1. 4 Steps to Networking Success
Notes from presentation by
Bonnie Chan
at Canada Job Expo
Toronto
January 29th 2013
This presentation by Maira Bay de Souza is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

2. Before we begin ...
Items in this font are the notes I took from what the
presenter said
Items in this font are my own comments

3. Summary
The 4 steps to networking success can be summarized in
one word: GROW
Generate
Research
Own
Work

4. Making small talk
Some tips for making conversation:
Location: “are you from here?”
Family: questions like “is that your
family?” (pointing at interviewer's
desk with a photo on it) are
appropriate. But other questions like
“are you married?” might not be.
Hobbies
Community

5. Making small talk (contd.)
Use open-ended questions such as “what do you like about
your job/your community/your family/etc ?”
Excellent tip! This prevents people from answering 'Yes' or
'No'. When people give that answer, you have little time to
think about what to ask next. And you might end up in an
uncomfortable silence.
When you ask open-ended questions, people elaborate, they
talk more. This gives you several possibilities of subjects to
talk about next.

6. Generate
Create your elevator pitch (30 seconds introduction)
Know what you are looking for (job, freelance, full-
time, contract, what industry, company size, etc)
The key here is to be specific.
I know this can be hard for some people.
You don't have to write a perfect pitch from the start.
Just try writing one and refine it as time goes by and you
learn more about what you want.

7. Research
Find out where the people that will hire you hang out
(coffee shop, sports club, etc)
Go there and hang out there too
Do the same for the people that will be your co-workers,
or if you are looking to meet a specific person
I've done that and I agree that it is a good idea. Go for it!
But please, don't be creepy!
A simple way is to go to events where the people who will
hire you go to. Be honest and tell them what you're looking
for, but never sound desperate.

8. Own
Take ownership of your networking
Use the Law of Attraction:

Tell your brain who you're going to
meet (example “I'm going to meet 3
people today that will lead me to a
job”)
Another great tip!

9. Work
Take action! Now!
List 3 networking actions that
you will take in the next 72
hours:
1.______________________
2.______________________
3.______________________

10. Thanking
Always thank people for their time
and attention
Send personalized physical cards (as
opposed to emails and other less
personal ways of communication)
I like her idea, but I think you will agree
that it might be very costly and time
consuming.
Right now, I'm just focusing on following
up monthly with all my contacts.

11. Disclaimer
The notes presented here are what I understood from what
the presenter communicated. They might not be 100%
accurate, as I was taking notes and listening to the
presentation at the same time.
All the information I am quoting from the presenter is their
intellectual property. I am reproducing it here under the fair
use policy, for quoting purposes only.