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Tuesday, July 17, 2007

The Savvy Networker
Liz Ryan, Yahoo! HotJobs

I was at a networking event the other evening, and I met a woman as I was walking into the venue. She told me her name and asked me what I was working on. "Well," I said, "tomorrow I'm leading a management training course for a local company." I mentioned the company's name. "Wow, that is perfect!" she said. "I want to get a job with that company. How should I follow up with you?"

I wanted to say, "Follow up about what? I don't even know you."

Since the working population has glommed onto the idea of avid networking over the past decade or so, some people have really taken it to extremes. They don't even feel the need to introduce themselves before trying to jump on whatever professional coattails are in view, in order to advance their job searches or new-client development efforts.

Have Some Perspective

Now, most of us are familiar with the residential white pages -- the part of the phone book that lists the individual householders, their names and their phone numbers. Here's what we know about those people whose numbers are listed in the white pages: They have phones! And not only that, we know that they are willing to publicly list their names and numbers.

Still, we wouldn't pick up the phone book, dial a number at random, and say to the person who answers the phone, "Hello! I was hoping you could help me with my job search."

So why would we view every stranger we meet at a networking event (or online, via a networking site like LinkedIn) as a gung-ho partner in our professional endeavors, even without inquiring?

Manners Matter

I got a LinkedIn connection invitation from a person I've never met or heard of, with this introduction: "I hope you will connect to me on LinkedIn, which I hear is a tremendous networking tool. I want to make contacts at Bank of America." Talk about the direct approach!

This kind of me-first networking offers nothing in exchange for the valuable time and energy that my prospective contact hopes to hit me up for.

Now, I'm crazy about helping job-seekers and entrepreneurs. I am in active email correspondence with a dozen or so of them right now. I don't need or want anything in return for my thoughts and advice. But here is why I'm corresponding with these dozen people instead of the pushy lady at the networking event: because they asked me nicely. They showed an awareness that I, like every person on Earth, have other things I could be doing than assisting them. When it comes to networking, courtesy and tact make all the difference.

My eighth-grader daughter refers to certain people in her social group as "maybe a little WRAM." What does WRAM mean? I asked her. It's an acronym, she said: it stands for World Revolves Around Me. There are a few networkers I could affix that label to without much trouble. Don't be one of them: networking is supposed to be a two-way street, and the more you focus on helping your fellow networkers, the more good things will come back to you -- trust me.

Liz Ryan is a 25-year HR veteran, former Fortune 500 VP and an internationally recognized expert on careers and the new millennium workplace. She is the author of "Happy About Online Networking," creator of the Career Bound workshop, and founder of the global women's organization formerly known as WorldWIT. Contact Liz at liz@asklizryan.com.

Also on Yahoo! HotJobs:

The perils of being a go-getter
Office gossip can be productive
More networking tips

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