Networking, Make it Real

We have already reached the time when an algorithm can analyze the data of those you connect with to identify interests, career goals, and general experiences. This information can match the user to contacts, making the networking process more efficient.

Professional networking will foster connections and keep you updated on current trends & conversations in your field and areas of interest. They can help you access connections you would not necessarily have gotten offline.

In an article published by Indeed’s Editorial Team on March 15th, 2021, “Top Networking Skills You Should Have (And How To Improve Them),” these three skills were presented as steps you can take to improve your networking skills

1. Practice improving communication habits:

Improve your networking skills by practicing good communication habits. Maintain eye contact when speaking with someone and nod your head in understanding or agreement. Use simple, straightforward language, ask questions and invite opinions. Please pay attention to the body language of the person you're speaking with to make sure they understand and confirm whether they agree or disagree.

2. Ask friends for constructive feedback:

Consider asking friends how you're coming across in conversation. Understanding where you can improve can help you improve your communication style, which can significantly impact your networking skills.

3. Attend networking events:

One of the best ways you can improve your networking skills is to practice them regularly. Attend networking events and focus on building a genuine human connection with the people you meet. Ask questions that show you're genuinely interested in getting to know the person you're speaking with, and listen closely to the answer while maintaining eye contact. Respond with relevant questions to show you were listening. Focus on the quality of the relationships you're having rather than the quantity.

Still, the most important thing to remember is that networking is a two-way street.

Make it real, and do what that requires, giving and taking to build trust.

Staying in contact with your new connections is needed, and looking for ways to help them achieve their goals will develop and strengthen the relationship. It works best one on one because both sides can participate equally.

Should your job define you as a human being, and how can LinkedIn help?

This article below can also be found on my LinkedIn Newsletter site, where many subscribe to this and receive notifications when posts are made.

The best answer to that question is no, and the support for that point of view is that a person is a being that has specific capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, values, and part of a culturally established form of social relations such as families. All these areas overlap the work time, often subjugate work responsibilities, and make it far easier to function when employment values align with an employer’s goals.

Apart from work, a human being’s life has some critical areas of focus, but even so, the reality is that time can be an obstacle to this definition. One week has 168 hours. Suppose a person sleeps an average of 8 hours a day; that takes 56 hours out of this total, leaving 112 hours. If a person works 50 hours a week working and commuting, then this leaves 62 hours or 8 hours a day to devote to your family, eating, hobbies, church, reading, study, and social relations.

The financial support from working 50 hours a week often is needed to support everything about the 168-hour week. Usually, it takes two adults to support a family, but full-time work leaves little time for reinvesting in oneself.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average worker currently holds ten different jobs before age forty, and this number is projected to grow. Forrester Research predicts that today's youngest workers will have twelve to fifteen jobs in their lifetime.

If you probably have job changes ahead within your projected career, what can be done to create an upward trajectory in a career? One answer comes in understanding the skills critical to holding your current job in place and the logical following skills that should be added. Working until you are burnt out and want nothing to do with your past career focus can be a very costly career mistake.

The LinkedIn profile is a template for all the experiences and qualifications that came together to get you your current job. With that template in place, you can ask yourself where you go next when a job change happens. An easy answer can be to use LinkedIn to find out what skills your supervisor or that person’s manager has and identify what skills you lack for that job. You can look at competitors' profiles and find their employees’ skills and what is something that would help you. Another approach is looking at similar industries and finding job profiles based on the same or similar skill set.

You may have asked yourself if you could fit into the business and culture of competitors, suppliers, and customers from your own business experiences. Linkedin can show you the people who run those businesses and departments, and that can open the door to call and ask for 30 minutes in an informational interview to ask some questions.

The LinkedIn profile can point to the future as well as be a road map of where you have been, and that tool can prove invaluable for you. As we have seen, a working person's week isn’t much time open.