A couple of years ago, I was introduced to Aaron Boyce, a Sacramento-based motivational speaker and career workshop presenter. At the time, he was invited to speak about networking to benefit the job search at the technical school I worked at.
While I have since moved on, and, among other things, added career workshops to our own list of available services, there was one networking tool that Mr. Boyce passed along to attendees that left a lasting impression. And it’s this tool that may, in the face of upcoming job fairs, give you a leg up: Create business cards.
You first thought might be, “I don’t have a job. Why would I need a business card?” or something of that variation, such as the fact you don’t have your own business or that your current employer already has business cards.
Consider this, though. If you have cards from your current company, is any of that information really yours? Say if someone contacts you on the information from that card about a job, wouldn’t that not go over very well with your employer? Also, do you have anything besides your job title and contact information on that card?
And for those who are unemployed, when you go to a networking event, do you carry around copies of your resume? Truth be told, it would seem rather odd if you did.
One of the primary advantages of your personal business card is its portability. While others pass their cards out at events, you can do the same thing. In addition, your direct contact information, not your company’s, will be on them. No need to explain getting calls on your work line from prospective employers.
Finally, you can tailor your cards to briefly detail your areas of expertise. For example, on the bottom of the TOG Solutions cards, we list out each of our primary service areas. You can do the same thing.
How can you get these cards printed? The easiest would be through an online printer such as Vistaprint. However, Avery does sell business cards that you can use in your own printer and customize through your word processor.
No matter how you get them, you’ll find that supplying networking contacts with cards rather than resumes could be the best way to keep in touch.
