Networking Advice for Administrative Professionals

In a recent survey by career management firm Bernard Haldane, 61 percent of respondents said they found their most recent job through networking

People must think of networking as a mutual benefit, not an imposition. As a job hunter you must open and expanding your own personal network of contacts. That means using your friends, family, former co-workers and any other colleagues to spread the word that you're available and to keep their ears open for potential job leads. Remember, it only takes that 1 person to give you the lead you need.

Your email account is a very powerful tool for opening your network. Use it wisely and your job search will end that much faster. Consider this scenario: You put together a list of 20 people and their email addresses. You send a quick email (with your resume attached) to them announcing that you are looking for work. Then those 20 people pass on your information to at least 1 other person within their company. You've now doubled your list of potential job leads from 20 to 40 in no time. This could be the most effective strategy you can use in your job search and it cost you nothing!

Perhaps the best reason for using an approach like this is because companies love referrals from their employees. It saves them time and money. It saves time because the company can skip the long recruiting process and go straight to the interview. It saves money because the company does not have to advertise the job or pay an employment agency a fee for doing it.

Bottom line: Networking yields referrals which are the employers' preferred method of finding new employees.

Networking Online

Meeting new colleagues and getting referrals has never been easier thanks to some new web sites that allow you to network virtually, on the internet.

Since offline networking is very time consuming, sites such as Linkedin.com and Ryze.com are helping jobseekers extend their contact lists quickly and easily. They've kind of become the dating sites of the business world.

The most popular networking websites are:

Networking Offline

Joining a few local industry organizations will help you tap into your business community. They offer jobseekers tremendous offline networking opportunities which can lead to valuable contacts in your field of work. Trade shows and business expos are also another good way of meeting industry peers.

You can find these organizations by looking in your local newspaper's business or community calendar section. Some newspapers list job-club meetings in special sections devoted to employment and workplace issues. In some cities, you may find free employment weekly newspapers with announcements for job clubs. The Five O'clock club is one example of a job club support group. There are professional organizations for just about every career you can think of so get out there and start making contacts!

In fact, a new study released by the American Marketing Association found that 79 percent of hiring managers think that candidates that belong to a professional organization have higher quality skills than those who do not.

List of Chapters of IAAP you can join (by state)

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