By David Staiti, Vice President and Practice Manager at The Charles Sterling Group

Networking is certainly a powerful business skill, but it is arguably the most powerful job search skill you can develop. Study after study has shown the enormous value of networking. Whether you consider yourself an expert schmoozer, or a total novice, here are some networking strategies that are bound to help:

Reconnect with Old Co-workers
Make a list of the people you had working relationships with in the past and reach out to them. Whether you have spoken to people recently or not doesn’t matter. With all of the various web based social media sites it is pretty easy to find just about anybody with a quick online search. Talk to people on the phone or in person when possible. An e-mail can be easily forgotten or overlooked, but a phone call or a cup of coffee with the person makes you more likely to be remembered.

Have an Online Presence
Social media is here to stay, and it is very important to have and manage an online presence. If you don’t have an online presence, build one! In addition to posting your resume, you can create (or not create) profiles on many major networking sites for free. These sites are an alternate way to have your profile made publicly available where you can control the information people see (or do not see). They are also a great way to track down new contacts or people you have lost touch with. Next, find out what information is already on the web about you. Start by running a basic Google search on yourself and see what comes up. If you can Google yourself and find something you don’t like, so can a potential employer. A basic Google background check has become almost standard for employers because it is free and it usually turns up a surprising amount of information. You want to make sure you know what information about you is available in the public domain.

Join a Professional or Industry Group
Regardless of what you do for work, there is almost certainly one or more professional organizations that cater to your field … check them out and join them! Many such groups have member directories, regular meetings, networking events, etc. Simply joining is usually not enough –- what you get out of these organizations is usually in direct proportion to what you put in, so use the membership to connect with people in your field.

College Alumni Directories
If you attended college there is a good chance that your school has an alumni directory. In the information age, these directories are almost always available online. College alumni directories are one of the most overlooked, yet most valuable networking resources available to a job seeker. Use these directories to expand your network and contact people in the space you are targeting.

Networking is an extremely useful job search strategy because it gets results and it is often underutilized. In a hyper competitive job market, effective networking can give you a big advantage over your competition.

David Staiti is a Vice President and Practice Manager at The Charles Sterling Group, a nationally focused executive search firm based in Boston. David manages the firm’s accounting & finance search practice and he has almost a decade of search experience.