Networking for the Nervous
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If you don’t like going outside and meeting people then don’t! The Internet is a powerful way of spreading a form of “electronic word of mouth.” Blogs, newsletters and well-visited web sites can carry your marketing messages to large worldwide audiences. These messages can lead to job opportunities, freelance contracts and customers.



You may know that a company is hiring and you simply want to know more about that company. You can use the search feature through Facebook, LinkedIn or Plaxo or one of the other social networking sites to learn as much about a company as possible. You can look at their page and see what the company says and see what others are saying on the company page.



You can also be creative and look for competitors. You can search the names of the officers of the company and see what they are interested in out of work. You can also start with what you are interested in and then link to the companies or organizations you are interested in.



But there is also another feature that you can use to find out more about a company in your job hunt. You can use the “find past coworkers” search option to search for individuals who have worked for the company. You can receive quite the different perspective from individuals who no longer work there. Yes, some may have not liked the job, but others will be honest about the type of work being done. If you feel comfortable doing so for the sake of your career change, you can ask these individuals what they thought of the company.



Hope that helps you and even if you are nervous shows you a way to get “out” there!