The last few years has seen the rise and rise of social and business networking sites. Putting aside for one moment Facebook, there is a plethora of business sites that you might have been advised to look at. If I’ve lost you already and you weren’t aware of these sites (really?) then here is a very small list, in no particular order of preference, to start with: LinkedIn; Viadeo; Xing; Plaxo; BraveNewTalent. So, the real question is; how important is your online presence in your career these days? I would suggest that it is more important than you might think.
A number of “expert” surveys on both sides of the Atlantic are predicting that CV’s will fall by the wayside while your online presence takes over your career. Here are a few reasons taken from these surveys as to why they believe this will happen:
Today’s job hunting strategies are mostly online. Gone are the days of looking in the newspaper or applying in-person for job openings. Consider how reduced are the broad sheets Sunday appointment pages compared to a few years ago. Today’s job seekers are spending most of their time and effort networking online, searching company websites, and participating in web communities — and that will only increase in the next few years.
Everyone needs to be ready for a job transition at all times. Now that the days of landing a “traditional” job with stability, benefits, and tenure are gone, candidates need to be ready for a transition at any time. Maintaining an online profile on professional networking sites is more logical than creating a new CV every few months, because it allows for immediate changes and is visible to your entire network.
A recent article in Forbes commented: “By building your online presence, employers can find you and thus you have more opportunities. If you don’t have an online presence, you won’t appear to be relevant and you will be passed over for more savvy applicants that have visibility. You need to be creative in your job search by developing your own product, eBook, viral video, or personal advertisement. Finally, you need to treat your life as one giant networking event, and meet as many people in your field as you can.”
Entrepreneurship is becoming the choice profession for many job candidates. The state of a number of the European economies has seen a rise in redundancies and with little opportunity for some job seekers; many have resorted to setting up their own business or to freelancing opportunities to support themselves. In order to be successful in their new venture, they are realising the importance of a strong online presence and network in order to make their new business successful.
CV’s don’t convey passion or personality. With today’s technology, a job seeker can do a better job at selling themselves through a professional portfolio website or networking profile than a traditional CV. An employer has the opportunity to get to know that candidate in more depth through these online tools than a traditional recruitment process.
There is a natural proviso that goes along with any online presence that hasn’t changed from a traditional CV and that is how you present yourself, what you say about yourself and any images that you choose to post. Whilst I’m sure that you will all maintain the utmost professionalism on the business networking sites, my colleagues and I have seen far too many candidate profiles and pictures on sites such as Facebook that would embarrass their parents and should definitely never ever see the light of day.
If you would like to talk with any of us about creating an online presence and the networking sites then please don’t hesitate to do so at www.chestertongray.com
Wednesday 31 August 2011
Monday 22 August 2011
Networking Advice for People Who Hate Networking
I’ve been to a pretty diverse selection of networking events, from breakfast meetings to one held (only) in the corridors between offices and I know from a number of these that a lot of people dread networking events. Too often, they end up standing in a corner, chatting aimlessly with people they already know.
It seems to me that I receive an email invitation to yet another one almost every day. So are they a waste of your time? Yes if you don’t utilise them properly. No, if you’re strategic in your approach, you can actually gain new contacts, and even clients, from networking.
I don’t believe that there are many groundbreaking tips that that haven’t been mentioned by one expert or another, but here are five tips that I’ve collated for people who hate networking:
1. Make people come to you. There’s automatically a power imbalance when you approach someone and say, “I really wanted to meet you.” So why not turn the tables? Take a leadership role in your business or your organisation (Chamber of Commerce, trade association, women’s business network). That way, you wield the power because you dole out invitations to speakers - and everyone always wants to meet the person in charge.
2. Set a numerical goal. Rather than chat to the same old people as you did at the last networking meeting, vow that you’ll talk to at least three people you don’t know. That concrete goal will remind you of the point of attending – to meet some new contacts – and it will help push you out of your comfort zone, so you don’t spend most of the night chatting with old friends.
3. Get their card. I know that some people measure their networking success by the number of business cards they give out. But the fact is no one is going to keep your card safely tucked away until the need arises. You’re lucky if it actually makes it past the bin that evening. You simply can’t rely on other people to remember you, or even email you their contact info, regardless of whether they promise to do so. You need to collect their card - because only you can be counted on to retain their contact information.
4. Follow up. This is where many or even most people blow it. Despite a great initial conversation, they never take any steps to keep in touch, and so a year later the person no longer remembers them. Make it a point during your conversation to identify something that you both have in common that will allow you to keep a relationship alive, even as a casual one. Maybe it’s a shared music or sport passion, or perhaps a business challenge and you promise to send them an article that you read about how to solve it. However you do it, make sure to stay in touch.
5. Be realistic. There are really very few people who leave a networking event with a new contract in hand. Initially that shouldn’t be your goal, because a relationship developed that quickly is quite often shallow and easy to break. Your aim should be to meet interesting people whom you can get to know and then - eventually - turn into good, long-term clients.
And that starts with making the effort to introduce yourself - and of course stay in touch.
It seems to me that I receive an email invitation to yet another one almost every day. So are they a waste of your time? Yes if you don’t utilise them properly. No, if you’re strategic in your approach, you can actually gain new contacts, and even clients, from networking.
I don’t believe that there are many groundbreaking tips that that haven’t been mentioned by one expert or another, but here are five tips that I’ve collated for people who hate networking:
1. Make people come to you. There’s automatically a power imbalance when you approach someone and say, “I really wanted to meet you.” So why not turn the tables? Take a leadership role in your business or your organisation (Chamber of Commerce, trade association, women’s business network). That way, you wield the power because you dole out invitations to speakers - and everyone always wants to meet the person in charge.
2. Set a numerical goal. Rather than chat to the same old people as you did at the last networking meeting, vow that you’ll talk to at least three people you don’t know. That concrete goal will remind you of the point of attending – to meet some new contacts – and it will help push you out of your comfort zone, so you don’t spend most of the night chatting with old friends.
3. Get their card. I know that some people measure their networking success by the number of business cards they give out. But the fact is no one is going to keep your card safely tucked away until the need arises. You’re lucky if it actually makes it past the bin that evening. You simply can’t rely on other people to remember you, or even email you their contact info, regardless of whether they promise to do so. You need to collect their card - because only you can be counted on to retain their contact information.
4. Follow up. This is where many or even most people blow it. Despite a great initial conversation, they never take any steps to keep in touch, and so a year later the person no longer remembers them. Make it a point during your conversation to identify something that you both have in common that will allow you to keep a relationship alive, even as a casual one. Maybe it’s a shared music or sport passion, or perhaps a business challenge and you promise to send them an article that you read about how to solve it. However you do it, make sure to stay in touch.
5. Be realistic. There are really very few people who leave a networking event with a new contract in hand. Initially that shouldn’t be your goal, because a relationship developed that quickly is quite often shallow and easy to break. Your aim should be to meet interesting people whom you can get to know and then - eventually - turn into good, long-term clients.
And that starts with making the effort to introduce yourself - and of course stay in touch.
Wednesday 3 August 2011
What the successful people do before breakfast.
Some weeks ago when I was eating a bowl of cereal and flicking between the news channels I saw a (brief) snippet of an interview about city high flyers getting into the office before the rest of the world wakes and I wondered if their time really was that much more effective than anyone else’s.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that mornings are a mad-cap time in many households. Everyone’s so focused on getting out the door that you can easily lose track of just how much time is passing. A little bit of web research has shown that there appears to be a gap of roughly 90 minutes or more between when people wake up and when they start the commute or school run. That would be fine if the time was used intentionally, but I suspect that far too often it isn’t.
The most productive people, however, realise that 90 minutes, 120 minutes or more is a long time to lose track of on a busy weekday. Add that time up over a week and we are talking about a significant chunk of a day lost. If you feel like you don’t have time for personal priorities later in the day, why not try using your mornings? Streamline breakfast, personal care and your children’s routines. I canvassed a few friends and colleagues for thoughts and these were the four most common suggestions with what to do with 30-60 minutes of morning time:
1. Play, read, or talk with your children. Mornings can be great quality time, especially if you have little kids who go to bed before or soon after you get home at night, but wake up at the crack of dawn. Set an alarm on your watch, put away the iPhone, and spend a relaxed half an hour reading stories or doing projects with them.
2. Exercise. You shower in the morning anyway, so why not get sweaty first? Trade off mornings with your partner on who goes out and runs and who stays home with the kids. Or, if your kids are older (or you don’t have any) work out together and make it a very healthy morning date. As a runner I know that I prefer to run before the heat of the day and certainly feel more up for the day if I do so.
3. Indulge your creative side. Lots of people would like to resurrect a creative hobby like painting, photography, scrapbooking, writing, even practicing an instrument. What if you went to bed a little earlier three times a week? Skip that last TV show or those last emails and get up a little earlier the next morning to put in some time at you’re your hobby before the day runs away from you.
4. Think. There are endless professional business consultants out there who will tell you that strategic thinking time is incredibly important for seizing control of our lives. Spend 30 minutes in the morning pondering what you want to do with your time. You could also use this time to pray or read a different business magazine, to meditate or write a journal or a blog!
All of these will help you start the day in a much better place than if everyone’s running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
If you do decide to adopt any of these, then why not drop me an email and let me know your thoughts? www.chestertongray.com
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that mornings are a mad-cap time in many households. Everyone’s so focused on getting out the door that you can easily lose track of just how much time is passing. A little bit of web research has shown that there appears to be a gap of roughly 90 minutes or more between when people wake up and when they start the commute or school run. That would be fine if the time was used intentionally, but I suspect that far too often it isn’t.
The most productive people, however, realise that 90 minutes, 120 minutes or more is a long time to lose track of on a busy weekday. Add that time up over a week and we are talking about a significant chunk of a day lost. If you feel like you don’t have time for personal priorities later in the day, why not try using your mornings? Streamline breakfast, personal care and your children’s routines. I canvassed a few friends and colleagues for thoughts and these were the four most common suggestions with what to do with 30-60 minutes of morning time:
1. Play, read, or talk with your children. Mornings can be great quality time, especially if you have little kids who go to bed before or soon after you get home at night, but wake up at the crack of dawn. Set an alarm on your watch, put away the iPhone, and spend a relaxed half an hour reading stories or doing projects with them.
2. Exercise. You shower in the morning anyway, so why not get sweaty first? Trade off mornings with your partner on who goes out and runs and who stays home with the kids. Or, if your kids are older (or you don’t have any) work out together and make it a very healthy morning date. As a runner I know that I prefer to run before the heat of the day and certainly feel more up for the day if I do so.
3. Indulge your creative side. Lots of people would like to resurrect a creative hobby like painting, photography, scrapbooking, writing, even practicing an instrument. What if you went to bed a little earlier three times a week? Skip that last TV show or those last emails and get up a little earlier the next morning to put in some time at you’re your hobby before the day runs away from you.
4. Think. There are endless professional business consultants out there who will tell you that strategic thinking time is incredibly important for seizing control of our lives. Spend 30 minutes in the morning pondering what you want to do with your time. You could also use this time to pray or read a different business magazine, to meditate or write a journal or a blog!
All of these will help you start the day in a much better place than if everyone’s running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
If you do decide to adopt any of these, then why not drop me an email and let me know your thoughts? www.chestertongray.com
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