Beyond the Assembly Line: Networking

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

Beyond the Assembly Line: Networking

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

Networking means connecting with like-minded people, friends, and professional associates, and building relationships where you come to be known as an expert in your field. To me, this is a lifetime activity and not just something that you do when you’re out looking for work. You network between job hunting cycles so that jobs arrive on your doorstep. Think about it, when people run for President of the United States, they don’t just show up at the door the day before Election Day and say, “Hi! I’m a candidate.”

Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, and others were campaigning for years in advance of their first election for President, so people knew who they were. Well, networking is going to be your continuous campaign, your lifetime endeavor to ensure that you’re able to stay in contact with people you’ve worked with, that others know about you and how to reach you when they have a need you can fulfill.

It may be counter to your habits at first, but you need to begin a database of the people that you’re connecting with. Even though you may not think at the moment that a given individual can help you in the future, it may be that…