Networking - It's not what you know; it's who you know!

Networking is a great way of utilizing your own connections (personal and business) to find the ideal job. Here are a few basics of networking:

Use your own personal network:

Start with writing down names of your personal friends, colleagues, relatives and neighbours. Imagine if each of those people introduced you to only three people that they know and so on. This will immediately multiply your network of people who could help you to hear about job openings. It's up to you to take the initiative to ensure each of these people know who you are, know that you're looking for a new job and what type of job for which you are looking.

Attend networking functions:

Some of the more obvious networking functions would be the Chambers of Commerce. It's worth giving each of them a call to ask them to send you details of monthly events. You can then decide which event might have the type of people attending with whom you should be networking. Membership is often not required in order to attend events. Other common networking events would be educational seminars, volunteer work, church or religious affiliation events, and association meetings.

Utilize personal business cards:

Print up some personal business cards with your contact information on the front and a mini-resume on the back. You can use these when swapping cards at events. This helps people to remember what type of job you are looking for and they can easily pass this along to management at their company.