blog villoslado

By Dawn Jordan, former operations vice president at Bank of America

On any given day, it seems I could attend an event and meet the individual who will be key to landing my next job.  This is because my email inbox is constantly loaded with invitations and announcements for upcoming professional networking events.

My challenge isn’t a lack of time, interest or need to attend these networking functions, it is lack of money.

Pre-layoff I thought little of registration fees for such activities but post-layoff is another matter.  Their expense has been an unanticipated cost of unemployment.  As a result, I too often find myself foregoing events that  I would prefer to attend.  The longer I am unemployed, the more often I expect this to happen.

Inevitably, I find myself torn between feeling as though I can’t afford to go to an event but that I also can’t afford not to go.

What makes matters worse is that career service industry experts agree networking is one of the most critical components of a job search.  They say that especially in weaker  economies you are more likely to find your career opportunity through networking and not on job boards.

This is where online social media tools such as  LinkedIn, and Meetup.com help.  They allow me to extend my reach and meet people for low or no cost.  When you consider typical networking expenses can easily exceed $400 per month, leveraging these resources is a no-brainer.

One of the ways I use LinkedIn to extend my networking budget through the “Groups and Associations”.  I look for local chapters of organizations as well as groups in the functions and industries where I desire to work.

I join groups and then contact members on an individual basis.  If they are located near me I’ll request to physically meet, otherwise my goal is a phone call.  The shared group connection makes it easy to connect and increases the likelihood they will make time to talk.  Long-term, I retain connections to organizations and peers that can continue to contribute to my professional growth.

Use LinkedIn. It is a wonderful tool.

By Ron LaPedis, Principal at Seacliff Partners

I am an entrepreneur who was always afraid to quit my day job. I sold rock concert T-shirts in college and even after I began work in the Silicon Valley, I started selling high-end fountain pens from Realpens.com and writing articles for industry magazines. These were little more than hobbies until my first pink slip showed up, after I’d spent nearly 29 years in the industry. After exiting the building and taking stock, it was obvious that networking was the answer. The scuttlebutt was that few people were being hired off the street and recommendations to managers were worth their weight in gold. Using LinkedIn’s advanced search feature, I reached out to old friends and co-workers for references but instead discovered that many of them were independent consultants and actually making a living at it.

While still searching for a full-time job, I began the work to become a trusted adviser on my favorite topic – protecting businesses and people when something goes wrong. I used LinkedIn Answers to get tips and tricks from my contacts on how to set up a consulting business including the need for liability insurance and why I should incorporate as an LLC. To prove my credibility, I used the WordPress application on LinkedIn to publish my regular blog post entries on to my network. An Australian friend of mine saw my posts on LinkedIn and recommended me to a company in Los Angeles. My first contract came quickly, in fact before the ink was dry on my incorporation papers. After that I was requested to author an online article and was paid to write and give two educational sessions at a technology conference – and this all started with a LinkedIn contact.

I am absolutely convinced of the power offered by LinkedIn and I tell all of my friends to build their networks, use the search feature to find people at targeted companies, and get recommendations from co-workers.

Use LinkedIn. It is a wonderful tool.