1) Complete your LinkedIn profile.
This should be a 1 hour work session. Fill in the details, make sure your personality and experience shine. This is your “living resume,” make sure you are well represented from your professional experience to your education to your interests. The more information you share in your profile, the easier it will be for people to connect with you. You must have a decent head shot that shows your eyes, an easy to share link to your profile (that should be included on your resume and in the signature line of your email), and your specialties included as keywords. Never ask for a recommendation on LinkedIn, give them weekly until you run out of people to write them for. Giving recommendations on LinkedIn promotes your profile keeping you in front of your network and builds social capital. Write a recommendation for everyone that has worked for you, that you have worked for, that you know professionally or personally. Keep them short, simple and honest, remembering these recommendations build your credibility and communicate how well you write to the reader.

2) Lock down your FaceBook profile.
Yes, your potential employers can look you up on FaceBook and see all of the posts in your newsfeed, if you let them. My rules for FaceBook privacy settings are very simple. Everything should be set to “friends only,” except for Search and Messaging which should be set to “Everybody;” and “Pictures and Videos,” which I encourage you to set to “Friends of Friends.” When you lock down your privacy settings under Account, you do not have to worry about potential employers or school admission teams looking thru your profile. That said, CLEAN IT UP. If you are not comfortable with your mother seeing what is on your FaceBook profile, it should be deleted. You are responsible for what you post and the pictures you are in. If someone posts inappropriate pictures of you, untag yourself and politely ask them to remove the picture. Yes, you must put in your education and employment history on FaceBook. Although FaceBook is your “social network,” it may be your most valuable (especially since it has 500 million users and is growing faster than ever before). Give your friends the chance to know you professionally as well as personally.

3) Tell your network what opportunity you are looking for.
People have to know how they can help you. The worst thing that can happen is people will not respond or they will say no. You must get comfortable telling people what you are looking for and asking them for help with specific goals. Asking to be introduced to specific people or even types of companies is the best way to empower people to help you. You can use the status updates in LinkedIn, FaceBook and Twitter as well as direct email followed by a phone call.

4) Do your research.
Look up companies you are interested in on Google, LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter. Do the same thing with people you are meeting or interviewing with. If you are doing your research you will find connections, common ground and areas of focus. How you use this information will play a role in your success. What kind of information will be useful to you? Anything form a shared interest, to a mutual friend, to the alma mater of your potential employer to recent news about the company. You have access to an unlimited power, knowledge. Use it!

5) Expand your connections.
I call this the Rainbow Theory. The connections in your Network make up the rainbow of your life. Each of them is a unique color representing some aspect of you and your relationship. We want a large beautiful rainbow (friends and connections), why? Because at the end of that rainbow is a pot of gold, only you can limit how big that pot of gold is. Expand your connections, friendships and relationships and you increase the potential of that pot of gold. How do you find that pot of gold? See #6.

6) Meet up in public as often as possible.
Social networking is not a competition to see who has the most “friends” or “contacts.” It is the opportunity to get to know people better. You must dig thru your contacts and set up meetings every single week. When you travel, find people in your network and get meetings, breakfast, coffee or drinks with them. Your next opportunity may live in another city yet have a great connection for you. By meeting in public places you will see other people you know, this is not an accident. Follow-up with these people and participate in your community. Remember to stay actively engaged in the process of helping other people with opportunities they are looking for.

7) Be more generous.
Share your skills and time liberally. Volunteer. You can do more good for your reputation and search for opportunity by giving your time and the most valuable skills you have, until you are “running on empty.” People will see the value you bring to the table, you will meet new people in real working situations and you will have positive situations to talk about with potential employers and clients as you look for your next opportunity. You are the most valuable asset you have, the more you share your skills and talent the more valuable of an asset you become to society. Increase your value, be more generous.

The Cavs have had a phenomenal season for one reason, LeBron James…Wrong! It is because they have worked hard at becoming a team! The Cavs play hard together and it shows on and off the court. LJ has been an amazing player for years, but it takes a strong team to win together, on good days and bad days. LJ has been criticized for passing the ball too much, sometimes even I want him to just dunk the ball or miss the shot rather than dishing the ball to anyone else on the team. That said, LJ is an unselfish player and it is a critical part of his game to get the ball to the player who has the best opportunity to score.

In the above picture Lebron James is completing a no-look pass. This is one of the beautiful moments that occurs in basketball. He draws the defense with his drive and completes a pass that results in an undefended shot. This is not just an “assist,” this is a “bonus assist.”  Why? because Lebron didn’t simply pass the ball, he opened up the shot by attracting multiple defenders guarding against his shot. Lebron made it easier for his teammate to score. Any assist builds Social Capital, a no-look pass builds double the capital.

As we build our team, we create Social Capital. Connecting to an old co-worker or school mate is a compliment, “liking” a picture or writing a recommendation builds social capital, joining a friend’s group and even posting a picture of someone is building tiny bits of social capital (association is a compliment). Think of ways that you can share with your network.

When a newbie joins a network do you “suggest friends” or “re-tweet” or “comment” them? When your friend launches their new website, did you “post-it” on FaceBook?  You are only as strong as your team is, meaning helping your people and interacting with them builds strong bonds that support your entire network. Emailing a few people a link to your friend’s site is an assist, posting the site on FaceBook with an endorsement from you is a no-look pass.

Recently I was asked, what is the proof of value in having a large network? As I listened to the sound of the Cavs fans in Detroit chanting “MVP” for LeBron, I was reminded of the value. A large network will answer the call for support. When the Pistons realized they had extra tickets left over and offered them to Cavs fans, the network responded by buying tickets and driving to Detroit to support our team. We see this same concept come across in Verizon commercials and the “large network following you everywhere.” More importantly, you will see the value of a large network when you ask a question on FaceBook or LinkedIn or even search for someone. The larger your network the more likely you are to find the help you need or want. Work efficiently, strengthen your network, earn social capital.

Looking at the picture below, Lebron is making a spectacular dunk, he broke away from the crowd and let loose demonstrating his power and technique. Yes Lebron is special and yes it may be due to his extraordinary talent. What I see in this picture is Lebron releasing and using some of the social capital he built up during the game. Lebron “earned” this dunk, but it took a large strong network (from teammates to family to fans) to make it possible. Build a strong foundation of social capital, and while you may never get a break away dunk like Lebron, you just might”get what you need.”

*All of my Cav pictures are coming from a Google Images search, sorry they are not mine.