First, I would like to apologize for the long hiatus. I'm having problems with parking my domain and redirecting it to TypePad, and I've had a few bumps in writing and a new boyfriend to take up my time, but I should be back to writing here for a long while.
So, wendylbolm.com is still down.
I was reading Fast Company (my favorite business magazine) yesterday, and in an article entitled "What to Do with Your Life" by Pro Bronson, I found a sidebar about a new, online networking tool.
Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn, or Myspace, UpMo (think upwardly mobile) doesn't connect you to members of your network. Instead, it gives you a plan in setting your networking goals. It's currently in a beta stage, and free, so I decided to take advantage of it.
I have a very hands off, nonexistent brand of networking. Even when I was searching for my dream life after college job, I only networked with a handful of people. (What a surprise, then, that the dream job never materialized.) Now, I'm ready to jump in feet first and build a strong network.
UpMo starts out with a "find your networking personality" kind of test. It's similar to the millions of Seventeen-esque personality tests out there, and my result told me my networking strengths resided in its diversity, which was the same result as more than 75 percent of test takers.
Then, the site directed me to choose an UpModel, a successful business superstar whose life was similar to my career goals. The selection process was confusing, and I really didn't get much out of knowing that I have a far removed mentor who started out as a reporter and eventually became a web writer.
The road map is also confusing. It gives dots along my projected career path, but my current trajectory stops in the middle of the path towards my ultimate goal, and it gives no real explanation to the markers set along the way. It also didn't let me set my actual current earnings (Apparently, I make almost $50,000 a year.. So why am I having so many financial problems?) and only gives a few options for setting career changes along the way.
The site's action plan is the reason to join. It offers short term and long term tasks to start building a network (I should have at least 150 colleagues and 7 key comrades, as well as an infinite amount of contacts instead of the 10 people I contact irregularly about different aspects of my career) as well as ways to track what tasks have been completed and how often contacts, comrades, and colleagues are contacted.
I'm sure as I continue to play with the site I'll have more to report, but so far I'm having fun. Just a heads up- I don't know if it's because of unexpected traffic from Fast Company readers or just growing pains, but I have had problems with the site loading rather slow.
