Top 3 Reasons Why You Should Network

Top 3 Reasons Why You Should Network For those of you who, like me, dread the â€Å"networking† phase of job searching, here are some reassuring suggestions! It’s easy to dread the forced nature of â€Å"networking† or the awkwardness of feeling like you’re fake-interviewing someone who couldn’t care less about your background or ambitions but there are benefits to networking. That being said, here are 3 reasons why you should network. 1. Networking Isn’t Begging, It’s GivingThe advantage to letting someone get to know you is that they’ll remember you when it’s time to fill an open position. If you share some original ideas or have a meaningful conversation about something you’re passionate about- without the agenda of a job application- you’ll stay in their mind because of how well you click.At the same time, you also have an important opportunity to learn something crucial about the person you’ve just met, so that at some point in the future you can help them with their professional endeavors.2. Networking Can Improve Your Social SkillsThink of a networking opportunity (also known as â€Å"meeting someone socially with whom you have professional interests in common†) as a chance to gain three things, as Herges puts it:A sense of what makes the other person happy and inspiredAn idea of the best way to converse with the other person to make them feel appreciatedAn opportunity to showcase what it would be like to have you as a colleagueListening is such an underrated skill- and it neatly covers any uncertainty you might feel about what to say. Networking is noy only about what you can get,  but also about what you can contribute.3. You Can Network Without Even Trying!Here’s my favorite networking experience I’ve ever had- it took months to unfold and some lucky timing.In the course of my regular Twitter use, I started chatting with a musician named Matt; he invited me to swing by a birthday pa rty he was having. There, I struck up a conversation with Karen, a writer and freelancer, and we became friends on Twitter. A few weeks later she invited me to a bowling meet-up, where I started talking with Michael, a fellow Mets fan who was also a social media director. Because we’d become friends, I saw when he retweeted a friend of his who was seeking copywriters for a TV sports comedy show, and I got the gig (which remains one of my favorite freelance gigs I’ve ever had).It goes on! A year later when a colleague and I were out for a lunchtime walk, he mentioned was looking for freelancers on a writing and editing project; randomly my friend Karen happened to cross our path just a few minutes later. I introduced them and recommended my friend Karen for the project, and they’ve been working together ever since.I didn’t go into any of these encounters- the Twitter conversations, the birthday party, the bowling, or the walk- expecting to get a job; but I did hope I’d meet fun people, and it turned out they were people I’d like to work with sometime in the future. Because I was just being myself, I made a much better impression than I would have if I was in â€Å"networking mode.†Professional strategies can help you clarify your goals, but there’s no substitute for getting to know people in a low-stakes scenario.  3 Reasons Networking Is A Job Search Priority †¦Ã‚  Read More at www.pure-jobs.com

Formatting Book Titles in the Digital Age

Formatting Book Titles in the Digital Age Formatting Book Titles in the Digital Age Formatting Book Titles in the Digital Age By Maeve Maddox A reader wonders why he is seeing book titles presented in all capitals: Ive even seen publishers and editors do it, so I started thinking maybe I was misinformed. Typing book titles in all caps is a peculiarity of the publishing industry. According to The Chicago Manual of Style, the practice originated in the days of the typewriter when titles that are now easily italicized on a computer had to be underscored; typing the title in all caps for industry correspondence and interdepartmental memos saved time. The all-caps practice has continued into the digital age, perhaps because early email programs transformed italics into gibberish; typing titles in all capitals insured that they would be readable. Most of today’s email programs handle italics perfectly well, but the practice persists. Many sites offering advice to writers recommend the all-caps approach when corresponding with publishers and agents. Here’s an example from a model query letter on the Writer’s Digest site: I’m currently seeking representation for my YA [Young Adult] novel, FALLS THE SHADOW. Given your interest in science fiction, I thought it might be a good fit for your list. CMOS does not approve, not even for email. Their recommendation â€Å"when italic type is unavailable† is to type an underscore at the beginning of the title and another at the end of the title, as in this example: When I first read _The History of the Siege of Lisbon_, I was so grateful to discover a book about a proofreader that Saramago’s hypnotic stringing together of sentences nearly sent me into an ecstatic trance. Here is the CMOS stance on the formatting of titles of creative works: 1. The titles of novels, long poems, movies, and television series are italicized. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (a novel) Flowers for Algernon (a novella, but still long enough to warrant an italicized title) Paradise Lost (a poem of about 10,000 lines) Enoch Arden (a poem of about 900 lines) To Have and Have Not (a movie) Downton Abbey (a television series) 2. The titles of short stories, short poems, songs, chapter titles, and television episodes are enclosed in double quotation marks. â€Å"Lucy Looks into a Wardrobe† (chapter title from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) â€Å"Ulysses† (short poem of 73 lines) â€Å"Deus ex Machina† (episode title of television series Person of Interest) â€Å"When You Wish upon a Star† (song) Note: British usage prefers single quotation marks (e.g., ‘Ulysses’). As with certain other matters concerning mechanics, The Associated Press Stylebook does not concur with CMOS. AP style recommends enclosing the titles of all of the following in quotation marks: books computer games movies operas plays poems albums songs radio and television programs lectures speeches works of art AP does not enclose the following works in quotation marks: the Bible catalogs almanacs directories dictionaries encyclopedias gazetteers handbooks software programs As with apostrophe use, it’s up to the writer to choose a style guide to follow. Writers in search of publication are probably wise to do as the Romans do. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Yours faithfully or Yours sincerely?Confused Words #3: Lose, Loose, Loss"Wracking" or "Racking" Your Brain?