| Getting the best career information: Meet new people |
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| Friday, 22 August 2008 07:53 | |
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Doing a lot of research about your career options is one of the most important steps to making the best career decision. When starting out in your career or making a career change, you probably won"t know as many people in the careers you are considering for the future. Otherwise you wouldn"t call it a career change or start, right? And why limit your options to only those careers you know well? I have some tips on how to increase what you know about careers. While LinkedIn deservedly gets a lot of attention for helping people find jobs, the better source for career information will be people you meet in career-specific networking groups, particularly in your geographic area. I suggest finding groups online and then meeting people in person; just like online dating, there is no substitute for personal connection. I like Meetup.com"s philosophy: "use the internet to get off the internet." You also don"t need the education or training required for a career to meet people working in that career. In fact, talking with people about how to choose the right education option before you do it, would be ideal. Maybe a B.A., professional degree like an MBA, or higher degree isn"t necessary for what you want to do – if not, save yourself money and time! And most people will like to talk about themselves and the career they"ve chosen. For example, Seattle has an excellent web portal for finding networks in different careers, called the Seattle Networking Guide. If I was interested in graphic design, under the “Arts and Culture” section I would find a link there to the Seattle Graphic Artists Guild, which holds monthly networking lunches. I would go to one, meet people and start doing casual informational interviews. I might get some business cards for potential future job search contacts if I ultimately choose this career path. How do you find these groups? Here are some tips:
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