Count Cards

When you meet new people or make new collections, don't be afraid to ask for cards. There is no better way to ensure you will remember their name or email address than to take their business card. If you meet somebody and they express interest or willingness to talk to you, ask for their card so that you can take the initiative to follow up. Once you have their card though, make sure you actually do take the initiative and follow up. Collecting cards won't do you any good if you just collect them and don't do anything with them.

This might also help others who are trying to network through you. Even if they aren't looking for career opportunities like you are, but are looking for a product or service, if you have business cards you can pass the name along. Networking is not just about helping yourself - if you want to network through other people, you should be able to help others network. Networking is not about using people - it is about having connections and being able to help others as well as yourself.

Dress the part

The way you look has a huge impact on your job prospects. I know we'd all like to say that what you're wearing doesn't matter and it's your work ethic and skills that are paramount. That's true to a point, your work ethic and skills are paramount, but be real, you aren't going to get a job if you go to the interview in sweat pants. It is possible though to over dress for an interview. Try to keep it pretty traditional and conservative, but very business professional.

Men: Athletic socks and sneakers are NOT appropriate even though they are comfortable. Wear a suit with a tie. If you're going to an interview for a more creative type job, maybe throw on a brightly colored shirt and a patterned tie, but don't wear a line green suit.

Women: Your party clothes are not professional. That skirt may be black but it's about 7 inches too short. Wear professional attire, approximately knee length on the skirts or wear pants, and a nice top with a jacket maybe.

Dress for the job that you'd like to have, not necessarily the one that you are applying for. But don't be defined by your outfit. You want your skills and work ethic to shine to the recruiter, not your metallic shirt.

Always be Prepared

It is important to prepare for each and every interview or meeting that you go to. The questions might be repetitious as you continue to have informational interviews and continue to go on job interviews, but the answers will vary from time to time. It's important to have some standard answers that you can recycle, but some of the details should change depending on the job; you always want to customize your answers to questions depending on the job or organization.

If you're in an informational interview you will probably still be asked, "Tell me about yourself." This is when you should respond with your elevator speech, a thirty to sixty second description of you who are professionally. This elevator speech will pretty much be standard, though when you go on job interviews you can try to tailor it a bit to the job description.

There are some standard interview questions that you will begin to learn as you interview. You can also do some research on these on the internet. Begin to have some standard examples for these questions, create a general outline that you can keep, but before you go on an interview use your outline and make your responses more relevant to the job for which you are interviewing. For example, if you are really proud of a project you worked on professionally, you can always use that project for the "Tell me about a time you were successful," question, but highlight different aspects for different interviews.

No matter which answers you recycle, and which you use for the first time, you should always be prepared with experiences that you know for a fact you will highlight during an interview. Make sure the experiences you want to talk about are the ones that are most relevant to the job at hand. Go through your resume ahead of time, and create an outline as to how your experiences directly tie into the job description. This will help you to more fluidly answer the questions.