One of their tips mirrors something I’ve mentioned several times: volunteer. While I recommended volunteering as a way to fill resume gaps and get additional work experience, the article suggests finding “a volunteer activity that already involves a company you’re hoping will hire you.” Essentially, in addition to volunteering’s other benefits, it also helps you network.

The article also mentions online networking, through sites like LinkedIn and twitter. If you aren’t on LinkedIn, you should definitely join today.

Maintaining a network is good advice even if you aren’t currently job-hunting. As pointed out in Maintaining Networking Momentum After You Land the Job, you never know when you’ll need your network, so it’s best to maintain it in both good times and bad.

Networking doesn’t come naturally to most people. It often feels artificial and forced, although it doesn’t have to. For many people, it just takes a change in perspective.

Here’s a fun stick-figure slideshow that explains in detail: The Shy Connector. The most important point, to me, is that networking is not about bragging about your accomplishments and other shameless self-promotion. It is about finding out more about other people and what they do, letting them know about your skills, and suggesting areas where you can help their projects and businesses.

In another article, How to Network: For Introverts, I like the tip to invite people out for coffee, lunch, or a beer. Huge industry & networking events can be intimidating, but chatting with just one person, or a few other people, is often much easier.

I also like one of the comments on the article, from Mukul Gupta: arrive early to networking events. In addition to Mukul’s suggestion that early birds have an advantage in placing themselves by important and well-connected people, I think that it provides additional benefits. By arriving early you get to introduce yourself to a much smaller crowd, and you can introduce yourself to newcomers as they arrive. With such a tactic, it’s possible that, at any given time during the event, your will see more familiar than unfamiliar faces.

3 of my last 4 jobs came through my network, through not necessarily in typical ways: one job was through a friend’s boyfriend, whose company was hiring IT support; another was through a friend’s mother, who had a friend working for an Internet startup; the third was through a former co-worker, who knew of a position opening in web and information systems that matched my qualifications and recommended me for the job. A large part of networking is making sure that the people you know know about your skills and experience, and that you are looking for work.

Do you have networking tips for those new to networking? Share them in the comments below.

1. Show You’re Current

This can be particularly helpful for workers who are re-entering the workforce after a few years off, or for older workers who, in spite of laws against age discrimination, may have a hard time convincing the whippersnappers reviewing their qualifications that they know a LOLcat from a YMMV.

Merely having a blog is going to demonstrate a willingness to embrace current technologies and trends, but best yet, blogging knowledgeably about the latest industry developments can impress prospective employers.

2. Industry Exposure & Networking

You’re bound to make some connections in the blogosphere if you stick around long enough and, as mentioned above, contribute content of interest. Those connections may help you find your next employer, or may even be your next employer.

This may be tough if you are looking to stay local and the industry is geographically widespread, but you can always focus your posts on a specific region or even specific companies if you are hoping to catch their attention.

3. Reveal Your Enthusiasm

Who would you want to hire, all other qualifications being equal: the competent person, or the competent person who spends time researching and writing about topics and trends in his or her field?

It reminds me of a recommendation I received for a dentist a few years back: “He talked about amazing advances in dentistry he’d just read about in the latest dentistry journal.” That’s the guy I want. He inspire confidence more than the guy who goes on and on about his latest fishing trip or golf outing.

We all want to hire people and work with people who like what they do and enjoy coming into work every day. Blogging about your field is a great way to show employers that you’re in it for more than just a paycheck. (Well, paycheck and benefits package.)

Caveats

Starting a blog can take a lot of time, and involves not just creating valuable content, but marketing it. Prospective employers may google you, but they might not–so if you want to show how current and enthusiastic you are, you’ll have to bring it up.

That said, although you may find that your efforts may not be the silver bullet that lands you the job, most people do find it rewarding an engaging.  Few people regret starting a professional blog.

Getting Started

Popular (and free!) blogging services include:

• Blogger
• WordPress

If you want your very own domain name, I can recommend osric.net, which hosts foxsuit.com and provides blog software.