One of the main points of the training I went through this last week was networking with a purpose. You would think I would be good at this, and I am, but only half way. I love meeting new people. I love making new connections that could become friends. And I enjoy talking to people about what they do and what they want to do.

What I am not good at is the “with a purpose” part. I do not like asking people I know and am friends with, if they know of a job that might be right for me. With really close friends, I can have conversations kind of like that, but generally they volunteer the information first (you know, because they’re my friends). But asking people I know and am friendly with, but who aren’t really close friends- I don’t want to do that, because it feels like I am trying to take advantage of the relationship.

In a sense, I am a “typical” female in that I am perfectly willing and able to ask for other people, just not myself. (This goes back to the research on women and negotiating. Women are actually better negotiators than men when we are negotiating for someone else, but when it comes to asking for ourselves, we’d just rather not.)

My career coach gave me some suggestions for getting over this- mostly to focus on asking people about their companies and the work they do, not actually asking them if they know of a job for me. There’s still a bit of a mental block for me because I know my intent, even if it’s not made explicit to them, but we’ll see what I can do.

On the other hand, I know I need to start going to some APICS events in the Seattle area. That’s the professional organization for operations managers that I joined and that grants the certification I just received. Obviously this is networking I should be doing, and I don’t really have the mental block talking to people I have just met about jobs that I do talking to my friends and my friends’ friends.

But just to practice, since most of my readers are my friends in one way or another, (and since I also know that most of you don’t live in the Seattle area, and therefore won’t be able to be much help anyway), here’s my summary statement from my resume-

APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional with extensive operations and administrative experience– including financial reporting, strategic analysis, process improvement and IT project management -capped with a technology and innovation focused education in business administration, research and communication.

Know of any companies that might be hiring for what I do?