My name is Carol Ross. I'm a former Bell Labs engineer, turned career coach, team development consultant and social entrepreneur. I'm the founder of three businesses, Carol Ross and Associates, A Bigger Voice and My Alumni Link. I am someone who has successfully networked to get great results for myself and for my businesses.
Over the course of my career, spanning nearly two decades in technology companies and eight years as a small business owner, I've used networking to take charge of my destiny and create opportunities where none seemed to exist. Through networking, I've gotten a higher paying and better fitting job within weeks of unexpectedly leaving a company, connected with business decision makers that led to six-month consulting gigs, attracted collaborators on projects, and developed a distinctive brand within the coaching industry. Networking has brought paying clients when I needed them most--during start-up of a new business and the worst recession in decades. Networking has also resulted in invitations to speak at national conferences and to provide advice for a New York Times career column. And finally, networking has helped me make major career transitions with relative ease--from working as an engineer to running a successful coaching practice to building a multi-faceted company and developing a community for social entrepreneurs.
Some people think you're either born with networking skills or not, that you can't develop them. That's not true. I've proven that and have helped coaching clients, from COOs and attorneys to engineers and bankers improve their confidence and ability to network in their own individual style.Over the years, I've published articles about networking at websites and career blogs, including:
- Networking 101
- Networking, Naturally
- Cracking the Code of Networking: Givers, Takers and Protectors
- Nine Networking Mistakes to Avoid
It was this last article, originally published on one of my blogs in January 2009, that alerted me to the demand in the marketplace for networking information beyond the basic concepts everyone knows (and usually don't follow). What a remarkable response! Many of my readers commented and passed on the blog posting to family, friends, colleagues, and staff, even 20-30 people at a time!
This led to the development of the Networking Naturally Program. As a trained professional coach, I'm also a keen observer of what works and what doesn't, for myself and for others. And as an experienced presenter, I know how to engage an audience so that concepts move into real-life application. Networking Naturally is a fantastic way to bring all my experiences and knowledge to bear for professionals at every stage of their career, no matter what their goals are--particularly during a time when those goals can seem farther away than ever.
I entered the social media world in the early days, because of the possibilities I saw as a small business owner. Like you, I've seen how technology enables like-minded individuals to connect with more ease. Using social media to network fascinates me--where you may never meet someone in person, but know more about them than about a colleague you see every day. It opens up new possibilities, where the opportunities are only as limited as the people you can connect to.
If you have specific questions about networking, feel free to email me: carol [at] myalumnilink [dot] com.
You can also find me on:
and at my blogs:
Comments