Networking for Mutual Benefit is a key part of the job search.

Introducing yourself to others who may be able to introduce you to good job opportunities can only happen if you network well. This activity is important to get your resume in front of the right person. Especially since over 80% of all jobs are not published. Your friends, family and growing network contacts are the path to these jobs.

Here are some tips for doing this:

1. Make sure the person you are talking with learns enough about you.
   You do not want someone to talk about you unless they know enough to be able to introduce you to the right people. They do not need to know your life history, but they do need to know the key points about your skills, experiences, passion and career goals.
2. Ask them to briefly review your resume so that they know what it says.
   You may have told them one thing, but your resume may say it differently, or include something that you did not tell them. Talking with you about your resume content can help make sure they are better informed to share your resume with the right people (not organizations, but people).
3. Have your networking contact only share your resume where it is relevant and with people they know.
   There is no value to the job seeker to use networking as another means of getting your resume scattered around town. This is what Monster, Careerbuilder, Ladders, LinkedIn and the other Job Boards are for. Having your resume delivered directly to someone who can benefit by seeing it is far more important and successful to both the job seeker and recruiter/hiring manager. Also, anyone knowing the true value of networking for Mutual Benefit will not flood their contacts with random and irrelevant resumes. This is rude and can tarnish a good relationship.
4. Ask your networking contact tell you where they plan to send your resume before they do so.
   This is important for the job seeker for a few reasons. You may not want your resume shared at a business where you do not want to work, especially if you are still working and the business is a sister or partner company. Additionally, you want to be able to follow up afterwards and talk directly with the person your resume was forwarded to.
5. Thank your networking contact anytime they share your resume.
   A good honest thank you followed by an offer to help them in any way goes a long way to nurture the relationship you have with a new contact as well as a long time friend.
6. When you email your resume to anyone with the intent of sharing it with others make sure your email is a great cover letter for the person who ultimately gets the message. Don’t clutter the email message up with irrelevant or personal information to your connection. When typing the email to your connection, write it as if a recruiter or hiring manager is reading what you type, because most likely they will.

You need to use Networking for Mutual Benefit® to get your resume in front of the right people. Do this right and you will see that it works.