On Forbes: 10 Professional Hurdles that Sabotage Your Networking Efforts

Everyone knows networking is the critical piece of the professional puzzle. Our career, business and job search goals depend on it.

Back in the day, you could put that aside, work hard and have a career for life. But that time has passed. In short, while “who you know, not what you know” has always been the ticket into the upper echelons, the need to network has rippled out to every single one of us. From CEO to student, we all need a strong base of support, not only to advance our careers but also to maintain the advances we have made.

So what if you are not great at networking? What then?

Up today on Forbes.com, my fourth article at the site and second in a series about business and career networking for people who find it a struggle…

Black executive shaking hands with female colleague

“Everyone knows networking is the critical piece of the professional puzzle. Our career, business and job search goals depend on it.

Back in the day, you could put that aside, work hard and have a career for life. But that time has passed. In short, while “who you know, not what you know” has always been the ticket into the upper echelons, the need to network has rippled out to every single one of us. From CEO to student, we all need a strong base of support, not only to advance our careers but also to maintain the advances we have made.

So what if you are not great at networking? What then?”

Read more at Forbes.com or check out my prior article with insights from J. Kelly Hoey and Dorie Clark (via Kathy Caprino), “Introverts: Creating a Network that Works for You.”

Anne Marie Segal is a career and leadership development coach, author, resume strategist and member of Forbes Coaches Council. She is founder of Segal Coaching, author of Master the Interview: A Guide for Working Professionals (available on Amazon.com) and a frequent public speaker in New York, Connecticut and beyond.

Image above: Adobe Images.

 

Must Read: Kathy Caprino, Forbes, on Getting More Meaning from Your Career

Stack of books and binders in front of a businesswoman at desk
Derive More Meaning from an Unfulfilling Career (Adobe Images)

Looking for more meaning in your career?

Kathy Caprino Has Some Answers

Kathy Caprino, a coach and contributor to Women@Forbes, is one of my favorite career writers, as I have said in the past

Recently, Kathy wrote another great article called “4 Ways to Get More Meaning and Value From Your Career Starting Today,” which is also posted on LinkedIn.

Among other things, I love Kathy’s practical approach on career transitions and suggestion (that I often make myself) that you do not need to wait until you have the “ideal career” to start making your career more ideal today. As she says:

“Most professionals believe that they have to chuck their entire careers and start over, in order to find more meaning in their work. They often fantasize about doing something creative or altruistic (like start a non-profit, join the Peace Corps, work on a communal farm, write a book, start a bed and breakfast, or move to another country entirely) to bring more meaning into their work.  But they are often mistaken. You don’t have to uproot your entire life and career to create more meaning and value. You can do it literally starting today, wherever you are.”

-Kathy Caprino

To read more, include Kathy’s excellent roadmap on how to “dimensionalize” your own personal version of meaning in your career – since meaning is different to each of us based on each of our individual experiences – please click here. With her thoughts in mind, if you are contemplating a career transition, you may also wish to (re)read my prior posts on Career Exploration and Vetting that discuss how to take yourself through the process.

Anne Marie Segal is a career coach and résumé writer for attorneys, executives and entrepreneurs. She helps clients with career exploration and other stages of the job search process, as well as presentation skills through interview preparation, resume writing and LinkedIn. For more information, please visit her website at www.segalcoaching.com.

© 2016 Anne Marie Segal. All rights reserved.

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