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by Mike Mirshams
Regardless of your situation or occupation, networking can help you reach your career goals. Kerry Cooper, CEO of the energy marketplace Choose Energy, offers this key advice: “Manage your own career, because nobody’s going to manage it for you.”
Career management is appropriate at all stages and for all job levels. Consider these ways that networking can help advance your career:
1. If you want to advance:
If want to move over or up in your current company, it helps to start finding out what’s out there. You can network within your own company, or seek advice from people in other businesses who work at the level you want to move to in yours.
2. If you’re happy with your current job:
Even if you’re happy with your current position and company, networking can help you bring in business, or find out about new opportunities. Studies prove that people prefer to do business with someone they know. Getting yourself out there and known in your field can bring payoffs in a number of areas. This becomes even more interesting if the environment in your organization suddenly changes and you find yourself looking for a new opportunity before being laid off.
3. You’re ready to jump ship:
When you want to move on, networking is the obvious choice to find a new job that fits your experience and goals. These days with digital applications, you can e-apply forever and wait for the phone calls that don’t come because your e-resume sits in a virtual pile with the hundreds of others received.
You should search the job market once a year, even if you’re fairly happy where you are. Looking around at what’s out there can help you realize that what you have is pretty good, or be a chance to learn about new opportunities you might want to think about sooner or maybe at a later point in your career. It’s always a good idea to know your options.
How to get started? Don’t let being nervous stop you! Few people love the idea of approaching strangers. Consider taking classes or even online training courses in the areas of “Career Management” or “Professional Networking” for a kickstart. Such courses are for employees at all levels who want to advance their career. Along with teaching you of the basics of establishing and maintaining a strong job network, such trainings will also tackle straight on the nervousness most people feel about networking.
About the author
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