Talking to strangers now encouraged

Networking good means to find job or new customers By BLANCA TORRES Baltimore Sun

Jenifer Harrington wasn’t looking for a new job when she accepted her current position nine months ago. She was just tired of always rejecting potential offers.

The sales director for business publisher Jeffrey Press goes out of her way to establish relationships with anyone she does business with.

Networking remains one of the best ways to find work or earn a promotion, experts say, even in the realm of electronic rsums and online applications.

The concept is based on building relationships with people who can help someone improve their business or career. It is a process that involves making connections with colleagues, peers and business associates, as well as strangers.

Networking can make some people cringe, but others, including Harrington, see it as a way of life.

By using personal connections, job seekers can distinguish themselves and display the people skills many employers seek.

Several recruiters and hiring managers agree that a referral can make the difference between tossing a rsum away or giving it a second look.

“People think that networking is some specific thing,” said Peter Shankman, chief executive and founder of the Geek Factory, a marketing firm in New York. “Networking to me is as natural as breathing.”

Shankman said anyone someone he is sitting next to on a plane, someone standing next to him in a line, someone selling hot dogs on a corner can be a source. He once landed a client because someone noticed a Homer Simpson sticker on Shankman’s laptop and asked about it.

Children are often taught never to talk to strangers, but Shankman said that advice is worthless in business. He encourages people to “dispel the myth” about approaching someone they don’t know.

Shankman casts a wide net all by himself, but that is not always necessary because of the Internet.

Web sites like LinkedIn.com have emerged during the past few years, providing an electronic business network and jobs board for members. The free site allows anyone to sign up, but members can connect only with people they know or by getting mutual networking members to introduce them to someone else.

Networking with strangers can work, but it’s risky, said Konstantin Guericke, co-founder and vice president of LinkedIn.

“Referral is what it’s all about,” he said.

Other resources are industry membership organizations that sponsor national and local networking events. The Baltimore chapter of Black Data Processing Associates, for example, schedules networking time after its monthly meetings.

Harrington attends several networking events each month, such as the ones held by former co-worker Lorraine Jacobs of Chase Street Properties. The two worked in sales together at the Baltimore Business Journal.

Jacobs organizes an event each month and publishes a newsletter that she sends to more than 900 people. The events are not related to her job, but she loves connecting people with each other.

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