Get That Job!: What I Love About Searching for Work, cont'd for job-hunting, career development, toolkits, success stories and the like

Thursday, October 12, 2006

What I Love About Searching for Work, cont'd

In a previous post, I talked about how much I've come to enjoy networking, not only for a job search, but just in general.

Someone commented at that post, asking two questions, which I'll try to address as best as I can, hoping you other readers can contribute (tap, tap, is this mic on? ;), after the jump:

Even though I am completely comfortable asking for ideas/help about a problem I'm working on at work "Has anyone else ever hit this error?". I simply can't bring myself to make me,myself or I the topic of the conversation, as in "I'm thinking of trying to start...." I am just completely uncomfortable with it. I can do it over the Internet, but not face to face with friends/relatives.

I'm not sure why I feel that way, but I think it's because with people I already know I'm worried that they will either feel obligated to ACT interested/enthusiastic OR that if they are in any way negative before I've gotten off the ground with my idea, that I won't have enough momentum to keep going.

Any suggestions?

Some people are introverted and some are extroverted; it's just how we're all made. I think in general I'm more extroverted than introverted. I believe it's important to have enough confidence in yourself that, when around friends and relatives - others with whom you're close - to be able to bounce off your ideas, even just to ask them for their opinions. I'm learning that I need to be my own biggest fan, because I know what I have to offer others better than they do, and it's my responsibility to convey that.

My second question is, can you give me an example of why you like LinkedIn? I just wasn't inclined to type in a pile of info about myself unless I had a more specific example of how I might benefit.

I like to use LinkedIn to connect with colleagues and friends professionally, especially recently as I've found myself back in the job market. I'm letting my contacts know what I've been doing and what I'm looking for, and they can search their networks, too. I've been able to strum up a few job leads, as a result.