Wednesday focus: The workplace
Many laid-off professionals who’ve worked at the same company – or just a few firms – over their careers may find that their networks have gone stale.
Experts recommend networking be done consistently and be nurtured throughout a career, but that’s not always feasible in a world of 70-hour workweeks and family commitments.
There are ways to jump-start an out-of-date network and to rebuild rapport with former friends and colleagues.
First, you actually have to find these people. The e-mail address you used a year ago may yield only a bounce-back message now.
Social and business networking sites such as LinkedIn and Plaxo are good ways to find old connections. LinkedIn officials say the site has seen a 36 percent increase in membership over the past six months as executives scramble to rebuild their networks.
You can search by name or company to find old acquaintances. Personalize your network invitation request with a memory the two of you shared or a reminder of who you are.
Once you’ve re-established your relationship, you can also view the friends of your connections and request an introduction to people at companies that interest you.
Once you’ve located people in your old network, a simple holiday card to a former manager or colleague – or calling to wish them a happy New Year – can reopen dialogue.
Workers leaving U.S.: Some 234,000 working-age Latinos who immigrated to the U.S. between 1990 and 1999 are no longer part of the American labor force, a new report says.
Those workers left the work force over the past year as the economy slid into recession, according to an analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Hispanic Center.
Rakesh Kocchar, who authored the report, said about 234,000 Latino working-age immigrants – those 16 or older – who arrived during those years are no longer part of the labor force, either because of deaths or departures.
Although the report didn’t track how many returned home, the data suggests many are doing so, Kocchar said.
From wire reports