mater than any other university, so he obtained the list and wrote to them all. His ”good old college try” netted him 3 interviews and one offer.

Another member leveraged his college connection when he learned his school was going to be in the NCAA tournament in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As a demonstration of school spirit, he decided to attend the event, but not before attending a professional a.s.sociation meeting. At the meeting, he learned of an Ann Arbor position that perfectly fit his credentials, so he scheduled an interview while he was in town for the tournament. He became happily employed in a new location as a result.

Dave Opton, president, ExecuNet (). Reach Dave at /in/dopton/.

Other Alumni Networks