5 Tips on Turning Your Online Network Into Your Real Life Network

Posted on December 9, 2011 by meghan_ntroduction

It seems you can’t go anywhere online without reading about the importance of your online network. And while that is important, especially when trying to establish a network to build a career, change careers or even to find a job, it’s just as important to maintain your real life network.

A lot can be said for a strong and extensive online network. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and many other sites throughout the web give us incredible opportunities to connect and network with people across the globe. But many of these sites offer you the chance to connect with people local to you as well.

Take some time to explore ways to connect your online network to your real life network and you could open up a whole new set of opportunities.

Twitter Lists: A few months back Twitter introduced a great new feature that allows you to create a list of Twitter users based on whatever category you’d like. A great way to localize your twitter stream is to use the Twitter search function to search your town or surrounding area. Add the people you find to a list you create and start interacting and Networking with people in your area.
Attend a Tweetup: Tweetups are meetups put together so that people who interact online via twitter can meet in person. These are usually great ways to network and to bring your online network offline and into your real life. Once you’ve started following folks in your area start asking around to see is anyone is putting something together.
Organize a Tweetup: If no one in your area is taking the initiative to schedule a local tweetup, do it yourself! If you have connected with people locally g for it and start planting the seed. Here are some great tips for organizing a great Tweetup.
Facebook Fan Pages: Many cities are creating fan pages for the city itself or institutions within the city. The local library, community center, Parks & recreation District and chamber of commerce in your area all may have active fan pages. Become a fan so that you not only connect with other locals who are fans but to stay abreast of any networking events or job fairs in your hometown. This is truly becoming a great way to stay connected locally and build a network of people nearby.
The Local Paper: You don’t have to have the paperboy deliver the hard copy to your door anymore to take advantage of all that a local paper has to offer. If you have a local paper, chances are they are online and you can subscribe via email, usually for free. Many groups and local clubs still religiously list their events with the local paper. This is another great way to network locally.

Hopefully these tips will just be the tip of the iceberg for you when it comes to making your online network grow and become a part of your local network. You never know what new job and career opportunities may await at your next local Tweetup.

One more reminder: When you do attend local events to meet up with online friends always remember your business card! Have a number, email, website address and of course your Twitter handle on a card ready to hand out at all times.

Good luck!

Social Networking and What it Can do For You

Posted on November 21, 2011 by meghan_ntroduction

There are dozens of social networks out there and all of them have something to offer you. Though each and every one of these social networking can vary to some extreme degrees there is one thing they all have in common. They are all there to help you build a network. Networks not only help rebuild old friendships but nurture new ones. And that goes for connections related to your line of work as well.

One of the greatest parts of having a large social network is how strong and how much it can help you when you least expect it. One of the most important things to remember about building a social network is that it doesn’t grow over night. So it’s important to work at it everyday. You never know when someone in your network is going to come across a job or an opportunity tailor made just for you. And you never know when you may suddenly find yourself out of work and needing to tap into your network to find another job.

Here are four social network sites that you should be actively building a network on.

LinkedIn – This has become one of the go-to sites for professional networking. If you want to stay in synch with folks in your industry or the industry you’d like to break into. With the opportunity to get recommendations from colleagues you find that the stronger your network is the more of an edge you’ll have when performing a job search on LinkedIn. The Q&A section and groups give you other opportunities to network with other people in your field of interest as well.
Facebook – No surprise here. Facebook gives you a much more conversational and casual atmosphere than LinkedIn. It also gives you a broader opportunity to connect with both online friends as well as real life friends. I’ve seen people do everything from sell furniture, get animals to finding work by posting things on Facebook. As people get to know each other on Facebook they create more and more opportunities to open doors for one another when new opportunity arises.
Twitter – Many people consider themselves either Facebook people or Twitter people. But in reality they compliment each other quite well. Twitter is probably the best place to meet new people. And with the ever growing search functions and hash tag system you are really able to comb the world for news and opportunities relating to just about anything. The conversations move fast but the networks built can be tight and help you just when you need them the most.
Ning – Ning networks are do-it-yourself social networks that anyone can create for any topic they have an interest in. GovLoop & Twittermoms are two of the most heavily populated sites that have connected people in thousands of ways. From GovLoop has sprouted job opportunities, conferences, connections, and a much smaller world for Government employees across the country. Sites like “jobs in Social Media” among hundred of others provide numerous opportunities to connect with anyone in any industry.

Opportunities Growing for Executives and Managers

Posted on September 21, 2010 by meghan_ntroduction

While many people are looking for work, there is one group of unemployed who are starting to see a huge increase in openings, senior management. The outlook for executives is pretty encouraging right now. Now that it appears the worst of recession has passed many companies are open for business and ready to get back to work.

With companies looking to get “back on the horse” so to speak jobs in sales and marketing will be the ones most in demand. Many job sites have seen listings for management jobs increase as much as 41%.

Many companies are just now deciding to go public or are emerging from bankruptcy creating another wave of job listing for directors.

If you are an executive who is looking for work now is the best time brush up on your job search skills and start visiting the job search sites. Fields that are seeing a huge increase is the health care and energy industry. Executive and management positions anyway.

While these jobs are increasing everywhere the top places to be looking for executive and management jobs are as follows,

Washington D.C.
Boston, Massachusetts
San Francisco, California
Seattle, Washington
Atlanta, Georgia

Good luck in your search!

Top Companies That Are Hiring

Posted on August 27, 2010 by meghan_ntroduction

hiring-241x300 Though looking for work can be about as easy as searching for a needle in a haystack. Only there are hundreds of people crowding around looking for the same needle in the same haystack. Even if you’re armed with the right tools, experience and resume to get you the job, none of those things will help you find the right job.

But that’s not to say that there aren’t companies out there with jobs up for the taking. In fact Forbes Business released a report recently of the Top 10 mid-sized companies that are hiring the most right now.

Take a look at the list and see of any of these companies have listings near you.

Comdata – 120 openings
Super Micro Computer – 103 Openings
MicroStrategy – 100 openings
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals – 95 openings
CME Group – 87 openings
EchoStar – 81 openings
Molina Healthcare – 76 openings
Netflix – 76 openings
Facebook – 75 openings
Perficient – 65 openings

Good luck in your search!

Listen Consultants

Posted on July 20, 2010 by meghan_ntroduction

According to the Iowa Policy Project in 2005 an estimated 26% of the U.S. workforce had jobs that could be considered “nonstandard.” Jobs which include, independent contractors, temps, part-timers, and freelancers. A recent Business Week article The Disposable Worker discusses how popular the temporary staffing has become and how organizations and businesses have leveraged.

Here is the new reality.

Ntroduction - Consultants! New Reality

From Ntroduction team’s perspective, this is the new reality. The notion of “temporary help” will be here to stay for quite some time.

Our advisory team consisting of HR executives, CEOs and CFOs suggest that this will remain pattern before employment really starts to pick up. Temporary help will be leveraged to ‘try’ new approaches of keeping costs low as well as maintain low commitment to initiatives. Once the market demands more quality and reliability, companies tend to hire permanent help. In addition to this they suggest that the consulting rates, which have hit rock bottom, will slowly start picking up. This will also help drive the motivation to hire full time help. If you see your rates going up or a demand for additional roles, this might be a sign of good things happening!

In the meantime, Ntroduction team suggests that you

Take good care of your health
Keep yourselves abreast of changing trends and best practices
Be flexible in role; be adamant in life-style changes that may impact your health
Lastly, push your networking capabilities further – reach out beyond your friend’s circle. Shameless plug-in, Try Ntroduction.com risk-free – there is money back guarantee.