It's still up to you

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 453.

Part 3

v Active vocabulary

o Study the following vocabulary items and collocations:

To place trust in somebody

To put one's credibility on the line

To let somebody down

Obnoxious egomaniac

In any setting

To work part time

To be outgoing

A two-way street

A telltale sign

To be opportunistic

What goes around comes around

o Read the text. Do the comprehension check below:

Remember, just because a person opens a door, makes a call or introduces you around, you aren't guaranteed anything. Sure, a contact might prevent your resume from being tossed, but once you're invited to interview, it's entirely up to you to prove yourself. Your contact placed trust in you and put his credibility on the line by making an introduction or recommendation. Don't let yourself or your contact down. In the end, you still have to perform.

Take every opportunity to tell people about yourself and your goals. I'm not talking about being an obnoxious egomaniac who dominates conversations. That's sleazy networking. However, you can describe yourself in a natural way through normal conversation in virtually any setting.

Michelle Kemp worked part time at a J. Crew store while studying graphic design at the University of Texas at Arlington. She was outgoing and often asked customers questions about themselves, including what they did for a living. When she learned that one customer owned a graphic-design firm, she mentioned that she was about to graduate with a degree in that field. He asked to see some of her work, and hired her after she graduated. Contacts and relationships can be hard to establish and even harder to maintain. The best networkers realize that it's a two-way street.

The telltale sign of a sleazy networker is calling only when you want something. Instead, send a simple progress report every three or four months to keep your name and face in people's minds. If you see an article someone could find useful or interesting, cut it out and send it with a quick note: "FYI. Thought you might like this."

Successful networkers aren't sleazy, selfish or opportunistic. They're sincere. The best net-worker I know always ends every conversation with, "Is there anything I can do for you?" and she means it. It sounds like a cliché, but when it comes to networking, what goes around comes around.

v Comprehension check

o Answer the following questions using information from the article to support your ideas. Remember to use the article vocabulary to the maximum:

1. Why doesn't an invitation for an interview by itself guarantee anything?

2. How can you find more contacts?

3. Why are contacts hard to establish?

4. What is a telltale sign of a sleazy networker?

o Translate in written the paragraph beginning from “Remember, just because a person…” up to “…virtually any setting”.