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How do you get to know those people who know those people who can help you land the job of your dreams? By networking, of course.
And the first step towards finding those connections on Monster Networking is by creating a comprehensive, accurate profile.
Sometimes more is more
The most basic guideline for creating a profile is to include everything. Unlike a resume, which often shows only your most recent jobs, your profile should include all of your work experience, even if some of your old jobs were in a different field than you're in now.
List all your skills. Anything you're skilled in could be valuable to someone else – and that's what networking is all about. The same goes for interests and schools: the more, the better.
Be yourself!
Think about the introductory conversation you have with a potential networking contact in a face-to-face situation. Do you talk like a cover letter? Do you speak in marketing terms and buzzwords? Of course not. Your Monster profile should be more like that conversation than a cover letter. Use humor. Use the first person. Use your own language and let your personality show through. You'll be more memorable and more accessible to others.
The deeper meaning of “In My Own Words”
This innocuous section of the profile causes a surprising amount of worry among new users. “My own words? What does that mean?” is a pretty standard response. Basically, it's meant to take the place of the beginning of any networking conversation, where you introduce yourself and briefly state why people would want to get in touch with you.
Write briefly about your current work, what you have to offer, and what you're seeking help with. That will let potential contacts scan your profile, quickly understand what you're about, and easily decide whether or not to get in touch with you. This is the best place for summarizing your overall value and situation.
Why is it forcing me to pick one of these skills?
Why, when you enter a perfectly valid company name (or skill, or school), do we then ask you to pick the company from a list? It's simple: if we ensure that everyone refers to that firm in the same manner, we can greatly improve the matching and searching capabilities of our service.
If we don't have your company listed, you can add one. Right now, the skills lists are locked: you can only pick one that we already have in our database. We'll be opening that up to new entries soon.
Keep it current
Your profile isn't useful if it's not up to date. Whenever you change jobs, start a new project, or pick up new interests, you should take the 5 minutes to update your profile. This will ensure that the right people are finding you – and that your existing contacts will be able to see what you're up to. Remember, you earn one feedback point per month for updating your profile.
