Let’s create an outline of your network!
Your Influence Map is the network of your contacts.
These are the people who – in many small and big ways – may be able to help you in your goal of finding a new job.
Work related contacts
• Your present employer including receptionsists, admin assistants, co-workers & your boss
• Previous employers including your ex-co-workers & ex-boss as well as all other employees listed in this section.
• Customers, clients, vendors, outsourcing companies, partner companies, temp agencies and sub contractors used at each of your present and past employers.
• Strategic partners of your present and past employers
• Sales people in your present and past employers – sales reps have the largest number of contacts. Ask them for help.
Educational contacts
• All your teachers and professors including those in short term courses, vocational courses etc.
These are real valuable contacts. They have solid links to companies as well as their other ex-students who could help you.
Track your teachers down by writing or calling your school & college, they may even be on facebook or linkedin. Ask your classmates for their addresses.
• Every classmate from your kindergarden to university.
• Everybody you meet in all the part-time courses or specialized education courses, short term trainings etc – Don’t exclude the people from those woodworking and dance classes you had attended!
• Contact people in your alumni networks
Find other alumni networks on google – example search string: harvard and alumni
• Contact people in old school /college year books
• Find out about your alma mater’s “Reunions” and attend them.
Misc organizational networks
• Religious/Spiritual: Mosques, Churches, Synagogues, buddhist meditation centers & others.
• Your local community center, special needs houses, civic organizations (shriners, rotary clubs etc): All these are great networking venues.
• Your local community center, special needs houses, civic organizations (shriners, rotary clubs etc): All these are great networking venues.
• Charitable trusts and other community service groups.
• Fraternal/Sororal
• Political organizations and people in them eg. your local senators volunteer group, immigrant associations etc.
Activity & Hobby Networks
• Sports: Your sports teams and partners: tennis, basketball, golf etc
• Shared Interests: Network with people who share an interest in a topic like “Linux Users Group”, speakers groups (eg: Toastmasters), woodworking clubs, hiking clubs such as the “Sierra Club” etc.
• Other hobbies: fishing, stamp collecting, reading etc
Family & Friends
People you like and also people you dislike. The time for personal likes/dislikes is past.
• parents, step parents, grandparents, ex-wife/husband, your old boyfriend/girlfriend
• cousins, siblings
• your adult children
• all other relatives, all your friends, neighbours (present as well as past)
• Every body with whom you chat online or with whom you play games
• Every person whose email address you have
• Every person in your address book
Personal Business Contacts
• Professionals: broker, lawyer, doctor, pharmacist, dentist, insurance agent
• Ask your professional contacts (sales reps, bankers etc) what groups they are a part of – Find on meetup.com and LinkedIn where are the networking events happening?
• General service people: apartment finding agent, your apartment/leasing office staff, your gym instructor/staff, all the repair and maintenance men who come to your house/apartment, auto mechanics, your car dealership
• Personal service people: your massage therapist, personal trainer (gym), barber, manicurist, hair stylist, vendors, delivery people
• Do not forget: waiters, waitresses, ushers and managers at your favorite eating joints & coffee shops, every gas station cashier & attendant, every checkout clerk who is willing to talk.
• Important: Every sales rep who talks to you
Sales reps have the most contacts and they are especially conditioned to helping people.
