Nothing wrong with being a street walker!

I was struggling to come up with a title for this week’s blog without it sounding like I was making another suggestion!

One of the most effective and easiest ways to proactively undertake career networking is to get away from your desk (or home) at least a couple of times a week and head out for a walk around the business district.  It’s amazing who you can bump in to and I have countless examples when this strategy has paid off in an exciting job opportunity.   It’s so easy to slip off people’s radar when you spend too much time behind your desk or if you are between jobs limiting your visits in to the city.

I have experienced the value of this first hand numerous times since I have been running my own business..  One of the early occasions was when I bumped in to an old boss who had moved on to become CEO of a large organisation. Following the standard “hello, how are you” came “what are you doing these days”.  Here was me thinking everyone in my network knew what I was doing. The coolest thing that followed was him saying “you better give me your business card, we need people like you”.

Another example how this strategy can work is a client who had decided they wanted a new career challenge but told me they had a limited network. I suggested the increase their street walking and within three weeks had added 25 people to their LinkedIn network simply by reconnecting with them during their street walks.

Your challenge from me for next month is to schedule in a couple of street walk’s a week over the next month and see how many new people you can add to your LinkedIn network!