Download Networking for Nerds Find Access and Land Hidden GameChanging Career Opportunities Everywhere Alaina G Levine Brian Schmidt Books

Product details Paperback 244 pages Publisher Wiley-Blackwell; 1 edition (July 7, 2015) Language English ISBN-10 1118663586

Networking for Nerds Find Access and Land Hidden GameChanging Career Opportunities Everywhere Alaina G Levine Brian Schmidt Books Reviews

• This book has been a huge help and a unbelievable resource. The book helped to explain to me, a Chemical Engineer, what the art of Networking really inteled. I thought that just by going to events meeting different people in different circles meant that I was networking. When if fact that was only step 1. In this book Alaina lays out that there is a step 2 that I was not doing which was getting their contact information following up and then continuing to keep in touch with people. Who knew??
  
  This book is jammed packed with wonderful tips on practical things that everyone needs to know. Like how to write a thank you note following a interview, considering job opportunities outside of your selected major in college, and countless other valuable life lessons. I reccomemd this book to not only my fellow "Nerds" but to everyone from new grad to established professionals. I still refer to this book years after purchasing it to remind myself how would Alaina handle this situation and the answer is always with confidence, grace and excellent communication!!
  
  You will not regret this purchase and will want to share it with everyone!!
• This book has really helped me get my head around how to network effectively. I'm not finished with the book yet, but I've already found the commentary helpful in getting me thinking about how networking is a task worth my attention, and not something I have to dread. I have started to implement many of the tips and ideas that Alaina presents, and have found my network expanding a lot. Not only that, but people that I am connecting with are actually interested in becoming my clients!
• Really good book!
• Networking for Nerds is aptly titled. Like many networking books, it’s targeted to the job-hunting beginner, so there is plenty of advice on the order of “always have a business card with you.” But it’s also targeted to the unsocialized, including a longish section on table manners in public settings, with details like “don’t lick your fingers.” Miss Manners and the readers’ mothers may well have cause to thank author Alaina Levine. The book design is nerdy as well. Think 1980s technical manual for company-internal use only, from before they discovered graphics. That said, this book does go into more detail than the average breezy job-hunting manual. The author seems quite serious about helping her readers and gives them every piece of advice she can muster. Much of this focuses on building ongoing networking relationships. As opposed to the predatory attitude of "extract every useful piece of information out of this person as fast as possible, then move right on to the next person," which I've often seen and even been subjected to in the job-hunting world.
• Author Alaina G. Levine (self-professed card-carrying fellow nerd) does a good job tackling myths and perceptions surrounding networking often held by scientists and researchers – and that’s her primary audience here People who attend conferences, apply for grants, solicit and compose professional references, collaborate on research proposals and of course inquire about academic job opportunities.
  
  It all involves “soft” people skills, and her advice on making and maintaining connections is practical and feels genuine. This aspect of the book including, establishing your ‘network brand’, approaching people on social media as well as engaging strangers at live events, is useful for anyone navigating the professional waters these days.
  
  The 30 second elevator pitch is a well-known technique every professional should have in their pocket regardless of field, and Levine offers realistic examples to spur your own thought process.
  
  Also very transferable is the idea of exploring ‘beneath the surface’ for unposted job opportunities. It’s an often-repeated fact that less than 10% of positions are advertised externally – but that doesn’t mean only insiders are considered for the other 90%. The key is uncovering who the gatekeepers are and the answers can often be found through casual connections online.
  
  The writing is intelligent and respectful of the audience. Levine understands the disconnect between highly accomplished scientists whose social skills may not be on an equal footing – for reasons unnecessary and detrimental to their career growth.
  
  Bottom Line The author does an excellent job drumming into readers that there’s nothing at all sleazy or manipulative about professional networking – in fact the contrary. Much valuable work – even historic and award-winning collaboration – would never have occurred without one or another party stepping outside their personal comfort zone and discovering like-minded fellow travelers willing to join forces or simply assist in the journey.
  
  We’re blessed to live in an age with vast possibilities for communication, yet many people don’t know and/or don’t allow themselves to take advantage of them. Such people will find ‘Networking for Nerds’ a source of real and practical encouragement.
• When I saw the title and the brief blurb for this book, I couldn't wait to pick it up. Networking advice for a nerd like me? Sign me up! Except, sadly, it's not really for a nerd like me. This book would have been better titled something like "Career Networking Advice for New Academic Scientists & Engineers" because that's really what it is. Though billed as appealing to nerds across the spectrum, it doesn't really have much to offer outside the context of scientific academia. What's there is sound and likely very useful, just not really something that could easily be cross-applied in very many alternate contexts.
  
  (I should have questioned the "nerd" aspect when I noticed two grammatical errors in the subtitle...)