In virtually ever career guide, it mentions how important networking is to further your career. There are three different disappointments with this. First, these guides rarely tell you what to do. They tell you go to events, or hang around with people in your industry, or something equally unapalatable. I mean, you work all day, you don't want to do this on your own time, right? Second, even when they do, they tell you something that isn't helpful. Chances are, you are networking all the time, no matter what your industry is. Plumbers spend all day with other tradesmen, landscapers work with equipment repairmen, and data entry clerks probably know someone with their same job at another company. Maybe they even know someone who left this job to go work over there. Doens't matter, the point is, everyone networks all the time. The guides should be telling you how to best make use of this group of contacts, and not suggest having a jelly donut with them once a month. And finally, even if someone does have a good list of contacts, and does somewhat know what to do with them, they rarely act on it until it's either too late, or do so in a way that makes no impact on their lives.

When you are faced with a job loss or other event, networking is one of the most important tasks you have to understand and implement. The key thing to note is that networking is much easier to do when you are employed then when you are not. Why is this? Well first, if you have a position, you can focus on nothing more than just making contact. You don't need anything, you just want to get to know the other people, what they need, and what they are like. You might not need them for six months or six years, but it's always helpful to have contacts with people in good times and in bad. Second, if you are working somewhere, you have something to offer in return. The person you are networking with is also networking with you, of course. By having contacts and things to offer on your own, the more valuable a contact you are, and the more people are going to want to talk with you. And finally, if you are employed, this networking may actually be done on company time — it may actually even be considered working — if you do it the right way.

If you are not employed, networking becomes much more of a challenge. You start to feel isolated from your peers, colleagues and industry. You feel a little embarassed to show up without a job, and don't feel like an equal with the people that you used to be on an even footing with. You can easily network with other unemployed folks, but honestly, that's not what you want. The other unemployed people in your network are after the same thing you are — employment. They aren't interested in improving relationships or contacts just yet, that will come later.

Now, there are several ways for you to network. You can pay for it, by joining a group, hiring a career coach, or going to an expensive conference. You can do it incidentally while you are doing something else, by picking up either a part-time job, or going for furthering education. You can try to get a job in the middle of it, by becoming a resource for recruiters, who need people like you, if not for your exact skills, but for the people you know, and for your assessment of who is excellent, even if they aren't available. Finally, you can do it all on your own, and become an independant consultant, maybe even working for your old employer.

In future articles, I'll discuss each kind, and how to make each one work for you.