Top 10 Networking Books for Your Career Success

Top 10 Networking Books for Your Career Success Even the most confident, social and outgoing among us may  find the prospect of both personal and professional networking daunting at  times. From an early age we’re taught “don’t talk to strangers” but when we  grow up, we suddenly find ourselves thrust into situations, be it at parties or  business events, where we’re expected to initiate conversation with random  individuals who we’ve never seen before, don’t know and have nothing to do  with. Not only that, but we’re expected to get tangible results out of such  encounters. Be it our matchmaking friend or our sales manager, they expect you  to leave that party or conference with a date or a business card. The issue here is that networking, as well as being a  social skill, also counts as a career skill and the majority of us have had no  formal career (or social) skills training. However, building up such skills can  be an essential part of building your career, so it’s worth investing time in yourself to learn these skills. Good, old-fashioned, paper-not-digital books are  one of a number of ways to start self-training. Here are ten of the most rated  books on networking; a good mixture of classics and newer titles. Click:  Ten Truths for Building Extraordinary Relationships George  Fraser If even the word ‘networking’ fills you with dread and you  just find the whole concept too contrived, this book is for you. In it, George  Fraser explains he prefers the term ‘connecting’ to ‘networking’ and encourages  us to be sincere. It’s not wishy-washy vagueness though-each chapter is packed  with practical, ‘takeaway’ advice. Networking  like a Pro: Turning Contacts into Connections Ivan Misner On the theme of ‘connecting’, have you ever felt like  you’re just amassing contacts without forging any type of close connection with  them? This book shows you how to resolve this by breaking down a number of  networking techniques, illustrated by real life examples. Breakthrough  Networking: Building Relationships that Last Lillian D. Bjorseth Here’s another book focusing on the long-term nurturing of  your network. It guides you through the process from meeting new people to  establishing them as close and valued contacts within your inner circle. Like  many of the best career guides, Bjorseth has corporate experience herself, so  she knows what she’s talking about. Diane Darling  Lillian D. Bjorseth Although this is by the same author, it has a slightly  different objective in that it focuses more on getting to know new people than  getting closer to the ones you know. Just as valid a lesson-if we never got to  know anyone new, we’d never have anyone to get closer to! Make  your Contacts Count: Networking Know-How for Business and Career Success Anne Baber Lynne Waymon This is as interactive as a traditional book can get, with  various quizzes, assessments and step-by-step plans to guide the reader through  all the stages of professional networking relationships. A useful read for all,  from entrepreneurs to job seekers. Highly  Effective Networking: Meet the Right People and get a Great Job Orville  Pierson Networking as part of our job search is certainly useful,  but a haphazard, confused approach can render it counterproductive. This book  helps untangle matters by laying out the steps for a straightforward, targeted  approach. Pierson is also honest about the time and perseverance required to  get the job we really want. The  Fine Art of Small Talk: How to Start a Conversation, Keep it Going, Build  Networking Skills-and Leave a Positive Impression!  Debra Fine What about books for those of us who aren’t even  comfortable with starting a conversation when it comes to networking? This one  starts right from the start, even providing a list of icebreakers. There’s an  accompanying cassette so all in all it’s a varied learning experience! Savvy  Networking: 118 Fast Effective Tips for Business Success Andrea  Nierenberg This is ideal if you don’t have much spare time for  reading, or if you don’t enjoy reading long passages! The advice for business  networkers is broken down into takeaway tips, flavoured with some real-life  illustrations for variation. How  to Win Friends and Influence People Dale Carnegie This well-known classic from the 1930s is still relevant to  networkers today. Networking is not only about meeting people and getting to  know them, but also about treating people in the right way. Chapters like ‘Six  ways to make people like you’ may sound a bit ‘high school’ and clumsy but that  doesn’t totally invalidate the sentiments behind them. Let’s face it, if  someone doesn’t like you, they’re not going to help you, no matter how good a  networker you are. It seems there’s a networking book out there for all of us,  no matter what stage of our career-or career transition-we’re at. Books are  just one useful tool in building up skills like networking. Try asking friends  about their own experiences, seeking out specific training and, of course,  getting out there and trying out these books’ tips for yourself. Practice makes  perfect! Related: 5 Great Ways NOT to Network. Author: Nisa Chitakasem is the founder of Position Ignition â€" a  careers company dedicated to taking  you to the next step in your career. Image: Shutterstock

Great Communicators Practice Powerless Communication - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Great Communicators Practice Powerless Communication - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career ”Speak softly but carry a big stick.”â€"Theodore Roosevelt Being a great communicator can change the trajectory of your success. Whether youre launching a new business and seeking investors, selling a product or service, negotiating for a raise or promotion, you could  improve your chances for achieving your goal if you tap into an effective communication style. One of the secrets to being a great communicator is developing an attunement to your audience. If you examine the world’s great communicators, you’ll find they have keen situational and contextual awareness, speak in a concise style and display authenticity and transparency; influential communicators  speak to your emotions and aspirations.  Research suggests that there are two fundamental paths to influence: dominance and prestige. When we establish dominance, we gain influence because others see us as strong, powerful, and authoritative. When we earn prestige, we become influential because others admire and respect us. Build trust and connection Organizational psychologist Adam Grant, the youngest tenured professor at Wharton and author of The New York Times bestseller “Give and Take”, has been researching communication styles for years. Grant has a groundbreaking new description for how to relate: the power of powerless communication. He says that powerless communication can often be quite powerful.  Individuals who use  the powerless communication style speak in ways that reveal vulnerability, but build connection. They tend to ask more questions rather than continually provide solutions, speak tentatively instead of boldly, and admit their weaknesses rather than boast about themselves. His advice doesn’t apply to everyone. Studies show that “powerless communication” works best for experts not novices and is most effective when speaking to people with average self-esteem. Why is Powerless Communication effective? Grant says that people who pose questions instead of answers, admit their shortcomings, and use tentative instead of assertive speech are some of the world’s most powerful communicators. People who use “powerless” communication styles fall into two categories:  doormats and superstars. His research shows that when people think you’re trying to influence them, they put their guard up. But when they feel you’re trying to help them, show interest in them and you’re honest about your own imperfections, they open up to you. Others are more inclined to hear what you have to say when you minimize the focus on yourself and place your attention on them. In small group decision-making, suggestions prefaced with qualifiers such as “this might be a good way to go” have been found to be accepted more often than demonstrative statements such as “let’s do it this way.” 7 Ways to Use the Power of Powerless Communication Be humble and humorous. When the famously unassuming Lincoln was called two-faced during a debate, Grant recalls, he said: Two-faced? If I had another face, do you think I would wear this one? Ask for help or advice.   We value your feedback!   Would you help us make our website better? Combine your openness with competence When you communicate with someone, ask yourself three questions: What could you learn from them? How can you help them or somehow express warmth? And what ways could you allow your true personality show? Frame your opinions as suggestions. I wonder if it would work to do it this way? Give people the space to disagree with you. Be authentic. Be genuinely interested in your audience and show it by asking insightful questions and by seeking feedback. People sense sincerity and will find you more likable. Expressing some vulnerability, asking questions, talking tentatively, and seeking advice could open doors to gaining influence. It could help you in building networks and in collaborating with colleagues.   As Adam Grant cleverly suggests, “Using powerless communication can be far more effective than meets the ear”.    When you focus intensely on what your audience wants, needs and desires, and transfer ideas that align with their expectations, you’ll be amazed how much more effective you’ll become in inspiring action and spreading your vision. Beth Kuhel, M.B.A., C.E.I.P., is a career coach specializing in millennials and career changers. Her weekly Career Path column is sponsored by Executive education at Weatherhead School of Management. Beth  writes about career strategies and improving the workplace for The Huffington Post, The Personal Branding blog, TinyPulse.com and Sharkpreneur magazine, and has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, U.S. News World Report and BusinessInsider.com. Connect with Beth on Twitter @BethKuhel.

Use Weekends to Catch Up, Get Ahead, or Re-Charge - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Use Weekends to Catch Up, Get Ahead, or Re-Charge - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Which suits you the best? Do you use weekends as a chance to catch up, get ahead, or re-charge? There is no wrong answer. However if you consistently find yourself playing catch-up you may want to reevaluate your ability to say no. Knowing when and how to say no can allow you to focus on your priorities and do the things that help you stand out in your career. This is not a post to be a ding anyone on how they spend their time on the weekends. That is 100% up to you. How you spend you days is  (for the most part)  up to you.  However, this  is a post asking you to take a moment to think about how you spend your time on the weekends. If you need help saying  no, perhaps you can find some help in my post “How You Can Say No Like a Pro” When you learn to say NO like a pro youll be able to indulge your passion project As you continue you improve your time management skills you will be able to spend time to indulge your passion projects. This is a luxury you get to enjoy because you have taken the time to learn and master your trade. Every day we wake up we have a choice. Ask yourself Is someone getting the best of you? (read the post too) My post asking the question above includes a somewhat controversial element that says wise managers that want to Get the Best of You will encourage you to have a side hustle. It can be anything. But, it should be something you are passionate about. Because when we get wrapped up in our passions it frees our minds to think about creative ways to solve other problems. Not necessarily intentionally, but almost at the back of your mind. Use your weekends the way you want. There is no wrong way to get ahead. It’s up to you and how you spend your 24 hours of every single day. Yes, there are times where you have commitments and responsibilities that are for the most part out of your control. But, you get to sign up for how much time, energy, and effort you put into anything. “If you’re going to do something do it right“ There’s an old adage that says if you’re going to do something to do it right. And this is true in both your professional and personal life. So, how do you use your weekends? Do you use them to: Catch up? Get ahead? Recharge and reflect? Ultimately it’s up to you how you spend your weekends. Choose wisely.

Get Your Creative Juices Flowing Today with a Creative Project

Get Your Creative Juices Flowing Today with a Creative Project Are you starting your morning off dreading going to work? If so, challenge yourself to identify what it is that is causing the dread. If you dont know what you dislike, how are you going to fix it? If your dread comes from the fact that you are too creative to be stuck behind a desk, following policies, and going to long meetings, its time to start a little creative project. The creative project will help you get some of those creative juices flowing, be an outlet for your stress and boredom, and perhaps even help transition you into a new career you love. Thus, making your time at the office more enjoyable knowing you have something to look forward to after hours. If you have a cause you are passionate about, start a blog about it TODAY. (There is never a good time to start a project, the time will never be right if you dont just start now). If you are an photographer or enjoy making short films, start a creative project today and see where it leads you. Over time, you will probably end up meeting someone in your network who needs whatever it is you have to offer. Or, it may just be enough of an outlet to be satisfied with your day job. Better yet, it could transition you into following your own creative talents into a full out career. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start your creative project.

Free Resume Writing Downloads - How to Write a Great Resume in 6 Easy Steps

Free Resume Writing Downloads - How to Write a Great Resume in 6 Easy StepsIf you are looking for free resume writing downloads, then this article is for you. I am going to discuss some of the more popular resume writing tips that you can find on the internet. If you read this and follow these tips, then you will be able to make your next resume stand out from the rest.The first tip I want to talk about is the importance of the first paragraph of your resume. Just like a movie begins with a song, so should your resume. In order to achieve a professional look, you need to start with a professional resume. Start by reading through several resumes and pick the one that best fits the job that you are applying for.The second tip I want to talk about is using a job search website like Monster.com. This will allow you to see what other people are saying about certain companies. By taking advantage of free resume writing downloads, you will be able to find out about what other people have to say about the company before you go into their website and apply for a job.The third tip I want to talk about is the use of free resume writing downloads. You should always have a back up or else you might not make it past the first paragraph. It might not even make it past the first sentence of your resume. So if you do not have a back up, then you need to start finding a free resume writing download that will help you get through the first paragraph.The fourth tip I want to talk about is being organized. You need to be organized before you ever sit down at your computer to write a resume. You should organize your information, your skills, and your education. All of this information should be listed out in an orderly fashion to ensure that everything is properly listed and formatted.The fifth tip I want to talk about is making sure that you follow the format of the first paragraph. This is the one paragraph that you will be asked to write in most of the job sites. This is the poin t in the resume where you will be asked to describe why you are ideal for the job that you are applying for. You should always follow the format exactly and also make sure that you do not put any keywords or any kind of advertising.The final tip I want to talk about is sticking to one topic for the duration of your resume. It will only take you so long to put together a resume. I would recommend that you start on one topic and work your way backwards. Make sure that you stick to one thing until you feel comfortable that you can start moving to the next topic and finishing up on the last one.These are just a few of the free resume writing downloads that you can find on the internet. If you use them, you will be able to create a professional looking resume that is well written, professional looking, and will impress your future employer.

Journey into leadership Tough decisions - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Journey into leadership Tough decisions - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog This post is part of a series that follows A.M. Starkin, a young manager taking his first major steps into leadership. Starkin writes here to share his experiences and to get input from others, so please share with him your thoughts and ideas. If you have forgotten me completely or if this is the first post of mine you read, I have recently been given my first profit/loss responsibility in the task of turning a round a badly managed, loss-giving, small company with low morale. You can find the back story here. I started by giving away my authority to each individual employee a thing which paid off very well on the motivation scale and I was and am still hoping for the rest to follow. My personal problem is time constraints I am allowed only 1 day per week on this task as I have plenty of other priorities. The whole of December I did not post here is what happened: I usually dont agree with people who make the managers job difficult. I tend to believe that managing is only difficult if you are an authoritarian control-freak, because in that case you more or less have to do all the thinking of your whole team which is really difficult. Normally I think the really difficult thing in a managers job is everything that does not pertain to being a people manager, but which pertains to business mechanics, operational processes, building client relations etc. But December has been tough. Luckily I just began following some martial arts training which gives me quite a morale and energy boost otherwise this post would have featured a worn out Starkin ready to be thrown on the scrap heap. The manager is often an employee himself, and this employee here became sick and tired of working for other than myself. My boss disallowed me more time for the small company I am trying to save the subject of this series and I felt so unable to help, since most of the urgencies I simply have to leave as they are with the time I have available. It might be a wise decision for some greater good, but having to leave a house burning because I am trying to build another is a strange feeling. + I tried to get help from the mother company on HR, Finance and legal issues but got nothing but trouble out of that. And our new malfunctioning IT system created a vicious spiral of frustration which made our recent success seem vanished. [insert ad-lib whining here]. Then I remembered: This is the environment in which I have to create my successes! To me that is a golden thought when motivation is low. Last month definitely showed me that a manager has to manage himself too and take some important inner decisions in order to stay motivated about his job. January began with two things: Number one: A nice graph showing me that we modestly surpassed our budget, with our sales surging the last few months of the year. I would like to think that it is due to what we did during the fall. In order to make that curve keep rising I need to begin doing some manual sales myself as mentioned before our corporate sales will not deliver. I dont have any time though, so luckily I have been able to hire a trainee from this month, and time will show whether she is woman enough to run fast enough to help me there. Number two: A report that my deputy reported sick while I was away on holiday a report which implied that she was cheating. As you might recall, she has been strongly disloyal but greatly improving since last. My superiors are regularly asking me whether we should fire her. This will be my call, and there is both business and ego at stake here: I have invested a lot of time in her and seen results, so I want to keep believing that I am doing the right thing by coaching her. But I seem to be the only person on the planet who believe in her, and how much can my credibility afford to suffer here? A third thing I need to work with is my ops manager. After we recently took a session to define his job, he has been holding my hand tightly, and I have been pushing him to gradually begin taking decisions, analyzing and coming up with new ideas. I am sure and certain that he has the potential, but he is simply brought up in the company with a handicapping respect for authorities. I will have a meeting with him this week to see how far he has advanced a plan we made to trim the workflow a little, use our systems in a better way, etc. So: Should I keep believing in my unpopular deputy? Will I be able to sell anything? Never tried. And will my operations manager finally begin taking initiative? This is what I am looking forward to finding out after my well-deserved Christmas vacation. Do you have some advice for me? Write a comment here. AM Starkin Previous posts by A.M. Starkin. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Compensation How To Get Paid What You Deserve

Compensation How To Get Paid What You Deserve Compensation is a tricky topic in banking these days.   It is unpopular (and many have argued even unjust) for bankers to be paid large sums given all that has gone on.   On the other hand, people doing an honest day’s work cannot be expected to do so for free.   Whatever the outcome of the broader debate, it is still reasonable and important to make sure that you get what you deserve at the end of the year. Simply keeping your head down and working hard is not the route to pay recognition:   while hard work is expected, it is necessary but insufficient.   In real life, unlike at school, there is no such thing as an effort grade.   Here are some points to keep in mind. What results have you produced? The most important thing is to make sure your boss knows what you have done, and what you are capable of.   Since none of us is born with a neon sign and bosses are not mind readers, it may literally pay to find a way to express your achievements and to do so in a way that puts them into context.   When you produce results, make sure your boss is aware of it â€" and the more concrete you can be, the better.   If you have brought in a deal, tell them what was special about it:   Was it first time business?   Did it take ingenuity to win it out of turn?   Did you negotiate a disproportionate role relative to the competition?   Did you gain market share? If there is a story that sheds further light on the apparent result, you must tell it.   In the case of a young capital markets VP who worked for me, our firm had been awarded a $3bn deal with an existing investment banking client; on the face of it, a good result but not heroic.   However, the real story was that the client had threatened to rescind the mandate based on an unrelated situation with another area of the firm.   The VP had saved the day by travelling to the client’s European headquarters the night before to greet the senior executives the next morning with an impromptu meeting as they came in from the car park.   The VP’s personal appeal based on our merits succeeded even when other colleagues had given up. Not only did she deliver a near-term result, the events demonstrated that she had additional valuable traits of fearlessness, creativity and willingness to go the extra mile.   Having the full picture was important to making the right compensation decision. What other contributions do you bring to the table? Unless you are a trader evaluated purely on your P&L, the qualitative aspects matter and can be important to getting into the higher end of the compensation range, or at least eliminating reasons for getting pushed into the lower end. An important trait is to show resourcefulness and initiative in getting things done.   Like the VP described above, find a way to achieve the objective.   If the front door is locked, then try the back door or the window.   Every boss appreciates those who can get things done without having to direct every step. Unless you are in a highly specialised area that relies almost solely on technical expertise, demonstrating teamwork and the ability to persuade other people can be differentiating factors.   While it may be tempting to resort to competing with the person sitting next to you, this is a short-sighted strategy. Longer term, those who succeed in their careers and get paid and promoted are those who can build, manage and lead teams.   Conversely, it could be a real liability to be labelled as hard to work with or, worse yet, a management headache for your boss. Figure out the most important qualitative traits for the part of the business you are in, and make sure you embody them. Can they see you progressing? Trajectory matters.   While this year’s compensation generally relates to this year’s results, bosses are usually on the lookout for people who they can envision progressing to the next level and beyond.   Good senior managers want to build the next generation of leaders, and if you can be seen in that light, then you will be more likely to be in the top compensated group.   Naturally, you still have to perform year in and year out, but high potential people will tend to get paid more than those who plateau. At the end of the day, there is always demand for high quality people who consistently produce top-notch results, and employers are likely to pay these people well.   Cynics may say it is who you know that counts, but the reality is that it is who knows you that makes the difference. So, in addition to working hard, make sure that you showcase your whole package:   all that you have done and what you are capable of doing.   That way, you are more likely to get what you deserve.