I’ve written many times about networking and the importance of making sure your efforts are a balance of give and take instead of just take. But today I want to dive deeper into this subject and focus on the “give” by teaching you how to be a good contact for someone else.

In doing so, you’ll not only grow your own network naturally and organically, but you’ll also increase the quality of your contacts and professional relationships.

5 Ways to Stop Networking and Become a Good Networking Contact

1. Be the one making the introductions

Instead of wondering who your contact can introduce you to, try and think of someone you can introduce him or her to that would benefit both parties. Who in your current network would be a good resource for someone you’re trying to connect and build a rapport with?

Make sure whoever you introduce your new contact to is someone who will never make you look bad with their own behavior. This means you should think of someone who not only will be a great resource but also someone you’ve known long enough you can trust them to represent you well. Because after all, who you refer reflects back on you.

This is why networking takes time. You may have to first prove yourself as a trusted contact before someone will introduce you to their contacts. Be just as discerning in your own introductions to maintain your reputation.

2. Share something of interest

Share something you read you know would be of interest to people in your network. This could include simply tagging them in an article you saw on LinkedIn or sending them the link in an email with a personalized note.

When you take an interest in someone else’s interests, you endear yourself to him or her. It also shows you’re willing to contribute to the relationship.

3. Be a resource and give your own advice

A lot of my clients feel like they don’t have anything to offer in return to someone who seems to be further along in their career or seems to have more knowledge or expertise than them.

This is not true!

The people you want to connect with don’t know everything about everything. Surely there’s something you know how to do or knowledge you have which could be helpful to them.

For instance, I have a mentor who’s also a career coach with more years of experience than me. I learn a lot from her. But every time we meet, she always says to me, “You’re such a wealth of information!”

This is because I share with her some of the technologies I use to help me run my coaching business more efficiently or ideas I use to get more views of my blog. Most of them are ones she hadn’t heard of before. Therefore, I’m providing valuable information for her instead of just taking her advice without offering anything in return.

So think about things you have knowledge of that have been helpful for you. Then, when you see someone with a need for those things, tell them about it!

4. Be a good listener

Sometimes, others just need someone to listen. Especially if they’re usually the one doing all the listening. Giving them a break from listening and letting them talk can be a great relief for them. It’s probably the simplest and easiest way to serve as a good contact for someone else.

5. Show interest

Show genuine interest in others by following their social media updates and commenting on them. You don’t have to “like” or comment on every one of their posts. But do so for the ones you find most meaningful.

This shows you’re staying connected to them, paying attention to what they’re doing, and supporting them, even when you can’t do so more directly.

Conclusion

When you follow the above tips, you’ll start to build a strong network that’s not just based on quantity of contacts but also quality of contacts. And you’ll also be viewed as the type of quality contact people are excited to introduce to their contacts!

Want to learn more networking tips? Get my latest e-book Secrets to Networking With Ease and Confidence for free when you purchase my on-demand program The Secret to Successful Networking: How to Do It Naturally and Effectively.

Related Posts:

• Why “Can I Pick Your Brain?” Is the Wrong Approach
• How to Be Realistic About Networking
• Why You Need to Stop Overthinking Networking

Back to School!

It’s back to school this week here in Nashville! I remember when I was in school, especially in college, I didn’t have the appreciation I have now for education. I remember only caring about what I needed to know for my exams, and not much about anything extra.

But, there was always that one older (non-traditional aged) student in my college classes who would ask questions about stuff we didn’t need to know for the exam. You probably had a classmate like her too.

I remember rolling my eyes and thinking to myself, “Quit asking so many questions so we can get out of class early!” But now, I would so be that student if I was back in college again. I totally would.

Lifelong Learning

The older I get, the more I love to learn. I’m sure I’m not the only person who feels this way. So many people grow in their appreciation for knowledge and learning as they get older. I guess this is why George Bernard Shaw said,

“Education is lost on the youth.”

Lifelong learning and continuing education is very important. And not just for satisfying a thirst for knowledge or broadening your knowledge base. With changes occurring rapidly in the way we work, it’s necessary to learn new approaches to the job search in order to keep up in today’s job market.

In doing so, sometimes we first need to focus on the basics and learn (or re-learn) the nuts and bolts (i.e. the stuff we know will be on the “exam”).  This includes the nuts and bolts of writing a resume.

The Nuts and Bolts of Resume Writing

I get so many clients who haven’t had to write a resume in about 10-20 years. Things have changed since then, despite all the outdated resume advice still floating around out there on the Internet. There are new resume writing basics today’s job seekers need to learn if they want to successfully land more interviews. This includes how to get their resume through the resume-filtering software to a pair of human eyes.

Not too long ago, I taught a continuing education class on resume writing. Many of the students in my class were surprised at how many new “nuts and bolts” things they needed to know for their resume (the “exam”).

Now I’ve taken the same info from the class I taught, and packaged it into an online course called Resumes That Get You the Interview: Surprising Secrets to Getting Your Resume Noticed. It’s perfect for anyone who only wants to learn the nuts and bolts of how to write a marketable resume for today’s job market.

And for those of you who want to learn more than just what’s going to be “on the exam,” there is a copy of my e-book Get Your Resume Read! included for free with your purchase of the on-demand program.

Welcome Back to School: Resume Writing Course Preview

Want a course preview? There are five lessons/episodes in this on-demand program:

In addition, there are several downloadable handouts to help you create the best resume possible for your unique career situation:

• The paNASH Resume Makeover Guide
• Chronological Resume Sample
• Skills Resume Sample
• Targeted/Hybrid Resume Samples (for career change and for executive level)
• E-book: Get Your Resume Read!

So if you just want to learn what’s going to be “on the exam” or you want to know more, I invite you “back to school” by registering for Resumes That Get You the Interview for $87. You can work at your own pace and skip around so you can get to the parts you care about the most.

A recent user had this to say:

“While going through the videos and handouts, I kept blurting out ‘Ah, that’s good advice!’ every two to three minutes. That’s how much information I learned – something new every two minutes of watching! Thank you Lori for this program. I can say it is worth the money!” Chris D.

What’s NOT Going to Be on the Exam

In addition to the on-demand program, here’s a recent video I posted on LinkedIn describing one of several things you should NOT include on your resume:

Want to learn more about what not to include on your resume? Click here to purchase the on-demand program now.

Related Posts:

• How to Know What Resume Format You Should Use
• How to Write a Resume: Make It About THEM, Not You
• Think You Know How to Write a Resume? Think Again!

Patience. They say it’s a virtue. Probably because it’s something rare. In today’s world, we don’t have to be as patient because we’ve grown accustomed to technology that provides instant results.

But patience is something I’ve been trying to learn for a very long time. I’m definitely seeing improvement, but I still have a long, long way to go.

Others have noticed and often commented on how patient I am in certain situations. What they don’t know is sometimes I’m just good at hiding my impatience (except when I’m on hold with the cable company). While my demeanor is calm, I’m still thinking in my head, “Hurry up! Hurry up! Hurry up!”

In other situations, I’ve just learned over time (often times the hard way) to exhibit true patience. This means staying peaceful when things don’t happen in my own time or I start to feel restless or worried.

5 ways to learn how to be patient during the job search

My clients often experience worry and restlessness when they’re between jobs and they’re not getting the results they’d like from their job search as soon as they’d like.

It’s easy to panic during this time when there’s no money coming in and the savings account is dwindling. Perhaps you’re currently in a similar situation.

So how do you be patient in the midst of such career and financial stress?

#1. Practice patience.

We all have an unlimited amount of opportunities to practice patience, whether it’s something small like sitting in traffic or waiting in the only open checkout line at the store. Or, whether it’s something big like trying to figure out your purpose in life or looking for a new job.

You can begin with the small things to start to practice patience. When you find yourself in those small annoying scenarios where you can choose to be patient or not, always choose patience. If you decide ahead of time you’re going to choose to be patient in these scenarios before they pop up, it will be easier to react patiently. If you mess up and become impatient, it’s okay. Trust me. You’ll soon find another opportunity to try again.

Once you start to become intentional in your patience, you’ll find it becomes easier, even for the big stuff like waiting to hear back from your last job interview.

#2 Be realistic in your expectations.

If something isn’t happening the way you wanted or in the time frame you hoped for, ask yourself if you have realistic or unrealistic expectations of the situation or the other party involved. And be honest with yourself.

The part of the job search where I see most of my clients having unrealistic expectations is in networking. They think they can just tell everyone they know they’re looking for a job and that should be it. This is not how networking works. So if this is your expectation, you’ll want to read my blog post “How to Be Realistic About Networking” and then readjust your expectations.

And when it comes to interviews, keep in mind companies are starting to take more time in making hiring decisions.

In addition, most companies tend to underestimate how long the hiring process will take. They may say they hope to have a decision by the week after your interview, but stuff happens and their work still has to get done during the hiring process. This sometimes pushes the process back a bit.

Just last week I had a client ask me how long she should wait to follow up with a company after her interview. She thought two to three days was reasonable. I told her it’s more like two to three weeks! Two to three days isn’t nearly enough time for a company to complete the other interviews, discuss among all the decision makers and check references, all while having to do their other work.

Always try to put yourself in the other person’s shoes to help you maintain realistic expectations.

And be open-minded enough to accept how things might happen in a different way or different time frame than you think they should.

#3. Do what’s in your control.

When I was coming out of grad school, I wasn’t too picky about geographic location for my first job. So, I applied all over the country to about 75 jobs. And I only got about a 10% positive response rate which is the norm. Therefore, there were a lot of negative responses.

How did I deal with those negative responses?

I told myself every rejection just meant I was one step closer to the right job for me.

This mantra helped me to be patient, stay focused on the things within my control and let go of the things not in my control.

The only thing I could control were my networking efforts, sending out resumes by the closing dates, and my emotions. I couldn’t control anyone else’s timeline and I couldn’t make them like me over a more qualified candidate. Trying to would’ve been a waste of my time.

#4 Don’t make important decisions when you’re emotional.

Speaking of emotions, it’s never good to make important decisions, especially career decisions, when you’re experiencing extreme emotion.

I once heard of something called the “SHALT” decision-making method. The premise of this method is to never make decisions when you’re sad, hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. I would also add to this list scared or afraid.

Fear is one of the biggest causes of bad career decisions. But taking a job out of fear of not making ends meet or because it seems to be the only offer available can often lead to going through the job search process all over again the following year (or sooner).

There are other ways to make ends meet and buy some time to avoid making a rash decision that could negatively affect the rest of your career. This can include cutting unnecessary expenses, selling or renting things you don’t use anymore, renting out your spare room, and working a side job or as a freelancer.

#5 Relish the time you have between jobs.

While you may be anxious to find your next opportunity, don’t forget to relish this extra time you have by spending it with your family, working out more and improving your health, and exploring your passions.

It’s also a great time to learn some new skills through online courses that will build your resume and make you more marketable.

Consider this time a gift to take advantage of while you can.

Be patient with yourself!

By following the above tips, you’ll find you have more patience than you thought you had. And, you’ll learn to replace the worry and frustration of impatience with the hope and peace of anticipation.

But it’s important to not beat yourself up if you fail at patience every once in a while. It will happen because you’re human. So remember to also be patient with yourself!

Related Posts:

• How to Be Realistic About Networking
• Feeling Trapped in Your Career? Here’s How to Cope
• What You Need to Know About a Job Loss
• Maintaining Positivity in the Face of Job Loss or Job Rejection

There is A LOT of information available online on how to write a resume. But, have you noticed most of it is the same stuff you’ve already heard a hundred times over?

The other day I got an email from someone who purchased my on-demand video course, Resumes That Get You the Interview: Surprising Secrets to Getting Your Resume Noticed. Her name is Michelle Noel, and she wasn’t shy about providing me some feedback on my video course.

Here’s what she had to say:

“As your video got into the meat of the topic, I was thinking, ‘Oh, this is a waste of money! These are things I already know.'”

She explained to me she already understands the basics of how to write a resume.

She went on to say:

“But then you started sharing some things I never considered before that made the money worthwhile.”

New tricks for writing your resume

In her feedback email, she listed seven specific new things she learned from the on-demand video course. Seven!

One of those things which she found most helpful was something she’d desperately been looking for elsewhere but couldn’t find. It was a sample of a “hybrid” resume format.

Michelle is in the process of changing careers. She said she’d been struggling to figure out how she should re-vamp her resume. She said the sample hybrid resume “hit the nail on the head” for what she needed to help her better organize her new resume.

Also, some of the other new things she said she learned included:

• Why you shouldn’t always put your highest degree on your resume and when you should leave it off.
• Why your resume isn’t about you and how you should focus it more on the company’s needs.
• How to catch spelling and grammatical errors spell check often misses.
• How to make your results stand out and pop off the page.
• Where certain information should appear on your resume.
• How a master resume can help you create a targeted resume and save you time on your job search.

The video course also includes more tips and tricks Michelle didn’t mention but are guaranteed to help you get your resume noticed by the right people. For instance, it includes how to ensure your resume makes it through the resume filtering software and ends up in the hands of a human. And, how to get that human to read your resume and give it full consideration.

Does this sound like something you need but haven’t found anywhere else online?

Write a resume you can feel confident about

If you’ve been sending out resume after resume but you’re not getting as many interviews as you’d like, perhaps there’s something you’re doing wrong. Wouldn’t you want to know what it is?

This video course can reveal some of the blind spots you may have regarding your resume and teach you how to correct those blind spots, resulting in more interviews. In addition, it includes several downloadable resume samples and a free e-book entitled Get Your Resume Read!

“In the end, this program was worth every dollar I paid!” said Michelle

Michelle’s only regret is she didn’t watch the on-demand video sooner. She told me she wishes she’d watched it before sending out her resume because now she doubts she’ll get any response to her original resume. But she now feels more confident with her newly updated resume since it includes the tips from the on-demand video course.

You can also feel more confident about the resume you’re sending to employers. Click here to learn more about the on-demand video course, Resumes That Get You the Interview: Surprising Secrets to Getting Your Resume Noticed. You can see an episode guide, the names of all the downloadable handouts, what you’ll gain from the course, and more testimonials.

From this you can decide if the on-demand video course is something you want to invest in. If you do, you’ll also receive with purchase a complimentary copy of my e-book Get Your Resume Read!

Don’t wait to get started!

Related Posts:

• How to Write a Resume: Make It About THEM, Not You
• How to Know What Resume Format You Should Use