It important to keep accurate records and information on people you have talked to. This can prevent huge embarrassment! It also gives you easy tools to write letters to people thanking them for their time and for their efforts. For the future, it also helps to record the network you have created within the industry to find your job - this network may be hugely valuable in the future as you find your way in your new career.

You should be networking with other people trying to find a job in the same industry - if you look out for each other and share knowledge, you significantly expand your coverage.It is also good to remember that as you talk to people in the industry, you are building up information on the industry - this may be useful to the people you are talking to. Where possible, share this new expertise. Remember to give as well as take.Networking is about building relationships with people, asking their advice and sharing information with them where you can. It is about asking them who you should contact next and asking their permission to use their name in making contact.Start with colleagues, mentors and managers you have known, friends, careers staff at schools or universities, teachers or professors, parents and parents friends. Think about all the people you know who may know someone who has a job.

Finding Opportunity
Networking is not a "quick fix" (nothing is, if you haven't already noticed), but establishing a good network will make your next job search easier, as long as you don't drop it as soon as you find a job. Networking is a powerful and important job hunting and job research technique. When the job market is tight, you need to be more creative about finding your next job. We all hear that most jobs are not advertised in the newspaper or posted on job boards. It can be particularly good where it helps you to find jobs at the earliest stages - where a manager is identifying the need for new staff and has not yet advertised positions. If you can find the job at this stage, then you may be the first (and only) applicant for the job. The job can often be fluid at this early stage - you may have the opportunity to shape it so that it suits you perfectly. Many positions are filled using networking.