Blog Post: Need to Network? Head to Your Local College!

No, not a class in networking! Take a class in the field you are looking to network in. If you are an IT professional, consider taking an IT course. Schools (i.e. community colleges, universities, etc.) tend to be great avenues for broadening your horizons, but you must leverage it. Taking a course in your chosen profession may pay dividends!

Talk to your professors. If you are doing well in the class, mingle with your instructor a bit. Frequently they know of some great places to network or they may even have some leads on current openings. Remember, more positions are filled through networking (many, many more) than through job postings and traditional recruiting measures. Leverage your professors...as long as you are taking their class seriously!

Talk to your fellow students. The other students in the class are probably working with employers that have IT departments (or they may even be IT professionals). Make sure they know who you are, what your skills are, and what you're looking for. Every employee knows that it looks good if they recommend a successful candidate for a position.

Talk to your Career Services Department. They are not bad sources of information on which employers are currently recruiting and, possibly more importantly, which employers have a good reputation among the other students. The Career Services team follows up with the students they place, making them great sources of information for you on your search. Make sure they know your skills and what you're looking for.

Enjoy the new training on your resume. Of course, the big concrete benefit to heading to class for a few nights per week is the addition of a certification or credentials on your resume. Plan now, execute ASAP, and then enjoy the new credentials on your resume. Even if it is simply stating on your resume that you have taken a class in Excel or Human Resources. If that's all you get from the experience, that's not too bad at all!

For more help, tips, and mock interviewing, check out one of our seminars (http://www.careerdevelopmentaz.com/seminar.html).

Good luck, job seekers!