By Diane Conwell
There's no doubt about it, creativity and ingenuity are valuable assets for any potential employee. But how do you get your talents past the receptionist and keep your resume from becoming a paper airplane?
Networking is a professional tool that can be wielded to improve careers, find and keep jobs, and gain new clients. More than who you know, the net relies on how you are known. With personal knowledge and "word of mouth" we are either promoting or demoting our marketability with each conversation.
Autumn Bruce, housing director for EF International School of English, knows the value of good networking. At EF she works with students, parents, host families and the sales office. Because her network is global, she relies heavily on the internet. Bruce also runs a recruiting business finding interns for marine mammal parks and facilities in Hawaii. She uses the Internet and college campuses as network forums to propel her career forward.
"Communication is key in networking," Bruce insists. She suggests even a message that says "I'm working on it" is better than not replying to emails or phone calls. She strives to return messages on time at work and at home. "It's more than clubs and talking to people. I'ts just how you treat people with courtesy, respect and kindness," Bruce emphasizes. She adds that networking is really about building relationships.
Autumn Bruce's tips for being a good networker include strong communication, articulate speech, and impeccable listening skills. She insists that the ability to follow through with a task in an efficient and effective way is a key factor to success. "It's more than quality of work," Bruce explains, "It's how you interact with people. There are good networkers and bad networkers."
If you understand networking, you know that every encounter of every day has potential. Each person you meet could lead you closer to or farther away from your goals. Santa Barbara resident William Fugate is a perfect illustration of this point. About three years ago, Fugate was waiting for a haircut at his neighborhood barbershop in the Los Angeles area. He saw a woman approach the shop with her elderly father-in-law who was stumbling. Fugate got up, opened the door, and helped them in. Once seated, the woman asked Fugate if he was a student. When he explained that he was studying to become an accountant, she suggested that he meet her husband, Larry Woolever, a certified public accountant in Santa Barbara. Fugate took the phone number, and two days later he thought, "Why not? Be open and talk to someone. The opportunity presented itself." Fugate would later declare that was the best phone call he's ever made. He accepted a part-time job with Woolever and commuted to SB from the San Fernando Valley where his second job and his son remained. After two years, Fugate chose to work full-time for Woolever. Now he lives in Santa Barbara and commutes on weekends to see his son. He proudly declares, "It was worth the drive and the relocation."
"I love it. It's great," Fugate reflected. "It's a tremendous opportunity to learn from someone who is successful and to have that mentor." He said Woolever is like a father figure who teaches him necessary social skills for the job. "Things you can't learn in school."
Woolever gives the employerıs view of networking. "Oh, it's working out fabulous for me," he said. "Word of mouth is always better." He credits Fugate for "the want-to." Woolever explained, "For two years William drove from Van Nuys to Santa Barbara. That's a commitment."
Fugate offers jobseekers this advice, "Be kind," he said. "That's how the opportunity presented itself. Just by holding a door open, that opened the doors for me."
Of course, not all networking is spontaneous. Many people consciously join groups, clubs, teams and chambers of commerce for networking purposes. That's where they find contacts and mutually beneficial relationships. Others employ a more systematic approach.
Nancy Hawks is the executive director of two regions of the Ali Lassen's Leads Club (trademarked). Her territory includes 10 chapters in four counties: San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, and the Central San Joaquin Valley. A chapter is a team of about 15 to 30 people who learn about each othersı businesses. When any member encounters someone in need of one of the services represented in the chapter, they promote their team member. No repeated business categories are allowed within a chapter. Typically, chapter has one real estate agent and one mortgage broker. A dentist may send his manager to represent the practice. A masseuse and a skin care specialist could be in the same chapter.
Hawks relays the company slogan, "Providing an effective means to increase your business," and provides a series of statistics showing how business gains superceded membership costs.
Echoing Bruce's theory that networking is about how people communicate and treat each other, Hawks said there is a screening process for Leads Club applicants. If someone slips through who doesn't fit, they usually fade away. One key piece of advice Hawks offers networkers is to never leave home without your business card, even if you are just going for a walk. For more information about Leads Club, call 805-968-7036.
Start looking at your network today. Write down everyone you know. List your goals and line them up with what you know about your current relationships. Is there anybody who can help you? And even better, can you hold a door open for anybody?
©2005 Santa Barbara News-Press
|
