Networking is More Than Just Handing Someone Your Business Card

I have posted a couple of times on networking. This one is a video blog, prompted by one I got from Keith Ferrazzi. He was talking about an article that had been published about him that he thought might have been a mistake but turned out good. The article is The 10 Secrets of a Master Networker. Check it out. Great stuff. It made me think that today many people think Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn is all they need to do to network. While these are valuable tools that is not networking. See what I have to say.



Two books have been influential in teaching me networking skills.  The first was one I read when I first went out on my own. This was Swim with the Sharks: Without Being Eaten Alive; Outsell, Outmanage, Outmotivate and Outnegotiate Your Competition. Mackay also wrote Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty: The Only Networking Book You'll Ever Need. Both are excellent books for learning networking skills. More recently Keith Ferrazzi wrote Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time and Who's Got Your Back: The Breakthrough Program to Build Deep, Trusting Relationships That Create Success--and Won't Let You Fail. Both excellent resources as well. If you had to pick one I would most likely follow Ferrazzi in Never Eat Alone.

The HR Carnival: Summer Time Edition

The summer time edition of the HR Carnival was published yesterday at Mark Stelzner's blog site called Inflexion Point. It is a great collection of HR related articles. If you are on vacation it will make some good beach reading (unless you follow my advice). If you are not on vacation it a good way to spend an hour and get some extra information and education.

There is NO BETTER WAY to stay current than reading professional blogs. And there in no better way to find them than walking down the midway of the HR Carnival.

Good reading.. and if you are on the beach wear your sunglasses and make sure you are using sunscreen unless you are on the Gulf Coast, in which case you are already covered in Sunblock 5000. (Anyone know what movie that is from?)

Networking: An Essential Skill in a Successful HR Career (and every other career too)

I did some networking today. I reached out to Sharlyn Lauby, the HR Bartender, and she was gracious enough to call and chat. (You need to put her on your MUST read list. You will find out why she is on most of, if not all, the lists of the best.) We chatted about our businesses, our blogs, what we are trying to accomplish. (This all developed from a post of hers that talked about being willing to share, even with other consultants. A view I hold as well.) In the course of the conversation we talked about people who "network" with us. I put network in quotes because, in reality, that is not what people are doing. They call us because they are looking for a job and someone told them that we "know everyone." They come looking for job leads or names. We are gracious and help them out and off they go. Often we never hear from them again or sometimes we will get some follow up basically to the tune of "have you found anything for me yet?" Then one day we hear they got a job. So we drop them a note and say congratulations. Some times we get a note back, often we do not. Seldom do we ever get a note saying "I have gone to work. Here is where you can contact me. Thanks for your help. Now what can I do for you." Often we hear "Oh, I am sorry, now that I have gone to work I just don't have time to network." (Is this sounding like a rant?)

Well "I don't have time to network" should be banished from every HR professional's lexicon. Networking is an ESSENTIAL TOOL of the HR professional. One of the goals of a true professional is to be a resource to their organization for which they work. You have to be scanning the environment, you have to understand the legal and legislative landscape, you have to know social trends and compensation trends all so you can support the strategic goal of the organization. That is tough to do all by yourself. But there are people out their that know this stuff. There are people out there that are smarter than you. And it is important for you to know who they are and meet them. And they come in very handy if you are looking for work.

Here are my tips for effective networking:

1. Everytime you ask for help offer some in return. Do NOT be just a Taker. Be a Giver. At the end of a conversation ask the question "How can I help you?" (Hint: Mean it!)
2.  If you are job hunting, be specific. What are you looking for? Don't just say "Do you know of any openings?" My response may be "Well I saw a Now Hiring sign at Panda Express." (True) If you employed and are looking for contacts, suppliers, or information be clear about what you are looking for.
3. Try to meet someone face-to-face. Just because you have connected with them in Linked In, or Facebook or Twitter does not mean you are networking, as I wrote in Networking is More than just adding a contact on social media.
4. Follow up. FOREVER. This does not mean that you have to write every day, or once a month, or even once a quarter. But there needs to be some consistant follow up. Think of it as a "drip marketing" campaign. You can even rank your contacts as A, B or C. The "A" contacts you may want to reach out to quarterly. The "B"s every six months and the "C"s on an annual basis. This is based on the importance to you that you keep in touch with them. And you don't have to write a book. A one line email, a birthday card, a short hand written note or even a voice mail is sufficient just to make contact.
5. Sharlyn and I agree everyone needs to read Keith Ferrazzi's Never Eat Alone and I will add Harvey Mackay's Swim With the Sharks. These too books are required reading.

Well I will bring my rant to an end. There are many more tips and many experts on networking that are availble to you. Find what works for you. But if you have aspirations of the "C" suite, or of consulting or of just being able to find a job when you find yourself on the street then you had better learn to make networking a life long practice.

Tell me what you think. (BTW, one good way to start networking with people is to leave comments on their blogs. Who knows they might even initiate the contact. Unless of course you are Anonymous.)

The Value of Twitter: Putting Some RICE in Your Social Media Diet

I attended a networking last evening. It was people from various walks of business that had one thing in common, the host of the event. We are people that she has met through various methods, but I was one exception. I was the only one that she had met through Twitter. We don't quite remember who followed who first, but upon looking at her Twitter page and her contact information I sent her a message and asked for a face-to-face over a cup of coffee. She assented and we had a very pleasant discussion. She is a successful business person and business advisor that I felt fortunate to be able to connect with.

Well as the networking began I was introduced several times as the person she had met through Twitter, so I spent some time explaining to people how that had occurred and of course fielded a number of questions on how and why I thought Twitter was valuable. Thinking back over what I told people I have developed an acronym that to me best describes the value of Twitter. RICE

• R stands for Resources. If I need a reference, a referral to someone, a tool, a place to meet, a restaurant, etc. there are people out there that will be able to give me that resource. I have discovered a number of great blogs to read as a result and have had a number of referalls made to me as well.
• I stands for Information. Search engines, mostly Google and Yahoo and now Bing, were where I usually went to find information on human resources topics. Today I include Twitter, and often that is the first place I go. If you ask for something you get answers from people who have already filtered the monumental amount of information that is on the Internet. So rather than having to sort through those things myself why not use what others have already filtered.
• C stands for Contacts. I have "met" so many great professionals in HR and employment law through the "follow" function on Twitter. Many of these people I feel I come to know well enough to call them "friend", even though we have never met in person. I have contacts around the country. I have had the opportunity to meet some of them as they travel to Atlanta or as I travel to their locale. But I have also meet a number of people here in the Atlanta area from fields that I would have not generally sought out. Tweet Ups get organized and you actually have an opportunity to go meet in person at a local restaurant and do some "old-time" networking. It is a great way to get out of the usual circle of contacts that you may have developed through the years. Business and friendships can, and do, develop.
• E stands for Energy. As you read tweets, or connect with people, there is a palpable energy that you pick up. People get excited about their topics, their lives, and the livelihoods and  that ends up making you excited too. You can draw on that energy to renew yourself during the day. You can pick up this energy and transmit yours to others.

There are certainly some downsides to Twitter, but that depends on what you try to get out of it. Some people use it only to follow a celebrity with whom they are obsessed. Some use it soley as a display of their vanity and only transmit but don't interact. Some people get so caught up in it that it becomes a black hole that sucks their time away. You do have to be careful about that. But the nice thing about Twitter is you can do as little or as much as you want to do. You only follow who you want and only allow people to follow you as you want. You control what you say and how often you say it and even to whom. Not everything has to be public and you can even be anonymous, though to me that lessons the value.

But I think it is great tool for HR professionals to use to broaden your horizens. So put a bit of RICE in your social media diet and become a Twitter user today.

Putting the "SOCIAL" into Social Media

There is a great deal of material on social media being produced on a daily basis. There are millions of people tweeting, linking, posting, "booking" each day. Some are personal connections, some are business oriented. Generally in the personal connections there has at sometime in the past been some "in-person" connection, albeit some may be in the distant past, as in connecting with a high school classmate from 30 some odd years ago. Even some of your business connections through LinkedIn may have had an in-person connection at some point. But we get caught up in the connection mania and start adding people like crazy and as a result we often forget the SOCIAL part of social media. I am a light-wight tweeter following just over 670 people and an even lighter-weight LinkedIn user with about 180 connections. But even with these numbers the social aspects can get lost.

I had a fellow tweeter ask me if I would be interested in a phone conversation, as she had noticed I was in the Atlanta, Georgia area as was she. I suggested rather than a phone call I would like to meet in person. So we fit it into our schedules and I had the good fortune to meet Beth A. Miller of Executive Velocity (ExecVelocity on Twitter). Not only was it a very pleasant hour, but it now has the potential for being a relationship that may help both of us in our businesses.

Given that encounter I wanted to encourage people to take their social media relationships and put the in-person social contact in there as well. Here are some tips for doing this.

1. Many people are skittish about meeting in person. Learn from the professional networkers. Harvey Mackay is the "old dog" of networking (no offense to Harvey, he is actually a personal role model for me). He has written numerous books including Swim With the Sharks Withour Being Eaten Alive . He gives excellent advice on establishing, maintaining and effectively using your network. The new generation of super networker is Keith Ferrazzi. He is incredible. He has written two book, Never Eat Alone and Who's Got Your Back.
2. A second good way to meet face-to-face is to go to a Tweet-Up or a Blogger event. Meet those people you have been exchanging information with or have been following or will want to follow. Generally these are held in a pleasant social environment (I go to one held at Pizzaria Venti) and people get relaxed and put a person to the tweet.
3. Meet other people at conferences. I have not had the luck to go to one yet, but I read that they are getting bigger and bigger. Recent ones have been held in NYC and Louisville. But you can also go to other association meetings and get to know the bloggers, tweeters and "facers" in the group.
4. Lastly, if there is someone you truly want to meet then send a message, make a call and suggest a meeting. Takes some guts (what if they don't find you as interesting?) but it won't happen if you don't do it. Take the leap.

Well those are some of my suggestions. I hope readers who are better at this will suggest some other ways to put the SOCIAL into social media. Let's hear from you.

Networking Is More Than Just Adding A Contact on Social Media

Dan Schawbel, a personal branding expert, put a link about LinkedIn on Twitter. The article is entitled LinkedIn Skyrockets As Job Losses Mount. Apparently more and more people join as they are getting laid off. I have seen alot of people join and I have advised alot of people to join. I think it is important to be connected on social media. Here is my profile. However, there are some fundamentals about networking that are important to remember, regardless if that is done through LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, email, in person or on the telephone. These fundamentals include:

1. Actually connect with the person, don't just add them as a contact. They really serve no purpose just being on a list.


2. Don't start off immediately with an appeal to "help me find a job."


3. Pay attention to what is said about or by the person you are contacting. Try to connect with them through some interest of theirs.


4. Keep in touch with them by emailing or snail mailing some item about that interest. You may have noticed they went to a particular school or they support a particular team or they have a favorite author, etc.


5. FOLLOW UP with them, and don't wait to do it. Keith Ferrazzi talks about the importance of this in his Greenlight Community blogs.


6. STAY IN TOUCH. Don't let the contact die. People are busy. They are not going to remember you and your particular need if they do not hear from you on occassion.


7. And lastly, stay in touch even AFTER you become employed. You never know, you may need them again and it is much easier to keep the contact than it is to start them up again.

Oh, and a good tip to be interesting to people is to be interested in them. I suggest you read Keith Ferrazzi's Never Eat Dinner Alone or Harvey Mackay's Swim With the Sharks.

Smell the Coffee: A Couple of HR Observations

Must have been a tough day today, perhaps due to a 3-day weekend for some, because at least two blogs had a coffee theme. (Ah coffee.. that aromatic nectar of wakefulness).

Kris Dunn, The HR Capitalist, weighed in on the Starbucks story about a court decision requiring Starbucks to pay baristas $100 million in back tips and penalities, for letting shift supevisors share in the tips customers put in the tip jar. Apparently that is a very big "no-no" in California (and now will embolden other employees in other states to bring the same lawsuit.) Starbucks has announced they will appeal the judges "excessive" judgement. However, I am sure we will see some fundamental changes in the way compensation is handled around Starbucks, win or lose. Personally, I never used the tip jar often, unless I got exceptional service, and I mean exceptional. One could argue that employees want tips then they should be willing to take a tipped wage of $2.13 an hour as well. I doubt many would be willing to make that trade.

The other blog with a coffee theme was that of Slacker Manager, Phil Gerbyshak. Phil gives a Monday Morning Management tip, which is: "Instead of having coffee alone, every day this week take a member of your team to coffee with you and find out a little more about how each associate on your team feels things are going. Start with the most junior member and work your way to the most senior." Great idea! In fact, if there is a Starbucks nearby, walk them over and spend sometime getting to know them.

This method is also good for getting to fellow executives and a great way to expand your "network" within the company. If you don't want to ask them out, then bring coffee to them. The point is that making allies and friends within the organization is VERY important to an HR professional and that can be done most effectively by taking a little bit of social time. It does not always have to be business. You are in the business of dealing with humans so put that social skill to work. (And by the way, Starbucks does serve other things than coffee and you will not be automatically be labled a snob. Unless of course you order a venti, no-whip, three shot, double-dipped, pat your head three times latte. Personally, I drink the coffee.)