How to Network When You're New In Town

One of the biggest challenges, when it comes to networking, is how to find people to network with. It doesn't matter what industry you work in, where you are in your career or what generation you belong to – making new friends is hard work.

For recent college or grad school graduates, meeting people can be difficult because after graduation is over, they typically move to cities where they don't know many people at all. The friends they made during the college years will also spread across the globe, making most of those relationship unsustainable. To make matters worse, in their new adult lives, meeting new people isn't as easy as simply talking to the people they have classes with. At their workplaces, they may be surrounded by people who are considerably older, who are in different places in their lives or whom they may not share any common interests.

Older people can also have a difficult time when it comes to making new friends and exploring hobbies. Especially once their children have left for college, there can be an emptiness that's hard to fill. If, like many parents, their social lives comprised of mainly parents of their child's friends, this transition can be especially hard.

It's a common problem. Recently, I decided that it was time for me to take the next step in following my dreams and building the type of life that I really want. My daughter turned 20 and moved away last month and even before she actually left, it occurred to me that I had postponed many of my dreams in order to be the best parent possible and do what was necessary for my child. Now that she was ready to leave the nest, I decided to do something crazy and shake my life up. I'm single and almost 40, so even though there's a good chance that I'm having a mid-life crisis, I decided to pack up my life into just one suitcase, get rid of all of the rest of it, and move to the big city of Chicago.

It might sound a little crazy (and that was the point), but it actually wasn't as dramatic as all that. I have a great friend in Chicago who suggested that I move to a larger city and invited me to come and stay with him. He had moved out here about 10 years ago for his job and has been relatively happy. It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up, so I packed my bags, hopped on a Greyhound and here I am.

Once I arrived and settled in, I realized that I didn't know a single person in the city, except for one. In order to move forward with my personal and career goals, I knew that networking was going to be key. After all, my primary goal here is to try new things and find out what I really want out of life. To do this, I'm going to need to know some people.

So, how do you network when you're new in town?

I found a great website that is designed to help people build a social network off line. It's called Meetup and it is a clever way to find people who share common interests in your area.

Meetup allows you to search for social groups in your area and even create a group or two of your own. For example, if you are interested in taking dance classes in your town but don't know anyone who dances and aren't comfortable going alone, there is probably a group of people on Meetup who regularly go to dance class together.

Once you find the groups you want to join, all you have to do is click a few buttons and voila! Once you're a member of a group, you can RSVP to different events and see a list of the people who are members of the group and a list of other groups that people are also members of. This makes it simple to build various, overlapping circles of friends.

What makes Meetup really useful is that the number and types of groups are only limited to what the members want. There are groups for just about everything. Some groups focus on networking with other professionals by industry or by age, while others are focused on social activities. In the course of the week, I joined a local group that plays Dungeons and Dragons at the local library, a cooking class, a writing group, a book club and a Suburban Anti-Zombie Leauge. Now my schedule is full and I'm busy making new friends.

After a month or so, I'll probably cut down on the number of groups I regularly meet up with, but for now, I want to try everything in order to meet a large number of people and to find out which activities I like the best.

If you've been trying to increase your networking away from your computer screen, give Meetup a try. It's fairly easy to get started, but if you aren't sure and are nervous about setting up a new account, there are several great books on the subject. One of the best ones is “Social Networking for the Older and Wiser” by Sean McManus. You can take a look at the eBook on Google books. Once you find a few groups to join, you might want to read a great piece about how to behave at a Meetup outing.

Have you ever used Meetup to make new friends? Why or why not? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Image source: Meetup.com