In our recent blog post, we shared easy ways to refresh your network by documenting your contacts, reviewing your recent engagements with your connections and thinking about your networking goals. Your networking goals should stem from your career goals. What are you hoping to accomplish this year and who in your network can help you achieve it? If you’re looking to change professions or learn more about a different industry, then an informational interview can be a very effective networking tool to accomplish this. 

Imari Paris Jeffries has had a prolific career - and he's just getting started. He began his nonprofit career after developing a life-long value of service while serving in the military, which he joined as a homeless high school graduate. He almost left the sector for good when he didn't have $100 in his bank account to put his parents up in a hotel after their house burned down. Though Imari stayed in the sector, reaching executive-level leadership before he turned 30, lack of fair compensation is one of the fatal flaws he sees in the nonprofit industry.

We all know the importance of networking: According to a recent study conducted by Amazon best-selling author, LinkedIn Influencer and CEO Lou Adler, 55% of all jobs are filled through the hidden job market, a combination of internal promotions and networking. Even more depressingly, research from Dr. John Sullivan, a professor of Management at San Francisco State found that the most competitive companies, such as Google, hire less than 1% of their online job applicants.