Can Networking Events Help You Land Your Dream Job?

by Richard Meadow

It’s becoming easier to find career opportunities for all ages in every sector, browsing online helps narrow your search down to businesses with vacancies and you can view if the job specification matches to your needs. There are also recruitment agencies that help hunt down the perfect roles and help filter the search process. The only problem is that everyone else is using the same techniques and if you’re wanting to go into a tough sector, you need to be able to stand out.

Anyone can make themselves sound great on paper, to stand out from the online applicants, attending networking events with instantly make you more memorable. You might think networking is a thing of the past, however, most businesses use networking events to spread brand awareness and help with recruiting. There are plenty of reasons to attend a networking event and here are some of the key reasons why.

What is a Networking event?

A group of businesses that all attend the same venue to entice new business and new employees to work with them. It’s one of the best ways to impact new business as it’s all done on a face to face basis. You don’t have to be looking for business or work to attend, anyone interested can come along to improve their knowledge or learn new things.

Socialise

Networking events aren’t just for finding a new employer, you can make friends with other attendants and learn from each other. At first, you might think it’s a competition to see who can get the job but it’s the opposite, in most cases businesses aren’t at the event to recruit one person, offering each other feedback and advice will help you both get the job. It might be the case that you’re unsuccessful with that company but tipping each other on other vacancies will also help in the future. Having as many friends as possible in your desired sector is always a benefit for current and future goals.

After you’ve socialised at the event, you can become contacts outside of it, if your friend from a networking event refers you to have an interview, this is a key advantage to receiving more interviews and likely, more job offers. Advise on how to approach a company, what to wear and key points to bring up can be offered.

Personal Contact

The most memorable way to meet someone is face-to-face, being able to some an employer your personality and eagerness will trump them reading a C.V. about what someone might be like if they got an interview. Character references always help in narrowing down any selection points, if you made a good impact on an employer at the event you’re likely to get an interview rather than people they’ve never met. If you’re not the most confident with new people, having a more face-to-face contact in a more informative environment will help build your interview confidence.

Gaining Knowledge About Companies

Not only can you learn about sector you’re interested in, but you also have the potential to learn about career opportunities you never knew existed. Browsing the internet will only show you what you’re researching, by walking around at a networking event you can see all different career paths and learn new practices in careers you already know. Learning during the event will always be a good talking point during an interview, you can show your intelligence to keep learning whilst showing eagerness to break into the sector.

For freelancers and contractor’s, advice on which contractors insurance or professional indemnity insurance to opted in for can be suggested and the features and benefits. You’ll likely find more out about other business like this at the events as they also attend for business to business awareness.

Networking can only improve your chances of going into your desired sector, meeting employers increase the likeliness greatly, but also, having friends on the inside of other businesses always gives you an advantage for additional interviews and advice on how to land the job. If you find your desired sector is too hard to get into currently, the networking event will also help spark new interests and alternative career opportunities to try. With no negative aspects to mention it’s worth attending one to see if you feel the benefits of participating.

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