Transcript PROFESSIONAL NETWORKING

PROFESSIONAL
NETWORKING
Making Powerful Connections
7/21/2015
Professional Networking
Version 5.0
ABOUT JOBGROUP.ORG
• Mission statement – JobGroup.org empowers
professionals to effectively manage their careers by
promoting networking, volunteerism, and job search
skills.
• Eight module curriculum presented weekly
• Online resources
• Networking events
• Recruiter engagement
• Volunteers
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ABOUT THE PRESENTATIONS
• JobGroup.org is an organization that exists to facilitate
your job hunt and career
• We have compiled the best information that we have
from our own experience and other sources
• These presentations can benefit hugely from your input;
don’t be shy about asking questions or contributing!
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INTRODUCTION
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What is networking?
Why should you network?
Who and where?
NEW – Personality Types
How?
– Before you go
– Managing conversations
– Business cards
– Follow up and maintenance
• Key Takeaways
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WHAT IS NETWORKING?
• Targeting appropriate people to talk to
• Building professional relationships through
conversation
– Find out their needs and challenges
– Offer suggestions and assistance to help them
– Communicate your needs and challenges
• Connecting people to each other to fill their needs
when you can’t do it directly
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WHY SHOULD YOU NETWORK?
• Very effective means of finding work
– Expands your job hunting reach
– May be only method to find some jobs
• Building a personal network
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Developing people skills
Develop/Maintain weak connections
Professional resources
Friendships/Partnerships
• Learning
– About your industry and region
– Career advice and mentoring
– Outside opinions
• Opportunities to help people
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WHERE?
• Professional organization
meetings
• Industry events
• Career fairs
• Training courses
• Networking events
• Meetups
• Restaurants and bars
• Anywhere where the right people
are
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INTRO TO PERSONALITY TYPES
• Personality Types attempt to provide insight
and guidance about how we behave.
– Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
– Keirsey Temperament Sorter
– Socionics
• Influences how we build relationships and
network with others.
• Influences our career choices.
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MYERS-BRIGGS (MBTI)
• Four dichotomies
– Extrovert (E) <> Introvert (I)
– Intuitive (N) <> Sensing (S)
– Feeling (F) <> Thinking (F)
– Perceiving (P) <> Judging (J)
• 16 distinct personality types
• Free Test: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgiwin/jtypes2.asp
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ENTP – VISIONARY / INVENTOR
“This ability to intuitively understand people and situations puts the
ENTP at a distinct advantage in their lives. They generally understand
things quickly and with great depth. Accordingly, they are quite flexible
and adapt well to a wide range of tasks. They are good at most
anything that interests them. As they grow and further develop their
intuitive abilities and insights, they become very aware of possibilities,
and this makes them quite resourceful when solving problems.”
“One more peculiarity is the element of chaos and destruction that
ENTps bring to every field of their activity. This is especially noticeable
in well established institutions where strong discipline is
commonplace. However, they implement this chaotic element
creatively, generating reform from the destruction. Because of this
quality ENTps often become leaders. ”
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SOCIONICS
• How personalities relate to one another
Duality - These relations are the most favourable and
comfortable of all intertype relations providing
complete psychological compatibility. Dual partners
are like two halves of a whole unit. They usually
understand each others intentions without any need
to say a word.
Mirror - These are relations of mutual correction.
Mirror partners have similar interests and ideas, but a
slightly different understanding of the same problems.
Each partner can see only half of one problem.
Therefore the partners always find what the other
partner is thinking interesting. Usually partners
quickly realise that they are very like-minded.
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PERSONALITY TYPES IN
NETWORKING
• Understanding personality types will give you
an advantage understanding yourself and
others.
• Personality deficiencies can be worked on.
We may naturally be extroverted, but can be
sensitive to introversion.
• Some personalities will click, others will
contrast. Being self aware will help you
navigate ‘difficult’ personalities.
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FINDING EVENTS
• Organization Websites
• Meetup.com
– Search for terms regarding Job Searching or
the Industry you’re looking for
• LinkedIn Groups
– Events app in LinkedIn no longer exists
• Industry Bulletin Boards
• Marketing Professional Websites
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PRE-EVENT PREPARATION
• Have a goal for the event
– Apply marketing plan metrics
• Dress for your audience
– Contextually appropriate
– Confidence boosting
• Bring business cards
– Sufficient quantity
– Professional storage of your and others’ cards
• Plan out who you want to meet in advance
– Check sign-up/attendee lists if possible
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CONVERSATIONAL STRATEGY
• Develop a 30-second “Elevator Pitch”
– Keep it natural and simple
• Look to connect with high-value people.
– Caveat: Don’t pass up other
opportunities to “stalk” a few
• Get out of your comfort zone
– Don’t expect everyone to come to you
• Reconnect with those you know
– Keep these conversations brief
• Look for people and conversations that
you can ‘naturally’ insert yourself into
– Best opportunities are those standing by
themselves or in a group of more than 2.
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GETTING TO KNOW THEM
• Be an active listener
– Ask open-ended questions that clarify, summarize, paraphrase,
and/or empathize, as appropriate.
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Focus on the needs and problems of the other person
Don’t dominate the conversation
Instead of being interestING be interestED
Keep moving.
– Aim to keep each conversation to 5 minutes or less.
– If a conversation is going well, ask to meet for coffee.
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DELIVERING YOUR PITCH
• Don’t worry about memorizing
specific words.
– The overall meaning of your message is
more important.
• Be clear about your value
– What you do
– What you want
– Who you are looking to connect with
• Be a good storyteller; be memorable
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BUSINESS CARDS
• Design
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Name
Firm & Title (?)
Phone numbers
Mailing/office address (?)
Email address
Web page(s)
LinkedIn profile page (include logo)
Twitter feed (include logo)
• Appearance
– Good card stock
– Clean, readable fonts
– Room for notations
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BUSINESS CARD USE
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Cards are cheap – don’t hesitate
Don’t be a ‘business card ninja’
To strong and weak connections
To entrepreneurs/salespeople only if there is a potential
benefit for you
• When collecting – annotate as needed
– Where you met
– Context of meeting
– Required followup
– Interesting details
– Strength of contact (Blood/Weak/Strong/Entrepreneur)
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FOLLOWUP AND MAINTENANCE
• Make sure you get a card/contact information for
people you would like to keep up with
• Connect with them on LinkedIn
• Remember that connections are not one-time
events
• Reach out to your contacts at regular intervals;
ask for advice, keep things fresh
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KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Over time you will evolve a more substantial
network of connections who know what you want
and can do
• Ideally, you should be well-enough connected that
you go from having to look for work to being
sought after to work!
• Potential side benefits: faster career progression,
mentoring, recognition, etc.
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This Presentation is Available Online
• http://www.jobgroup.org/curriculum
Connect to JobGroup Social Media
Jobgroup
@Jobgroup
Portland Jobgroup
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