Ah, the power of Twitter to make connections! April M. Williams and I had connected on Twitter. I knew a little bit about her from her blog, website, and Twitter profile. Since we are both active networkers in the Chicagoland area, we decided to “tweetup” to get better acquainted.
When I arrived at a local Starbucks, I found April already chatting with a gentleman that she obviously had met at some other time. Come to find out, it was a client of hers. Yes, these chance meetings at Starbucks coffee stores do happen. But I think it points to another fact: April is a networking pro who has learned how to establish and maintain valuable relationships. She even was able to leverage her network to find a new job within only a few short weeks after a massive corporate layoff. So writing a book about social networking is a natural fit for her. So I was certainly anxious to review the copy of the book she provided.
April’s book Social NetworkIng Throughout Your Career: What’s All the Buzz About? (Amazon Associate link)
What I particularly liked about the book, and true to its title, was that it emphasized how to use these networks “throughout your career.” Some networks and strategies are more appropriate to some life stages than others. Also unique to the book was the emphasis that one begin social networking for career purposes in high school. High school! That is a departure from the literature in this subject area which often does not address age issues. I think we do need to show teens how their online activities can enhance or detract from their future college and professional careers.
One of my favorite quotes from the book is, “It is not who you know. It is who you know knows.” Building your social networking channel can help you tap into that second “who you know knows” tier of contacts.
I will be sharing my review copy of the book with someone in my network for sure.
