Networking for results

This post will open your eyes to the power of networking and keeping in touch with friends,alumni and strangers too.Networking happens only when you open up to an individual or to many individuals and they respond to the chenge created by you.It is always a 2 way street and no man (human) is an island and everything is connected or going to be connected.Below is my take on networking and what is below are my suggestions.

Don't apologize. As long as you are polite and flexible, you are not inconveniencing anyone by asking for a networking interview. All successful people have been helped along the way by someone else and are happy to return the favor and if they are not then you know what type of people they are!

Don't take rejection personally. If someone turns down a request for a meeting, remember that it most likely has nothing to do with you. For all you know, you may have caught someone in the middle of a tight deadline or a family emergency. Assume good intentions on the other person's part and move on to the next target. Or, if you sense that the person is eager to help but simply unable to do so right away, you can offer to call back in a month and see if his or her schedule has opened up by then.For all you know there is a more deserving person than you!.

Be creative. You never know who might make a good contact. Anyone you read about in your alumni magazine, your local newspaper, The Economic Times,NY Times,New Yorker,FT, or anywhere else is fair game.Businesses and world class people are there everywhere. You can even scour the Web site of an organization that interests you and approach someone you've identified from the staff.What will you actually do to bring novelty and just how is the company/body going to benefit from you?

Do your homework. The more you can learn ahead of time, the more focused your meeting will be, and the richer the information you will take away from it. You will also impress your interviewer enough that he or she may be motivated to take a more-than-perfunctory interest in your career path. And always know why you are going to meet the person.Time is precious even to you and be bothered about your time-not the other person's.

Focus ... but not too narrowly. You need to go into a networking interview with a clear sense of the directions you would like to explore and the ways in which a given contact might help. At the same time, your contact may know of opportunities that would never have occurred to you, and you should be open to those suggestions.

Keep records. Be sure to write down and file away contact information and related notes after every meeting. Even if a meeting doesn't seem immediately useful, you never how the information might come in handy down the road.

Be patient. Most contacts are more comfortable granting interviews when they know that you don't expect them to find you a job.Patience is a virtue-learn it and value the same.

Learn. to find information that is relevant to the company you are targeting or the sector you want to get into and tell the world how to use the same and make it idiot proof.Any fool should be able to follow up from where you have left.Learning to unlearn what you already know too is vital today.For all you know you might learnt the wrong things!After all ignorance is bliss right!

Give credit where it is due and remember people can call bluffs very easily.Acknowledging a source of information help you build a reputation based on honesty-which leads to you being trusted.

Contribute.Even if you think that you have little to offer, you may well have information and ideas that can benefit the person you'd like to meet. Let that thought give you confidence as you set out to build your new career and remember little drops of water build an ocean so do not think it is wasting time.

Innovation does not happen just like that-people need to come up with ideas and there are bound to be mistakes along the way and there will be a lot to learn and unlearn-do it and get damned or do not do it and still get damned!
I prefer the former to the latter as I learn something new all the time-do you?Networking well will get results sooner rather than later.A blog is a tool to build the ultimate network-only the message needs to get out!

The best information on creativity is found in www.creax.com and it has an office in Bangalore too!.