When you are building your professional network, there must be a level of patience when you want to connect with someone. Just because you are available for coffee or drinks at the drop of a hat doesn’t mean the person you want to me can also. While you are waiting to connect with them, continue to position yourself as a person of value while you continue to reach out to them. NO STALKING. Even if the person you are reaching out to, doesn’t respond, don’t get upset.

Please do your due diligence when it comes to building a foundation with the people in your network can check-in with them at least every quarter. That’s an action that I take pride in, and genuinely check in with people to see how they’re doing, which is a lot easier than waiting to reach out to people to give them an article. Whether you are a CEO or janitor, people want to be cared for. Just reach out to them to see how they’re doing. That speaks much volume than someone just saying, hey, I need your help with something. This idea is especially important to high power professionals such as an executive or highly visible person. 90% of their day consists of someone wanting something from them and with you consistently reaching out to see how they are doing will put you in a different category in their eyes. Put yourself in a position where the majority of the time you ask them if they need anything.

If you have been communicating with someone for the past couple of months and it’s been a genuine conversation, that will be the difference between the person that you need to favor from calling you back immediately and that person saying “they will call you back” and never do. Always position yourself to be a valuable person, regardless of where you are in your career. At any given moment, you want to ask your self how are you bring value to the people in your network. People want to hire talent with some value, not just because they can execute the job. One of the easiest and most overlooked ways that you can bring value to an organization is how you present yourself inside and outside of your office. When you come to how you dress, don’t dress for the job that you have, dress for the job that you want. If you are seeking a managerial position, start to dress (and think) as a manager.

For a new job seeker or a recurring, there’s a hidden jewel called job clubs, which many people do not take advantage of. A job club is, is where a group of job seekers will come together on a reoccurring and discuss current positions they are applying for in their marketplace and sharing opportunities with the other members of the job club. There are job clubs in almost every city in the United States. Job clubs are also vital because the process of looking for a job, it can be very lonely and sometimes depressing so you need to be around individuals that will help keep you motivated, help push you forward. I’ve seen job clubs where even though that one person in the job club that’s found the job, they still come back and yet support to make sure that everybody in the job club is working.