How to and Where to Network to Get a Job

Learn unconventional and standard places to network to find a job.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. 6 degrees or less is all that is between you and your dream job. But how do you meet the people who can connect you to a job? They are all over the place, always be ready to talk to anyone and everyone. You don't know who they know or might be related to someone that hires or owns a company.

2. Go to the places the help people get hired. Go to your area WorkSource and join their networking groups. Not every WorkSource does this and if they don't tell them they should start one.

3. Go to a Chamber of Commerce breakfast or their monthly mixer.

4. Join a recruiting company. The will help sell your skills to employers and will help you to prepare for an interview.

5. Sign up with a temp agency (never pay to join), go and use their computers to brush up on your skills at the same time talk to the people in the office they could send you out that day if you keep your face in front of their staff.

6. Visit your professional associations. Go to Kiwanis, Zonta, Soroptomist, and other business networking group meetings.

7. Join a group with your special interests example, book club, gardening group, parenting group, ski club.

8. Go to community functions. Walk around and talk to the people in the booths.

9. Sign up for a class and get close to the instructor, they should have an insight on leads or they have an advisory board that they must report to and could drop your name.

10. Join a virtual group on the internet. Post on your Facebook page every day that you are looking for work. People get busy with their own lives so they forget it's ok to remind them.

11. You pay for it from your taxes so you don't have to be a student to use it, your local Community College, visit the career center.

12. Finally, be dressed and feel good where ever you go. If you take your kids to swim lessons on Saturday morning that's the same time your next boss could be taking their child too, heck when else would they do this but on a Saturday, they have a job!! Don't be caught looking like you don't care about yourself even if it is your time. How you look for the first meeting is something the "boss" will not forget.

[mayreach]

on 4/20/2009 Great advice. I am in the market for a new job after getting laid off on January 7 this year.

[slowwalker]

on 4/3/2009 Great tips!