Network Communication

Before you start to look for a job, you need to reach people who can assist you in reaching your career goals, provide you with the information you need, explain whatever you are curious about, and you need to establish a network by improving your relations with these people. Because establishing a network is a continuous process and because you receive assistance from the people in your network, you also need to be there for them whenever they need your assistance.

Your network doesn’t consist of people who you know and who know you. Everybody has a group of people consisting of relatives, friends, family associates, neighbors, teachers and academics as well as alumni. These people, whom you are already in touch with when necessary during your daily life, make up the base of your network. You need to aim to establish good relations and improve these relations when establishing your network.

Networking is not a process in which you talk to person you don’t know in order to get that person’s assistance. It’s about talking to people you know when you need to get a piece of information or advice. These people generally lead you to other people who can assist you. Because networking is about establishing relations, the people in your network will be more willing to lead you to other people as you improve your relations with them.

By means of your network, you may get assistance in your job hunt and establish a list of references. You may come up with career options you had not considered earlier and may receive information about the updates in your field. As a result of a meeting you have had with a person in your network, you may encounter many professional and personal development opportunities.

Before meeting the people in your network, you need to determine what kind of assistance and information you will ask for.

Do Your Research

If you are going to have a meeting with a company in your network about the job and what it offers, you should run your research about the company before going there. If you are going to meet someone advised to you by someone in your network, you should run your research on that person and prepare the questions you will ask him/her. You will also be establishing a positive relationship with the people with whom you are establishing your network.

Establish a Positive Relation

When you go to see someone who is on your network, provide a little bit of information about your academic background, skills, and career plans. During the meeting, you may ask whether they know anyone who has information about the job on your career goal and whether they could be of reference when you do apply for a job and what their advice would be to a person who works in their company and you may also leave a CV for them. Once you have conducted the meeting with an employer who is on your network, you should send them a thank you note or an e-mail indicating that you appreciate their time as well as information and advice they have provided.

Prepare an Index Folder

Prepare an index folder with the required information for each person on your network. Note down and save any information you have obtained through the meeting you have had with each person in these folders. Sustain contact with the people on your network by updating them of any changes in your status.

Those who are always respectful, sincere, questioning, aware of their goals, realist, researching, preparing, eager to meet new people, following current affairs are always successful people.

What You Should and Shouldn’t Do When Searching a Job on the Internet

• Use wide ranging search engines and run researches on the websites of the establishments
• Use job search engines with rich content
• Don’t just use job search sites and apply through them when looking for a job. Very few people find jobs through these sites.
• Be active during your job hunts. Follow each add on your career fields.
• Don’t spend all your time searching for jobs over the internet. Only a little part of a job search requires time on the internet. Networking, preparing and participating in career days is another option to find a job.

Resource: Penn State University Career Guide