Networking Through Volunteering

One of my biggest concerns about being in transition is occupying my time productively. A day without meaningful activities that are advancing my career or finding me work is to be avoided.

A great way to do something productive and worthwhile for your community and network at the same time is to get involved with volunteering.

Getting involved with Alumni associations is a great way to do this. Attending events and helping to plan events are great ways to reconnect with classmates and make new connections with other alums you don't know. People who are involved in these activities are usually folks who care about their Alma Maters and are willing to go the extra mile to help other Alums.

Helping with political campaigns is another good way to meet people who share your principles and beliefs and feel passionately about the same things you do. This oftentimes translate into a desire to lend a helping hand.

And don't forget that aside from networking, participating in or leading projects are great ways to acquire and refine professional skills and are great ways to fill in time periods on a resume that might otherwise be empty.

Yes, schmoozers do prosper

An excellent article from US News & World Report discusses the value of "schmoozing" and in particular avoiding negativity and getting along with other people.
Whether you are in an interviewing process or currently employed, being able to work with people is the entry fee for landing the job and advancing in your career. If you don't have that basic attribute, especially as you move into more senior positions, whatever else you may possess, is usually little valued.

Just in case you need another reason to use LinkedIn…

The Careersolvers blog tells us about a recent survey of 611 recruiters conducted by Inside Recruiting that shows more than a third (235) prefer LinkedIn as their online tool for background research.
The lesson? If you're not on LinkedIn, you may be missing opportunities to be noticed. If you are on LinkedIn, there is a good chance that someone is noticing.
Keeping your resume up-to-date and making contacts is something you need to be doing anyway so take the extra few minutes to maintain LinkedIn.

Do Not Criticize, Condemn or Complain

After many years in corporate life I've interviewed dozens of people for all kinds of jobs from individual contributor to Vice President. In that time I've learned that one of the surest ways to blow an interview is to ignore Dale Carnegie’s advice from his book How to Win Friends & Influence People: “Do Not Criticize, Condemn, or Complain.”

Regardless of how big a jerk your boss was, how dumb your co-workers were or how badly your current or former company was run, the only impression you will make is a bad one if you resort to whining, complaining or, even worse, story-telling.

No employer wants to bring a negative attitude into the workplace. Not only that, an interviewer’s reaction to complaining and negativity is nearly always to assume the complainer was at least partly if not entirely at fault in bad relationships.

But worst of all, if the interviewer is your potential new boss, he will be saying to himself: “if he says this about his current boss, what will he say about me?”!!!