GOOD NETWORKER IS CONFIDENT &
ARTICULATE IN ELEVATOR SPEECH
Professional networking is "very important as many jobs being filled are not advertised," said Mark Dollinger, a WorkOne business services representative who organized ELEVATE, which meets every Monday at 9:00 a.m. at WorkOne's Saint Joseph County facility.  For a professional, a vital component of the networking process is to develop and polish his or her brief self-marketing presentation. A good networker is "someone confident in their abilities and is able to articluate who they are in a concise, detailed manner by having a 30-second commerial or elevator speech," Dollinger said Oct. 26, 2011.

The gatherings of ELEVATE bring together on average four professionals for lively discussions of job opportunities and the latest trends in Northern Indiana's workforce of 289,400 individuals. The group delves into "resume and cover-letter writing, 30-second personal elevator speeches, use of social media to find jobs and network, and any other relevant topics to allow for a successful conclusion to a job search," explained Dollinger, who facilitates during each meeting.

NETWORKING HELPS IDENTIFY
CONTACTS AND BUILD SKILLS
The conversations that occur not only during ELEVATE meetings but also after gatherings can provide multiple benefits to a job-hunting professional. An engineer or IT manager, for instance, might learn the identity of who in an employer's hierarchy would be the best contact about possible job openings. In addition, a person's networking energy and abilities can provide insights into what technical- and soft-skills are necessary for a particular position, Dollinger remarked. Moreover, a person's networking activities might spur a personal reference from another professional.

For his part, Dollinger counsels participants about why everyone is there: "to provide an opportunity for out-of-work professionals to share with others in similar situations, with the ultimate goal of [everyone] finding gainful employment," in part by acquiring useful job-search tools and sharpening their job-hunting abilities.