In my last blog,  point number 6,  I suggested following up with people you meet – regardless of how valuable a contact they seem.

At an “after hours” last week an attendee, who was a grant writer, was there looking for work.  They had no business cards and a hefty resume, that did not reflect what skills they had,  a copy of which I declined to take – sorry I am not hiring, not a recruiter and I did have a lot to carry already.

BUT  I did spend time with the person – what’s 10 minutes between new acquaintances and I was not entirely sure what a grant writer did so I learned something.

After a few minutes I asked “are you on Linkedin” – response “no”.  I continued “are you using any social networking media – response “no”.

My reply – “OK, drop me an email with your details and I will keep an eye out for you”.  For those of you that know me this was not an idle promise.

Well, I have heard nothing.  No email, no follow up, no “thanks for your time”.  Guess what, I have found someone that wants …………. you got it ………….. a grant writer.  But I have no way to contact the “networker”.

The lesson from this story – don’t waste your time networking if you are not going to get prepared, not going to make it easy for people to network with you, not going to follow up OR if you are expecting instant results.