Below is the video portion of that story, the story can be found on the Fox 10 website here at this link.

I had been working from February through July for the 2010 US Census project, and have gotten back to some networking since being laid off.  I’ve been updating my networking calendar with upcoming events as well, and will continue to add events I will likely attend.

One of the things that didn’t make it to the on-air portion was about social media, in particular LinkedIn, which I have been using more regularly.  Since my initial layoff in September 2008 I have built a network on LinkedIn of over 300 professionals, and I’ve met the majority of them in person, though I do have some contacts i haven’t met face to face.

I mentioned “resources out there” in the interview which did make it to the on-air portion. Several  of  those resources, are:

• Networking groups including business groups, employment support groups, volunteering
• Outplacement resources (if available through a recent layoff as I had with the Census)
• Social Services including faith based organizations, food banks, unemployment, food stamps, etc
• Re-Training (or updating your skills) through Workforce Development

Please comment below if you know of other resources available that I did not mention, as I want to include other resources for my readers.

Part of what Gmail offers with their email is the ability to put a plus (+) sign between your real email address and the @ (at) symbol to create an extended and unique email address from your regular Gmail email address.

I’ve seen a few web sites you may try to use this process on that will either error out and ask you to re-enter an email address or it can’t process it due to back-end programming issues that can’t handle the plus (+) sign properly in the middle of an email address, but for the most part I haven’t had many problems with creating and using an address this way.

When you sign up on a web page you should begin using this method if it’s a job search site, forum you read, or any other types of information you want to track from this source,  you can even use this email address on your resume.

Using this method you can create a number of email addresses and filters to help you sort out messages you receive during and even after your job search when you’ve landed and are working again.

I have an email address printed on my network/business card with the plus (+) address format so I can track where my information is being seen and used or passed around.  It’s another way to know if you’re marketing yourself well because you can ask someone where they saw or got that particular plus (+) email address from that they contacted you with.

The following are the steps to take to create a filter in Gmail and I’ve included screen shots to help you follow along as well:

• When logged into Gmail there will  be a “create a filter” link on the main page after the search options as shown below:

• Click on “Create a filter” as shown above and the following screen will appear:

• It will ask you to choose the search criteria, and as noted above, you would put the “new” email address in the To: field, which will be in the format of yourgmailaddress+somefilter@gmail.com, in the example given in the screenshot your gmail address would normally be testaccount@gmail.com and you would create a word to put after the plus sign and before the @ (at) sign to use on, and in the example above you are looking to filter emails from LinkedIn, so the full email address would be testaccount+linkedin@gmail.com.
• After entering the email address you are going to be using, you would then click “next step”, and the following screen will appear:

• First you would select apply the label, and in the drop-down that is next to it, either use an existing label you’ve created, or create one to handle these newly filtered messages
• The next two steps are not entirely necessary, but I’ve found if I’m looking for an email to this email address and want to see it immediately, I send it to another email address that doesn’t get a lot of messages (for example a blackberry address) and because you want to save these messages, check the “Never send it to spam”
• Lastly, click on “Create Filter” and the filter will be created for you.

To make it easier to follow, I have created a two page PDF document with the above instructions you can print out and follow along with that is available for download at the following link:  Using Gmail Email Filters to Assist in Your Job Search.pdf

If you have any tips on using email filtering, how and why you use it, on Gmail or some other platform (webmail or an email program on your computer) please share them in the comments below.

For those of you in transition and seeking a new opportunity, there are a few things at minimum that I think should be on the card:

• Name
• Title or a your main competencies
• Email address
• Valid current phone number(s)
• Web page (if you have a blog or web page you host yourself, you may want to put it on your card)
• Your social media site profile addresses (I’ve seen more recently on cards LinkedIn profiles in particular but if you’re on other sites such as twitter, or facebook  you can have that on your card as well)

I’m attaching an image of my current card for an example, I use Vistaprint but there are other printing services out there such as iPrint.com or a local print shop as well.

One thing that I got on my last order and it was only a couple more dollars was an electronic copy of my card, that I can attach to emails using Outlook, that is the representation that you see below, with the phone numbers blanked out.

I’ve found it gives a bit more professional touch than the card that’s created in an email when you click to add “Business Card” in Outlook. I delete the card pasted in the email by Outlook but leave my contact information .vcf file attached. This way someone I email will have my current contact information and can save it in their contacts.

You may notice the email address on the card being a bit different, and I will explain about that in another post.  I’ve had people question it thinking it was a mis-print or wrong, but it is correct.

One other tip for those in transition, if you happen to have business cards from your old employer -     do not use them when you are out networking and seeking a new position, having to write other contact information on an old card just doesn’t look right, and I feel you’d only  be hurting yourself by giving an old business card to someone new.  Spend  a few dollars and get new cards printed, even if you buy business card stock and print a simple card on your home computer.

What are some other items you would add to your card? How about the back of the card? Blank or some other information? Please comment below.

Friends and family

This is probably the easiest place to start, people who know you, and you know them. Ask them to help you rehearse, have them show you how they would introduce themselves in a network event setting, and practice your elevator speech with them. Practice that firm handshake, practice making and keeping eye contact, and smile. Practicing with them will help build your confidence and make it easier for you to initiate that contact with someone else.

Network with people you have a common interest with

In keeping with my last post about meetup.com,  network with people you have a common interest with. Regardless your career path or field, having that common interest makes things easier, and for me, two activities I enjoy are hiking and geocaching. You will meet people who share that activity or interest, and it will be easier to speak with them, and open up the discussion to other topics.

Arrive at the event a little early

I have done this myself, and found this does help me, depending on the venue, and how the event is organized (breakfast or lunch meeting, evening business mixer, open forum, conference, panel discussion, job fair, etc), this can be to your advantage. Including the chance to meet and introduce yourself to the host(s) and/or special guest(s) before things get very busy.

Ask for introductions

Two ways you can do this are:

1. Attend an event with someone you know
2. Seek out the host of an event and introduce yourself

In the first case, having someone at an event that knows you, will make it easier. You already have a relationship with him or her, and they may be able to make a warm introduction to someone who can assist you with your goal. This ‘tag-team’ approach goes both ways, you may find someone while you’re there that may benefit from meeting your friend, and you can make that introduction.

Another thing that has happened to me is being introduced to someone who after a few minutes would say, “I think you may want to talk to John, it sounds like you may have something in common, let me introduce you.” Then proceed to introduce me to that person, making that warm introduction. I’ve never looked at that as a brush-off, and appreciated the new introduction.

In the second case, you will have to get over your shyness, take the initiative, and make that initial contact, but it will be worth it. For some events I’ve attended the hosts have been VERY helpful in making an initial warm introduction to someone else after you speak to them and they can ‘match’ you with someone who they know that matches closely with what you’re seeking.

After being introduced to someone, ask them a question

Simple thing here is to listen, in being shy and reserved, you have the chance to listen instead of speaking, and getting to know more about the person. A great way to break the ice and depending on the meeting if it’s business or more social  is to ask them about their business or a hobby.

If you’re introduced to someone standing with a group already engaged in a conversation, listen to the conversation, to get a feel for it and join the conversation if you have something to add and contribute.

Closing the deal

After you’ve made that connection with someone, they may ask for a business card, and if you don’t have a card I recommend Vistaprint.com as a source for business cards. If they did not ask for a card, ask them for one. Always carry a pen with you, and on the back of their card write down something about them, something you discussed, also jot down the date and place you met.

Followup after the event

I recommend taking their contact information and adding it to your contact list. Follow up with an email or phone call, mention where you met, and even briefly what you discussed. You’ve done the hard part, making that initial connection. In that followup, if you want to take it to the next level, invite them out for coffee, to really get to know them better with some slow networking. I met both my financial adviser and insurance agent at networking events during the last year. I’ve recommended them to others, which is part of what networking is about, building and keeping those relationships. It will take a while for you to build up your network, but the more you practice, the easier it will get.

Use social media

Several sites come to mind for helping build your network and helping you reach your goals, LinkedIn is one I highly recommend, and when you make a followup with someone from an event, ask to connect with them on LinkedIn.  Who sends the invite is up to you. I’ve got my LinkedIn web address on my card, so a lot of times I’ll get the request before making the request of them. If they have a website or blog, or are on some other social media sites, that’s also a good place to get to know more about them, their passions, likes, dislikes,and even how you can help them. Other aspects of using social media is being able to connect with like-minded people, joining discussions online, being a contributor.  This in itself can help build your confidence when meeting people face to face for the first time.

Ask for help

In closing, plain and simple, ask for help from those who are closest to you, ask a friend to go with you to an event with you, and practice, practice practice.

Happy Reading!

-Martin

I’ve been using meetup.com as part of my networking efforts. The site has a lot of really good features. Being able to search by interest, locality (by zip code), distance from that zipcode.

Registering for an account is quick, free and easy and the link to register is here: Register for meetup.com.

My profile can be found here: My meetup.com profile.

For those of you in the Phoenix metro area looking for work I would recommend these groups to  join,  Business Networking Classified  and Face Time Friday™ . The experience I’ve had with these groups, has been very positive, and I’ve attended several of their events in the north east valley.

Meetup site Features

Calendar Export:

One of the best site features I like is the export to calendar feature. On the  main meetup page there is a calendar, and you can export the calendar into various formats, Outlook, iCal, Google, RSS, and Atom.  Either All your meetup events, or just the ones you’ve RSVP’d yes or maybe to. 

While I haven’t found a way to utilize the RSS feed yet, it is something that can be exported and used in another web page as I have my Networking Calendar feed from a calendar I own.

On individual event pages such as Face Time Friday – East Valley the calendar options are a bit different since it’s an individual event, you have Outlook, iCal, Google and Yahoo!.

Searching for a local meetup group:

The Find Meetup page is where you begin your search, entering your location by zip code,  and entering a keyword such as “small business” or “networking” for example.

It will bring up a list of results, once you find a group to join, you can join the group, and more than likely will be prompted with a short questionaire from the group owner which will be part of that groups profile when someone looks at your profile in that group.

Some groups are private and membership will need to be approved by the owner before you’ll be allowed to join.

Group Message boards:

The message boards are individual for each group you’re a member of, and you can choose to ‘track’ the message board where you will recieve notification of new messages in a threaded discussion by email, or not.  I watch the message boards for upcomming events, or if someone has a comment or suggestion for an event it can be posted there by the membership of the group.

Facebook Integration:

Another very cool feature I’ve utilized a few times is the facebook integration, when you RSVP Yes or Maybe for an event there is a checkbox to add it to facebook, this will post the event details to your wall and friends feed.  This allows me to show my facebook connections that I’ll be attending the event.

The “What’s Happening?” feed

While I haven’t had much of a chance to utilize this feature, or even tune it to my liking, it is a feed showing all activity across all your subscribed meetup groups, when someone joins the group, when a message is posted, an event is added, someone RSVP’s or changes an RSVP for an event they are attending, and activity on your profile, such as  someone sends a greeting, tags you in a photo (much like facebook tagging).

Overall thoughts:

I like the design and layout of the meetup site, it is easy to navigate, and finding groups you’re interested in is relatively easy.  Depending on your location, there may be more or less meetup groups available. 

I’ve found it a useful tool in my job search and networking efforts, as well as just generallly being a social outlet as I belong to a couple of local hiking groups through the meetup site, and hiking is one of my other interests. Even in the other groups, networking comes just from talking and letting someone know what you’re looking for and what you have to offer.

Happy Reading!

-Martin

After a long break, I’m back.  I’ve had some temporary short term contract work which has kept me busy for a while.

I’m writing this to let everyone know that I’ve added a new feature to the site, a networking calendar that can be found by clicking the networking calendar tab at the top of the page, or for those of you subscribed to my feed, by clicking this link: Networking Calendar.  It gets updated from a personal calendar I have online, and will be updated pretty regularly as I move forward.

During my job search I have been to many different types of networking events from a one on one get together, to business mixers, to faith based support groups, to what is called a SST or Self Support Team. The list goes on.

I found out about the SST through Southwest Job Network, it’s an idea of a small group of 6-8 people meeting to discuss employment trends in different jobs and functional areas, specific job opportunities, share successes, ask advice, and get feedback on various areas of the job search process and networking.

I plan on posting events I will attend, or have attended and been to in the past that are repeating events, and will make a note of it in the calendar entry if it is an event I will actually be attending or if it is just one I’ve been to before that I found helpful in my job search.  There are some events on there now, and I will be adding more in the near future.

If you have been to an event I’ve listed, please e-mail me or comment on my blog about it, and let me know your thoughts, what has worked for you, what hasn’t, what you liked or disliked about a particulr event, and if there is an event you would like to have listed, let me know and I will post it for you.

Happy Reading!

Its really important,  not just with photographs, but almost any online content, you should think before you post, who may see it, and how they may view it, especially if it is a prospective employer.

Keep it private if you need to.  I wrote a post on my blog and made password protected, and shared with few people who I trusted, and have since made it private.  It was an issue I had with copyright infringement that at the time was appropriate, but since I’ve been blogging for a while, I’ve learned to lighten up a bit and not take that issue as serious as I had.

I have chosen at this time to keep my Facebook profile public, I do have a Myspace page, but haven’t updated it in over a year, and don’t intend on doing so at this time, it is set to private so that only my friends can see it.  Nothing to worry about there, just that I’ve chosen not to update or use myspace at this time, and made it private.

Two things I’ve done actually are matching up my online profiles across the sites with the same picture, for brand recognition mainly, so people know it’s me and what I’ve written.  Secondly, when I change the photo one one site, I chage it across the board, even on sites that I would consider more social than professional.

I do have links to various social networking sites on my contact page. I do have a Youtube channel, I do have Picasa, and other photo sharing accounts which can be shared on different social media networks, but I have not and will not post inappropriate photos or videos of myself or others because on some sites such as Facebook you can Tag a photo with another users name, and it will be attached to their account, and can be looked up as well.

In my job search and in person networking, even meeting someone for the first time, I generally dress up than down, unless it’s stated prior to the meeting that it is casual.

Coming from a background in IT, the places I’ve worked in recent past have been business casual, allowing for polo shirts instead of dress shirts, and at times jeans instead of slacks.

I had an assignment through a staffing firm recently, and asked the recruiter about how I should dress for the assignment, and was asked to wear slacks, but when I showed up, almost everyone else was wearing jeans, I felt a bit out of place, but it was ok.

I had asked about dress code prior to the assignment, and done the work that was asked of me. I talked with one of the recruiters yesterday when I went to pick up my paycheck, asking him if there was any feedback from the client on the work performed, he said there were no issues, the work was performed quickly and correctly, and his comment was ‘no news is good news’.  I hope to work again for that client, because it was an enjoyable work experience, and I learned a few things in the process I hadn’t done before.

Another good idea is to google yourself, or set up a google alert, which I wrote about here,  because it can give you an idea of what employers can find about you online.

Happy Friday and Happy reading!

-Martin

We are both currently looking for work. She made a new post to her blog regarding how to syndicate your blog/website that I found interesting, and wanted to add my own ideas here as well.

Her post is located here: How do you Syndicate a blog or website?

The first thing she mentions is posting it on Twitter 3 times in a 24 hour period at different times of the day.  Her blog also has a list of applications for twitter. I’ve used some of them on the list, it is extensive, and something I’d recommend taking a look at to help make your Twitter experience a little easier.

One of the applications is called TweetLater, which I have utilized to spread out messages during the day on Twitter, even when I’m not at the computer. With as busy as I have been lately, it has been something I’ve used a bit more often.  I compose messages I want to send, even referencing older blog posts I’ve written to get people to read content that may be helpful or related to my most recent post, and also a couple just saying “Check out my new blog post @ http://martinpiraino.com/” without making reference to the specific permalink to the new post, and I’ve noticed this gets people to read more of the site than just the new post.

Along with this, I also send direct messages to new followers I get on Twitter, thanking them for following me, and just making a simple statement as above, and the response to that has been positive as well.

Her second point is to post on Ping-o-matic, I actually utilize this through Google’s feedburner,  and go into further detail about that later in this post.

I have also used Digg on my own post before, I don’t think it it something you should do too often as she also states in her blog post.

There are plug-ins for WordPress where you can add links for readers to click on to help them syndicate your posts for you, if you look at the bottom of my posts, there is a section that says “Share and Enjoy” where you can click on those links and share it on the sites I’ve selected to share it on.

She also says that you should update status on your social networking sites, and I do this regularly, with LinkedIn, even adding a short comment about what I may be doing for that day (networking, interviews, meetings, etc.)

On Facebook I also added my own blog to my profile there, you can see it following this link: http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/martin_pirainos_blog/ I then invite users in my network on Facebook to come to my blog, I have 6 followers there (including myself).  For now have to manually update and add a notice that I posted something, but if I get enough followers there, it will be following my blog feed automatically, I only need a few more users to follow it to do that.

One thing that I did add was a RSS feed from Twitter on Facebook, so when I do send a message on Twitter, it actually gets posted to my Facebook, and Friendfeed sites as well, basically making it easy for me to post in one place and it to be syndicated to other social networking sites that other contacts read.

It helps if you can use an RSS feed from one site to feed into another, or use applications on those sites that offer syndication, two sites I don’t utilize often but do pull my Twitter feed to are Plaxo, and Friendfeed. On LinkedIn they have a WordPress application and Bloglink appliction, so my network can see when I’ve either sent a twitter message or written a new blog post, even if I forget to update my status there.

Some people I know including Rachel and myself have also been in the news media in some form (News Print/TV) as some news media outlets turn to job searchers/bloggers to showcase their stories in regards to the current state of the economy.

I was actually contacted by the reporter for ABC15 a week after I wrote an email to him asking if I could link to a story he had on the job fair I attended. I never imagined that one email would get me the exposure I’d gotten, but I’m glad it happened.

I have links to the ABC15 story on my sidebar on my blog so that users don’t have to search for the blog post I wrote about it, and even now three weeks later I continue to get hits off that story directly, but for people reading my blog for the first time, I also direct traffic to the video interview and story on the ABC15 site, my being on a taped/televised interview, it gives people an idea of who I am and what I am passionate about with my blog as well.

When Rachel and I were speaking on Twitter on Monday March 9th, she asked for other ideas for syndication, Along with some of the ones I’d mentioned previously here, I thought of one that she hadn’t mentioned and that was to create a sitemap if she hadn’t already, I utilize the tools on my web hosting account to do just that, created in XML markup, and update it at least once a week, letting it find new URLs by my server logs or by what I post, update it, and push it out to Google.

The following is from a Google press release “Major Search Engines Unite to Support a Common Mechanism for Website Submission”

How Sitemaps Work
A Sitemap is an XML file that can be made available on a website and acts as a marker for search engines to crawl certain pages. It is an easy way for webmasters to make their sites more search engine friendly. It does this by conveniently allowing webmasters to list all of their URLs along with optional metadata, such as the last time the page changed, to improve how search engines crawl and index their websites.

There are also other things I’ve noticed in how traffic has come to my site through searches, people searching for particular tags or people I’ve mentioned in my blog posts. I’ve made it a habit to tag the names of people I talk about in my posts, and that too has brought some traffic to my site as well.  One of my last posts was indexed rather quickly on Google when I mentioned “Sean Connery” at “Austin’s Who’s Who in Arizona”, which pushed it to the top 2 pages in a search on Google.  It is worth it to pay attention to what search terms are bringing visitors to your site, and to work on different words to tag to help in that.

Another way to help syndicate your blog/website is to participate in other blogs, commenting on them, providing trackbacks to posts you reference in your own writing, as I’ve done here with two of Rachel’s posts.

I’ve also added google feedburner links on my site for the RSS feed, and the ability to subscribe to my feed by email, as someone had asked me about that recently, they preferred to be subscribed by email to my blog.

Another option in feedburner is under Publicize is called PingShot, where you can have it notify other services when you post a new message, the following is my list:

When I publish new content in my feed, notify these services…

• Technorati — Technorati is the authority on what is going on in the world of weblogs
• My Yahoo — a customizable web page with news stock quotes weather and many other features
• Bloglines — helps you subscribe to and manage lots of web information
• Ping-o-matic — Pinging lets dozens of services know you have updated your site and increases traffic to your blog
• Newsgator — tracks it all and brings the web pages to you

… plus up to five additional services.

• TailRank
• Blog Buzz Machine
• FeedBlitz
• Google Blog Search Pinging Service
• Alexa

Lastly, one other thing you can do to help get the word out, is to add your blog/website to your email signature, and have it on every message you send, my email signature consists of my name, email address, web site (this blog) and my LinkedIn public profile page.

While I’ve discussed ways to syndicate your blog online in this post, word of mouth is another very simple way to get more readership, adding your blog/website to a business or networking card is another way to get the word out with people you meet and network with face to face.

Happy Reading!

-Martin

1. Get out and get noticed, a great local resource in Phoenix for networking events is networkingphoenix.com search the internet for local network groups for your own area
2. Set daily, weekly and monthly goals in your job search, make them realistic, not unattainable, you don’t want to set yourself up for defeat
3. Take constructive criticism gracefully.  I’ve learned from some very helpful people that if someone tells you something about how you handle an issue, that more than one person likely has seen the same thing, so don’t over-react.
   • These are more than likely people in your ‘inner-circle’ and noticed something, whatever it is.  Pause a moment and listen, they care and want to help you succeed in your life.
   • Use it to your advantage
   • Take time to reflect on it
   • Grow and learn from it
   • Thank the person for bringing it to your attention later
4. Find someone else who shares your story, and bounce ideas off each other.  Remember the saying, ‘there is no I in team’, and teamwork is something that will help out in the long run, so don’t try to go it alone, here are  some resources you can utilize:
   • Alumni association and/or career services office of colleges you attended
   • Your LinkedIn Network
   • People you previously worked with in your field

I came across the following message on twitter this morning from a buddy of mine who runs jobshouts.com, Mike Quale that was Retweeted from another couple of people.

So I had to go look at it, and just a quick overview of that article, I am doing 5 of these things, I will go over them here. The full article is located here if you don’t click on the short link above: http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-experts-8_little_known_tricks_for_the_job_hunt-79

1. Add a signature to your outgoing email messages
   • While I have almost always included my name and email address, since I’ve been searching for a job and since starting this blog, I have added a bit of additional information to my email signature, to include name, email address, blog site and LinkedIn profile URL and I do recommend everyone not currently doing something like this to add one, most webmail providers also include an option to add a signature.
2. Include your LinkedIn profile URL in that signature
   • This is something I started doing once I had my LinkedIn profile up and running, my LinkedIn profile mirrors my resume for the most part, but still does need some tweaking
3. Use Twitter to keep your fans in the loop
   • I’m making a point to connect with people, and I send relevant messages, also letting people know when I’ve made a new post here so they can read it and follow what I’m doing, not only do I do that but I have my twitter feed pulled in to facebook, and I utilize the LinkedIn “What are you working on?” status update as well
4. Make your Facebook page work for you – not against you
   • This one is the one that I’m not doing, I just need to figure out how to work this, if there is anyone out there that can help me with this, I’d appreciate it
5. Add a qoute to your resume
   • This is another that I’m not doing, I can think of several things, but if anyone has a format or idea on where and how to place it on the resume, I’d like some suggestions
6. Get a Moo card
   • I have a ‘network’ card, listing my contact information, this Moo card idea is a bit different and something I will be looking into
7. Put a voice on your job search profile
   • This is one that I plan on implementing in a different way, currently my ‘voice’ was the short news interview I had on ABC15 which there are links to from my sidebar here on my site, but I need to expand on that a bit more in my own video or audio
8. Rewrite your resume so it sounds human
   • Currently working on my resume with Christian Kaijser of Career Evolutions to retool my resume and take it to the next level.

Happy Reading!

Martin

I only had my cell phone with me so the lighting and quality were not the best.  He bears a striking resemblance to the real Sean Connery, and does the accent very well.  He would crack jokes with the accent, and made me laugh. I’ve got to start taking my digital camera to these events to get better pictures.

He quoted several movie lines, including one of my favorites, from “The Hunt for Red October“, as Captain Marko Ramius, “Hey, Ryan, be careful what you shoot at. Most things in here don’t react too well to bullets.” His real name is Dennis Keogh, and his website is www.denniskeogh007.com, he talked about some upcoming things he was working on, and is a very friendly, outgoing guy.

At this networking event, I did run into a few people I’d met before, but there is always someone new, and Austin knows people by name, it’s one of the things that really impresses me about him, he can walk right up to someone and say “Hi James, how are you tonight?” and get the same in return.

Of course with Austin being the tallest guy in the room, it’s hard not to miss him too.  I initially met him at another network event back in the beginning of January, hosted by Integrated Alliances, with Mike O’Neil, and Rob Gibbs of Bleedingedgetech.com, a LinkedIn Live event, where people in the valley that are connected on LinkedIn, can meet face to face, and someone said “Just look for the tallest guy here.”

This was the third time I’d attended this event since hearing about it back at the beginning of January, and it is held every Tuesday evening at Barcelona in Scottsdale.  I have made some great contacts at this event and would recommend anyone that wants to meet people in a relaxed atmosphere, to come out to this event.  You can find out more about it on Austin’s website here.

That same evening I was also introduced to Jason Bressler who is the Executive Director of the North Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce, and he sent me an email after the event, and I have some leads to follow up on in the next day or so.

The other picture was snapped sometime that night and I just turned the camera toward the bar, again not the best, but it was a very good event. I don’t know exact numbers but when I talked to Austin about an hour after I got there he said that it looked like approximately 150 people had turned out for the event at that time.  These events are huge, the audience is huge.  I enjoyed getting out and meeting people, and I myself would love to host an event sometime where there is this kind of turn-out.

For those of you who are seeking work, or other business opportunities, I recommend finding events like this to attend.  For those of you who are local to North Phoenix/Scottsdale area, if you see me at an event, come up and say hello.  I’ve mainly attended events in North Phoenix, Scottsdale and a couple in  East Valley area, but if you know of an event on the west side of town, let me know about it.

I will continue to post information about events I find that I will attend, and do have some other posts I’m working on about the Job Fair on went to Monday, and the Interview Workshop I went to Tuesday morning at SJN and will be posting those soon. I’ve had many more things come my way since stepping up my face to face networking, and I can’t stress the importance of building those relationships.

The saying is,  “build your network before you need it.”  Well, I wasn’t expecting the layoff last September, so I am building my network now.  When I am working in that next great career opportunity of mine, even if it is running my own business, I want to keep active in my networking efforts and give back, or  ‘pay it forward’ with a connection that needs my help  someday.

Happy Reading!

-Martin