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Networking these days is more than a business card exchange, expert says
Feb 19, 2012 (Athens Banner-Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
With the unemployment rate in Georgia at nearly 10 percent, finding a job is harder than ever.
Sending resumes to firms that post want ads or handing out business cards at social functions just doesn't cut it, according to New York writer Ari Kaplan. In today's digital economy, social media is the networking tool that works.
"What's changed in this type of market is businesses and professionals relate to each other more deeply online," Kaplan said.
Kaplan, a former lawyer and corporate ghostwriter, runs the networking blog ReinventingProfessionals.com and published the book "Reinventing Professional Services: Building Your Business in the Digital Marketplace" last year. He visited the University of Georgia last week to share advice with law students.
The Brooklyn native said he originally wanted to title his book "White Collar Hustler" because job-seekers need to hustle online for work.
"People think of networking as exchanging business cards in the most awkward setting imaginable," he said. "Throw that out the window, because it's not effective anymore."
Job-seekers can use the social media site LinkedIn's advanced search function to, for example, identify all of the law partners in Georgia who graduated from UGA, Kaplan said. Then they can form groups of contacts related to their areas of expertise, share information like news articles or host discussions among group members. Those interactions will keep you in their minds when they're looking for a new employee or a business to provide a service, he said.
Kaplan said he's gotten ghostwriting work from people he doesn't know in person but who receive his newsletter. He also likes to check a website journalists use to find sources so he can refer them to people he knows, and often introduces online connections to each other if he thinks they can do business together, he said.
"I always say to people that self-promotion has little to do with promoting yourself," he said. "It has to do with promoting the work of others and letting that reflect on your character."
Kaplan also suggested starting a blog or email newsletter and interviewing people in the field you want to enter and the location where you want to work. Showing an interest in what a potential employer does -- not just dropping off a random resume -- is a great way to get a foot in the door, he said. Instead of a sending a contact an interesting article as a way to follow up, write the article yourself, he said.
Such techniques don't always work right away, but they pay dividends in the long run, Kaplan said.
"A lot of times it's not what happens at the initial meeting," he said. "It's what happens at the follow-up. Most of us fail at the follow-up."
___ (c)2012 the Athens Banner-Herald (Athens, Ga.) Visit the Athens
Banner-Herald (Athens, Ga.) at www.onlineathens.com Distributed by MCT
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