In the Beginning: 2 Power Acronyms to Help You Start Networking The Right Way

A Few Thoughts About Expectations

In considering a recent post about "slow connections" on Linkedin, I remembered a couple of elementary but important acronymic concepts of mine which may be of use to some of you.

The concepts are meant to be easy to remember. However, I believe that the subject matter is not trivial - for both concepts deal with something that we must face as we're building ournetworks: EXPECTATIONS.

1. SEE - Set Expectations Early – This first concept deals with whatYOU need, what YOU expect in order for the relationship to be ofvalue to you. It's understandable that some of us DREAD this particular area of relationship building.
Sometimes we get so caught up in building the numbers in our networks that we forget that in order for any network to be healthy, the individual relationships in it must be nurtured. This means that the relationship is also about YOU. This means that you, too, should have your expectations for the relationship clarified. If your expectations are NOT important, you actually don't yet have arelationship. You merely have a contact, a name – worth only a few cents to a lead generation company. But the value of the relationship starts to crystallize when it'sclear that it a relationship of equals – the proverbial "win/win" ofthe 1980's. (I think it needs to be revived. – Not the 80's - The "win/win"! :-)
Setting expectations shouldn't be overbearing and shouldn't place aheavy burden on fellow-networkers' precious time. They are meant for clarification and understanding.

2. GEE - Get Expectations Early – There's always the corollary, always the other side when it comes to building good relationships. (I LOVE building good relationships!)
Concentrate on getting expectations from those in your network. Ifyou have a small network, you can do this individually – one by one. Or, if you have a network of several hundred or several thousand, you can use a standard form to do find out what your network expects of you. But above all else: Communicate! Communicate! Communicate!
You're building a partnership of human capital for yourself. Therefore, once you've communicated what will make for success from your side, ask what your fellow networkers expect from networking with you. Their answer will be the key to their continued motivation to network with you, to partner with you,to even champion you and your causes without your even having to askin the future. From these early answers, you'll know how to motivate, inspire, and encourage them in the future. (Remember:Friends fall down – members of your network fall down - even thestrongest, wisest, richest, most networked of networkers fall down. As a networker friend, if you truly care about the people you're networking with, you want to know enough about them and their business expectations to participate in lifting them back up should they fall down in your presence. )

By the way: If you find the above, or any of the things here on MyLinkedin Power Forum of value, please share with those you care about in your network.

Thanks!
Vincent Wright
Moderator, My Linkedin Power Forum
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/MyLinkedinPowerForum/

"P.O.R.T." Your Way to a Better Resume

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated. - Send to vmwusa_2000@yahoo.com. Word count = 675

"P.O.R.T." Your Way to a Better Resume."

THE best thing about “P.O.R.T.” is that it helps you to communicate complete sets of information, one project or one thought at a time.

When Sam, my longtime friend, asked me to help him to find another career opportunity, I was delighted that he respected me enough as a professional recruiter to seek my help.

You see, in addition to being my friend, Sam was an Information Systems Manager whom I greatly admired and respected.

From what I’d learned about him during the previous years of our friendship, I had come to greatly admire Sam's professional accomplishments in Information Technology. However, when I began to review his resume, I was astonished at some of the major assignments and responsibilities he had failed to put in his resume.

After a brief conversation with him, I soon discovered that Sam didn't leave those things out because he didn't think they were important, he left them out because he had simply forgotten them! (3 Second Survey: Can you right now list the best projects that you worked on over the past 10 years?)

I reminded Sam that the resume is first and foremost a marketing tool designed to introduce your most dominant skills to prospective employers who may need them.

But how can you share with those prospective employers what you can't readily recall?

With Sam's situation in mind I created a little resume inventory methodology called "P.O.R.T."

I intentionally named it “P.O.R.T.” because it was designed to help Information Technology professionals to "port" their skills from one employer/environment to another.

Short Steps to Strong Success

1. Take inventory of what you have accomplished. Make sure that you take a good inventory of things that you’ve enjoyed doing in the past – your favorite things. This will help to do two things:

A. by including a lot of your positive work, it will help to energize your resume

B. because you were successful in the work you select and because it was something that you enjoyed, it will improve your chances of success in your next opportunity

2. Organize your accomplishments into a resume – a marketing tool to market YOU. Your resume is a marketing tool designed to let companies know who you are and what you can do to help improve their company. If you've done something exciting in your profession - tell them about it!

P.O.R.T. stands for

Projects
Objectives
Results
Technologies

With this concept you:
write down major projects you've worked on,
list what the objectives of those projects were,
tell about the results you, personally, or as a leader, were responsible for achieving and
list what technologies you used to accomplish those results

Don't be confused by the word "technologies"; you may substitute "techniques" or "methodologies" or "means" if it will help you. The primary issue is to tell HOW you did it, HOW you achieved those great results on your favorite projects.

When you're gathering information about a position for which you think you're a match, you may want to use the P.O.R.T. concept to make sure that you have all the pertinent information which you'll need in order to customize your resume for that position.

Now, with the “P.O.R.T.” concept properly filled out, you will be able to specifically and confidently introduce yourself and your best work to prospective employees.

If you’d like the MS Word form which accompanies the P.O.R.T. concept, either email me at vmwusa_2000@yahoo.com or stop by “My Linkedin Power Forum” and introduce yourself. Once there, please feel free to download the form.

About the author: Vincent Wright is a Career Coach & Technical Recruiter
He is the Moderator of “My Linkedin Power Forum” at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/MyLinkedinPowerForum/
Vincent is the Linkedin Blogger at http://linkedinblogger.blogspot.com/
And he invites you to stop by and introduce yourself to the great group at “My Linkedin Power Forum.”
The purpose of “My Linkedin Power Forum” is to help Linkedin users and other online networkers to power up their networking in order to do business better.

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