There are two types of personal networks: informal and formal. Informal networks consist of people you already know, such as family members, friends, and members of a religious organization or club. People you know in your community also fall into this category, for example a shop owner, bank teller, real estate agent, or hair stylist.
  
Formal networks are comprised of people with whom you have a business or professional relationship, such as other professionals in your field, vendors, service providers, former supervisors and co-workers, college professors, and mentors. 
 
An excellent place to begin networking is with your informal contacts. Although your relatives and acquaintances may not know about specific job openings, they might know people who know of companies that are hiring.
 
Whether you make contact in person, on the telephone, or by email, prepare a brief statement that explains what kind of job you are looking for, and how the individual can help. For example: "I'm looking for a staff accountant position at a small to mid-size business. Would you let me know if you hear of any openings?" ... "Do you know of anyone who can put me touch with marketing directors at software development firms? I need some advice about finding a communications position." ... "Can I send you my resume in case you hear of a store in need of a part-time sales person?"

Once you get some practice with your informal network, it is time to build your formal contacts. These individuals will be your best source of job leads. One way to grow your formal network, without attending crowded networking events, is to arrange one-on-one meetings.
 
To begin, you need to find the names of people to contact. Do not contact  human resources personnel, unless you are looking for a job in HR. Instead, think about who in an organization will have the relevant experiene and contacts that can help you in your job search. Managers and department heads are usually good choices. Company presidents and vice presidents will probably not meet with you, unless you are at the same level.
 
You must reach out to specific individuals. Requests addressed to "marketing director" or "head of engineering" will almost certainly go unanswered. Here are three easy ways to find people using the Internet:   

1. Visit the Web site of a professional association in your industry. Look for the names of association staff members (they'll know a lot of people), speakers at industry conferences, and the authors of articles or blogs.
2. Join industry groups on the business networking Web site LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com). You can also search the LinkedIn database by company name, which might reveal someone with the job title you are looking for.
3. Google "job title at name of company" (e.g. Marketing Director, Acme Electronics). 
   

My client Josh was looking for work as an archivist. A recent college graduate, he did not know anyone in the field of archivism. We searched "groups" on LinkedIn, using the keyword archivist. One of the 39 results was a group called New England Archivists, which is also a local professional association. On the association's Web site, we found the names of some members, and searched those names on LinkedIn (using the "search people" function). One of the New England Archivist members is an archivist at a local museum. Josh visited the museum's Web site, where he not only found her contact information, but some biographical information about her as well. It only took about 5 minutes for Josh to find the name of a promising contact.

When you begin networking, set a reasonable weekly goal. Making 2 or 3 quality contacts will get better results than making 20 random ones.

Next month, we will discuss how to request a one-on-one networking meeting, including establishing a connection with someone you don't know, preparing for the meeting, and following up.

© 2011 by Barbara Bissonnette, Forward Motion Coaching