Inspire a sense of community spirit, possibly through business and women's groups, that can point you in the right direction. Focus on your profession or take advantage of your circumstances to find an opportunity to change your career and pursue a hidden passion.
Share resources to reap surprising benefits. For example, the Department of Labor has partnered up with agencies that give out $25 a month for job seekers to put gas in their cars.
Use the referral system, now called viral marketing
. Giving or receiving a personal, enthusiastic approval of another's work is often the best endorsement a person can get.
Remember the Golden Rule. All networking should be positive. Do not undermine one another. Even if nobody knows who you are now, if you let an unconstructive comment about you leak out, it will spread and be remembered, whether it is true or not.
Be resourceful for each other. At a recent poetry reading, one of the poets explained how the word "share" comes from the word "shear." She then explained that when you share something you give up something of yourself for that other person. My thoughts and wishes for you now are that you will be able to share without getting sheared.
Risa Ruse is an author, poet and artist whose work is displayed at www.RisaRuse.com.
This column is written by members of the Rochester Women's Network, whose focus is to help women connect, grow and succeed. For more information, go to www.rwn.org.
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