Effective Networking for Career Development in the Age of the Internet

Melissa Nealon ñ HDA
John Challenger ñ Challenger, Gray & Christmas

Effective networking is central to building and sustaining a top level career in any industry, for in the current business world success consistently coincides with the ability to build good relationships.

Todayís world is also heavily influenced by and dependent on the Internet and this trend is growing. According to Internet World Stats (2007), there has been a 200% increase (to 315m) in Internet users in Europe since 2000.

With the realisation that networking plays a significant role in leveraging careers for future success, combined with the rapid growth of Internet utilisation it is not surprising that social networking is fast becoming a popular component of any effective career management strategy.

In 2006 alone, social networking traffic increased at a rate ranging between 185% to 528% (ComScore Media Metrix, 2006). The top players in the world of social networking are sites such as Facebook ñ where the number of active users doubled in the last year, to hit 30 million in July 2007; and MySpace.com, with more than 78 million members, counting multiple profiles from one source. LinkedIn, must also be mentioned here as it is the worldís largest professional network, with more than 12 million members. The common thread of these sites is that they connect people.

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