The Five O'Clock Club Networking Database (Members Only)
Terms of Service

Please read the following tips and guidelines for use of the Networking Database. If you fail to network within these guidelines your access to the database will be suspended immediately.

As always, Five O'Clock Clubbers have been generous with their time and insight. We appreciate the help members give each other. Without this help, many Five O'Clock Clubbers would have to start from scratch to research the industries and fields they are targeting.

However, a lot of people who are new to the Club do not know how to network. They plunge right in, make contacts, but end up harming whatever relationships they might have had.

Before You Begin

Before you begin networking, there are several things you must do:

· Wait until you have been with the Club for at least four group meetings before contacting other members.

· You must fill out the Survey yourself and be willing to participate in being contacted .

· Make sure you have mastered your "Two Minute Pitch" by practicing it in your small group.

· Role-play a networking meeting in your small group. Chances are, at first you'll unintentionally put the other person in an uncomfortable situation. Try it again until you are more polished.

Those who are having trouble with job search and feel desperate are more likely to network incorrectly. As one anxious Five O'Clock Clubber said, "I could recite the do's but really didn't understand the don'ts of networking." For example, an anxious job-hunter may tend to come on too strongly with networking contacts. But you don't want to pressure people who are already inclined to help you.

Networking With Other Five O'Clock Clubbers

When you network with other Five O'Clock Clubbers, show them even more courtesy and consideration than you would someone outside the Club. After all, this is a club, and you are trying to form lifelong relationships-just like the members of the original Five O'Clock Club. Like any inner circle, word spreads quickly about other members. Here are a few additional suggestions:

· Remember to operate on the time frame of the person you're contacting, not yours. Club members have made comments such as, "He expected me to drop everything and talk to him right away even though I said I was busy." If someone can't see you for a month, get on his or her calendar a month from now.

· Prepare for your meeting. You don't want the new contact to say, "She was totally unprepared. I could have given her so much more information if she had done some research first."

· Follow up on every lead. If a fellow member gives you a lead and offers to make a call on your behalf, it is very important that you follow up. Otherwise you make your fellow member look bad.

· Let Club members know what happened with the contacts or information they gave you. They have given you the names of people who are important to them.

· And be sure to formally thank Club members for their time. Don't take anyone for granted.

§ The Networking Database is for use by FIVE O'CLOCK CLUB MEMBERS AND ALUMNI ONLY. ACCESS CANNOT BE PROVIDE TO INDIVIDUALS OUTSIDE OF THE ORGANIZATION.

§ Contact methods may not be used for solicitation.

§ Members are encouraged to report abuse of the database.

§ Abuse of the database will result in immediate and permanent expulsion from the service. There are no exceptions.

Your polite behavior will assure that fellow Five O'Clock Clubbers will continue to be open with each other-and we will have each other to depend on in the future.

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