You want access to additional contact information via free and subscription based research services and databases.



You want to possess, ideally, ongoing memberships, and as a result - a working familiarity with professional business networking environments such as Ecademy, LinkedIn, et al.

Have you ever asked yourself, "Are there other networking sites that can compliment my networking process/needs?"

From the people that make up the membership demographics, to the platform capabilities from which the members network, to the nature of networking conducted on the site, to the philosophy of the executive team that founded the networking site - all networking sites certainly are not equal. Each networking site has a unique capability which can be leveraged in a networking process in support of a specific or ongoing networking need/objective.

Many people make the mistake of being "wedded" to a single networking site, and get frustrated with their ability to accomplish their immediate and/or ongoing networking objectives. This would be equivalent to attempting to build a house, and use the same type of saw in every application requiring "a saw".

There is a reason some wise person coined the phrase "Use the right tool for the right job."

Just like some people have their favorite search engine, some people have their favorite networking site. If you really want to increase your ability to network, invest time in learning how to leverage the power of more than just your favorite networking site.

Don't think of other networking sites as competing with each other; think of other networking sites as complementing each other.

Develop a plan of attack.

The old adage of "those who fail to plan; plan to fail" is absolutely true in a proactive job search campaign. You can't simply focus on approaching recruiters. Read: E-Mailing Resumes to Recruiters Won't Generate a Big Response.

Create a balanced plan.

Reaching out to recruiters and hiring authorities/executives directly by utilizing resume distribution services and a desktop email campaign software solution should be combined with direct networking by leveraging professional business networking environments (e.g., Ecademy, Linkedin, et al.). This creates an effective job search strategy that will increase your exposure to more opportunities.

Make sure your plan includes investing time in personally branding yourself on the Internet and building an Internet presence.

If someone types your name (e.g., "John Doe" ) into Google, are you anywhere to be found? Or quote industry leading personal branding consultant Cindy Kraft "Do you exist?" (see my related article: ?Do you exist??)

The easiest way to have Google find you is to write blogs. But it is actually a little more complicated than going out and creating a blog. You can go to a number of free blog sites and grab your own blog (e.g., Blogger, BlogSource, et al.), but that won't mean your name "John Doe" is going to return a hit on the first page of the search return in Google.

You need to be exposed on a site that is frequently indexed by Google, and has high page view numbers. Ecademy is indispensable in this regard. It has an Alexa ranking close to 1500 (i.e., 1500th most trafficed site on the Internet). That is similar to the amount of traffic on a site like United Airlines. Google "loves" the site because the content is constantly changing.

On a site, such as Ecademy, you can "blog" your brains out and write articles on the topics of your choosing - all of which will be indexed by Google the same day you write it typically. In less than a month, and in some cases in a single day, you will show first page hits on Google when someone searches on your name (e.g., "John Doe").

This is priceless from an exposure standpoint, and absolutely invaluable to a job seeker. No other networking site can compete with Ecademy with how fast you can personally brand yourself on the Internet. Google even indexes your Ecademy Profile, and there is virtually no limit to the amount of information you can build into your profile on a site like Ecademy, as compared to other sites like LinkedIn that only allow for a very limited profile.

That said, make sure to sign up and create a profile on LinkedIn as well. It's a great site too; it just doesn't offer the same capability as other networking sites. There are over 67,000 Staffing and Recruiting professionals using LinkedIn as a database of candidates. I always tell people to specifically make sure their LinkedIn profile has as much "resume" information about their career as the character limited fields will allow. Why? Because then the 67,000 Staffing and Recruiting Professionals in LinkedIn will be able to hit your profile when they do key word searches in "Find People" when they are trying to identify candidates for their searches - let alone the remaining +6.5 million members who might want to network with you.

Just remember, it isn't that one networking site is "better" than another. As I said above, don't think of other networking sites as competing with each other; think of other networking sites as complementing each other.