Get ready, it’s the holidays. There will be shopping, holiday parties, and more parties, and friends coming to town, and relatives who are having parties, and on and on.

Rather than figuring out who to avoid, as this article mentions, 6 ridiculous types of people you’ll meet at networking events, how about being on the lookout for some fabulous folks to meet and talk to instead? Take five minutes to plan ahead and choose three of these type of folks to get to know.

Here are six types of people to meet at your next event:

1. The Connector: This person knows many of the event attendees and is happy to introduce you to them.

2. The Listener: I’m not saying lay your “Dear Abby” woes on this person, however, they do listen well and ask great questions. Learn from them.

3.The Storyteller: This person shares amazing, funny, and interesting stories. They can hold you spellbound and often are surrounded by a group. A great way to get to know more people at once. When The Storyteller takes a break, you get to meet the audience. And then move on to the next group.

4. The Historian: This is one experienced person who knows the background of the event and the inside scoop on key people and event happenings. If you haven’t made a plan BEFORE attending the event, this person always has a schedule handy (a la conference mode) or a recommendation and you can determine your next move, speaker to see or person to meet.

5. The Master: This person is not always the host. A VP I worked with was a true master at being a gracious networker. I recently saw him at a wedding – he’s still the master. This is a person who can meet with nearly every person at a gathering, know his or her name, say a positive word and all in under two minutes. And, when he moves on to the next person, the person left behind feels GREAT. I often hear things like, “Hey did you see Tom?”

“Sure did. Do you know he asked me about my son’s football game?”

“Really? He asked me about my book.”

COOL is the mutual response. And the positive mojo keeps on going.

6. The Rememberer: (If you come up with a better name, SHARE!) This is the person who has amazing follow through. She takes a note or two on the back of your business card, then, miraculously, does what she said she would do! And, later, when you are now connected, she sends you a congratulatory note or quick DM or birthday card. And you feel great because you were remembered.

My grandma was truly amazing and gifted at this. She would remember all of our birthdays, our close friends’ birthdays, her coworkers birthdays, their kids’ events and special days, always sending a card with a thoughtful, handwritten note inside… She worked at a hospital and would also send kind little notes up with the dinner trays.

I learned from the best. And you can too at your next event or holiday gathering.

Have you got a type of person you’d like to meet at your next event? Do share.

Want more networking tips? Check out, “Rock Your Network®.” Good luck! I look forward to hearing your stories.

PS: Tip of the hat to my friend Joan who sent me the link to the “Six Types” post.

The legendary rock back The Who posed the immortal question: “Who are you?” They aren’t the only ones who want to know. Potential employers and network connections will ask you the same thing and you need to be ready with an answer that makes you look good and stand out from the crowd.

Here’s what typically happens at networking events. I was the keynote speaker for a group of financial leaders, primarily Chief Financial Officers (CFOs). Before my presentation, individuals were asked to introduce themselves briefly. The introductions sounded like this:

“Hello, I’m John Smith, and I’ve been a CFO for 25 years…”

“Hello, I’m Mike Miller, and I’ve been a CFO for 17 years…”

“Hello, I’m Fred Jones, and I’ve been a CFO for 22 years…”

While I’ve changed the names and varied years of experience, the introduction phrases are real. If an employer wanted to hire one of them, they’d sure want to know more information.

Sometimes when we’re in a group or working with fellow professionals, colleagues or students, we fall into the “group think” mode: “Well, John said his name, title, and years of experience, that’s what I should do.”

Instead, think about what sets you apart. When all things are nearly equal (like years of experience, education, job duties), it’s your personal brand, who you are, that sets you apart, and those are the reasons an employer will hire you.

As one Staffing Industry CEO told me, “Companies want to know what kind of contribution you can make to their success – not how many years you’ve been working.”

Not only do your achievements with quantifiable results set you apart, soft skills do too. One Labor Relations Director told me she hires for attitude over skill every time. “You can always teach a skill, but never an attitude,” she said. And she is not alone.

Here are some questions to ask yourself in order to help you identify your differentiators:

• What makes me a star? Translation for employers: “Why should I hire you?”

• What are my greatest strengths? If you’re not sure, go on an Attribute Treasure Hunt™. Survey your closest friends, family, and colleagues and ask them what they feel are your greatest strengths. Then ask them what three words come to mind when they think of you. Their feedback will give you a great head start on identifying your brand attributes and differentiators.

• What are my top five greatest achievements of all time? What are the skills, abilities, and values used to achieve them? What’s the common thread running through each?

Answering these and similar questions can help you identify your personal brand. By knowing who you are, what you want, and what makes you unique, you will be able to clearly communicate your goals and unique value to people in your network and to potential employers. (For more questions to help you uncover your brand and other job-getting tips, check out “Rock Your Job Search™”.)

As for my group of finance executives, luckily, my presentation was about how to create an effective sound bite (elevator pitch). Needless to say, attendees took action. I look forward to hearing about the personal branding action you take next and your results. Go get ‘em!

® 2011 Wendy Terwelp | All rights reserved.

For this year’s Job Action Day, I’m contributing to “Start Up.” According to Quintessential Careers, “Start Up” refers to the whole mindset of being the CEO of your career; having a portfolio of portable skills, a great network, flexibility, a project-mentality; not sitting at the computer visiting job boards, but getting out there, meeting people, and knocking on doors.

Get ready to take action.

In any economy, good times and bad, it’s important to take control of your career search and not rely on the “spray and pray” method—spraying your resume all over internet job boards, and praying someone calls you. By taking an active role in your career, you land a job by choice, not by chance. Won’t it be nice to control your career destiny?

While there are many methods to search for a job, the No. 1 method is to network. You will see networking tips for “getting out there, meeting people, and knocking on doors” below.

Additionally, you can contact companies directly via their company websites or via direct mail. Send your resume and cover letter to key decision-makers for your job target. Better, of course, is to network your way into the company through your personal contacts.

And finally, job boards. Job boards are the most passive way to search for a job. Per CareerXroads Source of Hire Report, March 2011, 24.9% of candidates are sourced through job boards.

My recommendation when using a job board: Use your professional organization’s job board first, like the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD’s) Job Bank (http://jobs.astd.org/) or the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA’s) Job Center (http://www.prsa.org/jobcenter/). Oftentimes jobs posted in a professional organization’s job bank are not posted elsewhere. If you wish to use the major job boards, I recommend doing a little investigative work. Read the job posting, and then see if you have a connection at the company or a contact whom you’ve identified has a connection (two degrees away). In this way, you will learn more about the organization through your connection and be able to create a warm referral to the appropriate decision maker. Do follow the job postings’ requirements and procedures; just use your connections to take your application to the next step.

Get Personal

Networking is simply the No. 1 way people land new jobs. In fact, according to CareerXroads Source of Hire Report, March 2011, “27.5% of hires are attributed to referrals. Referrals are the No. 1 Source of External Hires.” The study also states that “50.3% of all openings are filled through internal movement.” Internal movement counts as a referral. That means 77.8% of people are hired through people they know—their network.

How to Choose a Networking Group

When deciding upon joining a networking group, ask yourself the following questions: Who needs to know about you to help you reach your goals? Does this networking organization serve your target audience for your career goal? Does it have members who are your audience? If not, it’s probably not the group for you.

What groups should you join? Join at least three types of groups:
1. Peer group for brainstorming, education, commiserating, and more importantly for creating referral or alliance partners;
2. Prospects: a group that is your ideal target market or knows your ideal target market;
3. Professional business group or leads group, including professional associations, such as ASTD, PRSA, ISM, and others. Hiring decision-makers often Google your name before meeting with you. Being associated with a professional organization can boost your online presence.

Now that you’ve chosen your top three groups for in-person networking, make a plan. Take five minutes before each networking event to:
• Rehearse your sound bite
• Identify key players whom you would like to meet
• Make a goal to meet at least three new people

What to Say at Networking Events

Have at least three open-ended questions you can ask any person at the networking event.

Here are open-ended questions that encourage conversation:
1. What brings you to today’s meeting?
2. What one or two things would you like to take away from this event?
3. What’s the coolest thing that’s happened to you all week?

Never ask: “Do you know anyone who’s hiring?”

Your goal is to create real and helpful connections, NOT close the deal on a job offer or try to collect the most business cards in the room.

Let us know how this works for you and share your story! Good luck!

Want more help taking your job search to the next level? Check out “Rock Your Job Search™.” This program includes proven strategies including: How to Network Effectively Online; How to Ace the Interview; How to Negotiate the Offer and Get the Salary You Deserve, and much, much more. Includes: workbooks, audio, and extra bonuses. Enjoy!

® 2011 | Wendy Terwelp | Opportunity Knocks™ | All rights reserved.

Instead, how might you be of value to this person? Know that value does not have to equal money. Here are some quick tips to get back in touch and provide value at the same time:

1. Send a congratulatory note. You’re reviewing your LinkedIn updates and saw your friend got a new gig. Your congratulatory note will likely result in a quick phone call or email back to you. You can then set up a quick meeting to reconnect.
2. Send a link to a great blog post. You just read a terrific blog post. Tweet the link to your Twitter followers and, if relevant, to your LinkedIn connections as a status update.
3. Volunteer. If you’re not working, you’ve got a little time on your hands. Volunteering not only helps others, but also helps you make new connections and stay positive.
4. Serve on a board. I just got a call from a colleague about this. Boards need great people with solid work ethics and talent. Sound like you? What nonprofit can you serve on? Boards can be a great way to connect with community leaders, while doing something positive for a cause you believe in.
5. Check out your local Chamber of Commerce. What can you do for them? One of my clients (who had an MBA in Information Systems) volunteered to revamp her chamber’s website. This led to meeting top guns from local businesses who were chamber members. One of them hired her.

Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar once said, “If you help enough people get what they want, you’ll get what you want.” This makes networking much easier because you’re not asking for a job, you’re helping your friends. Next step, stay connected by touching base regularly. This helps you fuel your network to fire it up. Your network will be there for you when you need it, because you never lost touch. Good luck!

© 2011 ● Wendy Terwelp ● All rights reserved.

Do not fill your resume with fluff such as weak summary paragraphs (“20 years’ experience”), unsubstantiated adjectives (“significantly increased”), or clichés (“dynamic, results-getting professional”). Instead, use specifics. Employers want to see numbers, specifically numbers that demonstrate cost savings, revenue increases, productivity improvements, etc. Numbers that contribute to the company’s bottom line in some manner.

One staffing firm CEO said, “Put a BENEFIT STATEMENT into your resume – something that speaks of how you 1) made the company money, 2) saved the company money or 3) streamlined procedures. Years of experience is immaterial and may indicate that you are just “old.” Companies want to know what kind of contribution you can make to their success – not how many years you’ve been working.”

Here are some questions to ask yourself about each of your jobs, special projects, and other activity beyond the job description:

1. How much additional revenue was generated?
2. By what percentage did productivity improve?
3. By what percentage were workplace incidences or injuries decreased?
4. How much money was saved? (Describe the project and the savings.)
5. By what percentage was turnaround improved?
6. How many labor hours were saved?
7. _________________ went from ___________ to _______________ after employees completed ____________________ program.

The ability to provide “before and after” results is a strong way to demonstrate and communicate your value.

Challenge: Review your current resume. Have you provided specific information about your results? If not, get the numbers and add them into your document. Track the responses to your new, accomplishment-driven resume.

Need more help with your resume? Check out “Resumes that Rock.”

Artwork created by SnapHappy Creative LLC.

Here’s what happened while waiting for my plane at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) this weekend.

I was sitting in the waiting area, which was jammed. The plane was deboarding around the same time passengers for the next flight were supposed to board. The woman next to me and I both look at our tickets and start talking about the flight.

The conversation begins simply and comfortably. She asks me where I’m going – it’s Milwaukee. She tells me Milwaukee’s her connecting flight to San Diego. I tell her I’m jealous because San Diego is gorgeous. She shares with me that she’s speaking in San Diego, mentions the convention title, and then shares her story…

Had I not paid attention to those around me and just focused on my book, I never would have had the privilege to meet her.

Here’s who she is – and her story of survival: Mildred Muhammad

Would you like to get more results when you network?

1. Schedule a regular time each week to network. We all get busy, even when unemployed. (Those “honey-do” lists seem to grow.) By scheduling regular time in your calendar to network, it not only gets done, but you’ll feel more confident and comfortable in networking situations, avoid the hermit syndrome, and meet people who want to help you. Know that people want to help you and see you succeed.

2. Schedule 10 minutes each day to use social media, including providing status updates, relevant links that demonstrate your thought leadership, and quick emails to those who’ve updated their statuses with wins. For example, if you read your LinkedIn updates and a friend has landed a new position, send her a brief congratulatory note.

3. Determine which offline, in-person groups you will join and how often they meet. Take an active role in the organization, such serving as the chapter ambassador. This helps you meet more people and overcome some of the jitters of being in a new group.

4. Set networking goals for yourself. For example, when attending a new group, set a goal to meet three new people. Write this goal in your calendar where you’ve scheduled the meeting.

5. Prepare and rehearse your sound bite. Networking can take place any time, any where. Be prepared.

6. Update your network regularly with the action steps you’ve taken. If a friend referred you to a contact and you set up an informational interview, let your friend know that you made the connection and got results.

Make your job search your new full-time job. Scheduling networking activities will not only help you feel more productive, but help you land your next job much, much faster.

Want more networking tips? Check out Rock Your Network^®, the book.

Have at least three open-ended questions you can ask any person at the networking event.

Here are open-ended questions that encourage conversation:
1) What brings you to today’s meeting?
2) What one or two things would you like to take away from this event?
3) What’s the coolest thing that’s happened to you all week?

NEVER ask: “Do you know anyone who’s hiring?”

Your goal is to create real and helpful connections, NOT close the deal on a job offer or try to collect the most business cards in the room.

Want more networking tips? Read, “Rock Your Network^®”

Social media. Very few two-word phrases conjure up so many expectations and misconceptions as these two words put together. For as much as social media can do, there is still plenty that it can’t. Here are the top 10 things that social media can’t do, along with a mind map on the things that you can do about the 10 things that social media can’t do…

1. Social Media Isn’t and Will Never Be Totally Free: If you want results, build deep experience within your own team to reduce cost
2. Be Your Marketing Strategy: Social media is not a strategy. In fact, in a few years, we won’t be talking about it with the reverence we now have for it, rather, it will be assumed that it’s part of everything you’re doing, if not the center of it all.
3. Guarantee Sales: Social media cannot and will not likely ever be a sales engine. It’s a marketing and communication engine. It supports sales and like most all other forms of marketing, it’s up to you to convert.
4. Succeed With a Half-Assed Effort: Social media requires dedication, and like anything else, you get out what you put in. Consistency is the first key to social media success. Get consistent, and you’ll see results. Build a plan to publish social content in the 1-7-30-4-2-1 rhythm and you’re more likely to succeed.
5. Change Your Company For You: Social media requires active change management and a corporate culture to support it. Get the right people involved to lead and support the effort – that will change your company.
6. Replace Advertising/Sales Team/etc.: You still need to meet people in their medium and social media is just ONE of the ways to build business for your brand.
7. Be Your Only Go-to-Market Method: Your best bet is to build an integrated approach where social media builds on your other channels. Budget across channels, and include social in that budget.
8. Deliver Quick Success: Social media is NOT (usually) quick. In fact, it’s really only done well as a long-term commitment. Focus on delivering genuine value to a devoted base of customers first and activate that base only after you’ve built trust and social capital.
9. Be a One-off Project: Ongoing conversation is what makes social so powerful. Get out of ‘campaign mode’ and into ‘conversation mode’.
10. Create Conversation from Nothing: You MUST create/re-imagine/curate great content to get great conversation.

Click here to download Dana’s mind map of the above.

Dana Van Den Heuvel is the founder of the marketing consulting firm, The MarketingSavant Group. An award-winning marketing blogger, Dana is also the author of the American Marketing Association’s “Marketech Guide to Marketing Technology” and their “Guide to Social Network Marketing” and the creator of the AMA’s TechnoMarketing training series, Advanced Social Media training series and B2B Social Media training series. Dana is also a member of Rock Your Network®.

By Guest Blogger, Isabella York

In today’s modern world, cell phones play a very important role in communication. Everyone, including students, use cell phones to keep in touch with others, to convey an important message or to find information in an instant.

For those looking for a job, your cell phone could be your best friend when you need to call companies to inquire about job openings or to confirm an interview with a prospective employer. But, when used inappropriately, cell phones could cost you the job you want.

You can’t answer your phone every time it rings. And you shouldn’t, especially when you’re on an important job interview. Unfortunately, though, a lot of people break this rule. This definitely calls for some brushing up on cell phone etiquette.

First, here are some pet peeves headhunters have when it comes to interviewing people who can’t seem to part from their phones.

1. Gabbing or texting nonstop on your phone while waiting for your interview. OK, so it’s not your turn yet to impress the employer with your wit and charm. But that does not give you license to chat or text ceaselessly in the waiting area. That seemingly oblivious receptionist at the front desk could be eavesdropping on you or secretly eying you from a distance. Your private conversations could turn out to be not-so-private after all when word about your chatting or texting marathons reaches the hiring manager. That just gives a bad impression, so please, take your personal business elsewhere or wait until the interview is over.
2. Using the internet feature of your phone. Many new cellphones these days come with browsing features that help people get information on the go. Even if your data plan allows you to surf whenever you feel like it, remember that you are waiting for a job interview. You may think that this is not as severe as talking or texting on your phone, but it is. Surfing while waiting shows you’re bored and that you’re better off somewhere else than waiting for hours for your interview to happen.
3. Using your phone to take down notes. Surprise, surprise! Some people actually DO this during job interviews. You know from the moment you accepted the interview invitation that you need to take down notes to retain information. Why would you be using your cell phone to record information, when you could’ve brought a notebook or an organizer for that purpose?
4. Answering a call in the middle of the interview. Unless you’re expecting an emergency call from your wife who’s about to give birth or other related emergency (although, if it’s an emergency, why would you be expecting it anyway?), your phone should be turned off during the interview. Making a potential employer wait for you while you finish your phone conversation is just plain rude. The hiring manager wouldn’t think twice about kicking you out of the room, at least mentally.
5. Talking to someone in the company’s restroom. This can be summed up in one word: gross. Whatever your business is, don’t talk about it in the restroom, especially not in the company where you’re having an interview. You don’t know who else might be in hearing range and listening to every juicy detail you dish while on the phone.

Having said those things, there are good practices to observe so you don’t jeopardize the job of your dreams. Some tips:

1. Instead of burying your face on the phone while waiting for your interview, consider mentally rehearsing your answers to possible questions that may pop up during the interview.
2. Before entering the interviewer’s room, turn your cell phone OFF. Yes, you read that right: Off. Even if you have your phone on vibrate mode, your interviewer would still hear its buzzing sound and that could interrupt the flow of conversation.
3. If you are expecting an important phone call, inform your caller not to contact you during specific hours.
4. Ask someone else to take the call for you or run your errands BEFORE you head out to your interview.
5. Turn on your voice mail so you can listen to your messages after the interview.

It is important to make a good impression on your job interview. Even if you have a list of great accomplishments, those things won’t matter much if you don’t show respect to your future employer. Nonverbal communication matters greatly especially when meeting someone for the first time. Use your cell phone sparingly when waiting for an interview or preferably not at all.

Isabella York’s background includes serving in Human Resources with Balsam Hill,  a provider of fine pre-lit Christmas Trees. She’s also a busy mother with a son to raise, who enjoys being outside in her backyard garden. 

Graphic by SnapHappy Creative LLC.

Want more help with interviews? Check out Invincible Interviews^SM