Buy Business Cards for Career Networking

A business card can be used any time you meet someone who would be a good business contact and you want that person to have your contact information, but handing them a resume wouldn't be appropriate. For example, you may meet someone at a party or while you're out running errands and discover they may be able to help with your job search. It may feel socially inappropriate to pull out your resume at a party or while you're dropping your kids off at school, but handing someone a business card would absolutely be appropriate in those situations.

Business cards are also very useful to have when you are conducting an informational interview. If you provide your contact with a business card at the end of the informational interview, he or she will have all of the information needed to reach you. Business cards help you to build a professional image and maintain contact with important associates while you are networking for a job.

You can also use business cards effectively if you are networking at trade shows. Again, you may not feel comfortable handing a resume to someone at a trade show, but if you meet a great business contact at a trade show, you'll be happy if you have a personal business card on hand.

Designing business cards does not have to be difficult. Simply include your name, email address, phone number and job title (i.e. the title of the job you are seeking) on the card. Some people will also include two or three brief points noting their most marketable qualifications (this is not necessary, but some people use it quite effectively).

You can print and buy business cards very inexpensively. In fact, you can even get very nice business cards for free. Most of my clients order free business cards from Vista Print. They produce very nice looking cards, and there are plenty of different business card templates to choose from on their site.

Personal business cards are wonderful networking tools. They're a great addition to your collection of job search tools.