Networking for Success Part 1: Making Connections

Networking for Success Part 1: Making Connections

Networking for a job can be a tricky; if you are too pushy you could turn someone away. If you’re not direct with a person, she will forget about you the second you walk away. The key is for you to find some middle ground in each networking encounter. An important thing to remember is the more people you meet, the higher your chances are for success. Early on in your job search, what you lack for in networking experience, you must make up for in numbers. By exposing yourself to more and more people, the higher your confidence will become and the more comfortable you will be speaking in front of people.

Making Connections:

The truth is you will never be hired after meeting someone for the first time. This is why the interview process is always at least two steps. You chances of being hired increase with your relentless tenacity for being a hungry fighter! One quality of a hungry fighter is always finding a reason to follow up with a new contact. Let’s look at how to do this with an example conversation.

Protégé: “It was nice to meet you and thank you for your time, Mr. Director. Here is my business card; do you have one as well?”

Mr. Director: “It was nice meeting you too. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring any cards with me.”

Protégé: “That’s okay, I would still love to follow up with you about future opportunities for Programming positions at XYZ Corporation. Would you mind writing your email and phone number on the back of one of my business cards and I will follow up with you?”

Mr. Director gave you an objection, whether it was true or not, when he told you he didn’t have any business cards. You overcame the objection by having him write his email and phone number on one of yours instead. Yes, you could just connect with him on LinkedIn (you should still do this), but Mr. Director will be getting a dozen of those in the next few days. You now have an advantage over everyone else who met him that night; He gave you an invitation for a second conversation.

How to Capitalize on Your Time in the Classroom

Article by: Chris Kostrewa

If you’re not learning, your moving backwards. There’s always somebody out there willing to take the classes, listen to the CD’s, and tax himself by working long hours to be the best. There’s always someone out there who is hungry to learn and hungry for your job, and I’ve learned it’s important to find different ways to achieve the levels of success my peers do in the ever-increasing market competition.

The problem is that our  fundamental philosophy of how to educate is watered down in mediocrity. Teachers simply aren’t held to high enough standards. You need hands on learning and one-on-one mentoring to maximize your learning efficiency.  A typical class should be 60% lecture and 40% hands-on labs. My computer training company, MLT/Instructing Technologies, has some of the nation’s best technical instructors. I sincerely believe that, and it helps me in many ways as a salesperson. They consistently score high reviews and each of our technical instructors has more years of teaching experience than I’ve spent dreaming about becoming the next Bill Gates.

However, the issue I have is that both teacher and student like to go on vacation when it’s time to perform lab exercises. While a student monotonously reads the directions from the curriculum and begins a virtual lab, his brain goes on autopilot. It’s like having all the answers to a test right in front of you. No challenge and it defeats the purpose of the assessment.

The fundamental problem is that students don’t pay attention to the details in virtual labs and as a result, don’t benefit from the most important part of the class. For you to advance in anything, you must make mistakes and learn from those experiences.

A possible solution: The instructor stands over your shoulder, breathing down your neck and closely watches each step that you perform. The teacher asks you critical questions about the steps you’re performing. This will embed concepts that you just learned in lecture.

Is that realistic? After all, how can a teacher monitor every single student in class during labs?

A better solution: Students share computer screens with their instructor using an application with features similar to Webex. The instructor is forced to monitor the student’s screen, and can do it from a distance. If he notices a problem you’re having, he can address it immediately so you don’t have to speak up yourself. Implementing this simple idea into our live classes would significantly increase students’ retained knowledge.

Demand more from yourself and your teachers. After all, it’s your time, career and money on the line. Set goals in 2012 and challenge yourself to learn a new technology or learn more of something you’re already using. There’s no better investment than in yourself and your future.

 

Topics I’ll be writing about in 2012

Here is a list of 12 topics to focus on in 2012:

1. How to capitalize on your time in the classroom
2. Seven keys to achieving results in business
3. Pathways to Microsoft certifications and career advancement
4. Hottest technology learning trends in 2012
5. Importance of a good teacher, role model, and mentor in your life
6. Speaking to audiences
7. Building deeper client relationships
8. Marrying just-in-time delivery and affordable costs with quality
9. Connecting people to others is important in business
10. Fly-by-night universities: good or bad?
11. Social media in business
12. LinkedIn for the job seeker: How to get an interview using LinkedIn
13. LinkedIn for the salesperson: How to leverage LinkedIn for more sales

A good friend and mentor of mine, Phil Gerbyshak suggested to begin writing a blog to find common threads within posts and find out what kind of common value I’m passing onto others. Here’s to future posts, and your continual desire for personal success.

Cheers,

Chris Kostrewa

Hello world!

Welcome to flybyuniversity.wordpress.com. My goal is to write articles for learning new technologies, learning pathways, personal growth, development, education, helping others, and everything else that comes to mind. Thanks for visiting and feel free to email me at ckostrewa@gmail.com.

-Chris