by Thu Nguyen

Created on: August 15, 2010   Last Updated: August 18, 2010

Do something. Learn something. Share something. Change something. These are the bold words coming from Meetup, a site which makes it clear with pictures of the latest groups followed by smiling faces who looks like they’ve just made it. The connection with other like-minded people is made possible here every day as hundreds of Meetups are planned around the world. Without a doubt, the

upside to being unemployed can be beneficial when you use Meetup as a tool to get you towards greater minds.

~ How to Get Started ~

Input in an interest or topic related to what you may want to meet up for the moment. Let’s say jobs. So you’ll input in jobs and the location where you are and as the search is given, you’ll find a short description of the group, graphic thumbnail, ratings, location, participants, relevant keywords and also the next meet up if there’s any.

When you browse through this section, choose a group to your liking and click through. Notice that the group page is very similar to the design of a MySpace profile. Just by scrolling down and looking at the latest activity to see if the group you have chosen is something you want to meet up with, you can get an idea of the social crowd you’ll be interacting with.

The caveat here is in order to access all the areas of the service, you have to join. Don’t worry, the service is completely free. There’s no charge at all for coming together. With that, there are two ways to enroll:

- create an account using your e-mail address
- sign in using your Facebook account

From here, take a little time to fill in your profile with an image so the community knows who you are and browse around to find a group you’d like to be apart of. Just looking at the next meet up on the sidebar will give you ideas on what’s available. The point is to look at this opportunity as a learning experience. Deal with your sudden unemployment through keeping yourself active.

~ Benefits of Meetups ~

Look forward to your first meet up and don’t be ashamed of being unemployed. If you have searched for a group to discuss job matters, chances are you’ll be able to meet others who are in the same situation as you and can give you further advice.

Another benefit is there is no limit to how many groups you can join. If one isn’t enough, try two or even three. As long as you show up and familiarize yourself with the topic of your group, you’re keeping yourself active and busy with networking. That’s absolutely necessary to advance your social skills which may lead you to a possible future job.

Finally, you might want to volunteer with anything the group may need help with. Getting personal with your participation will help you stay positive during your long term job search. Overall, be creative, connect and change something. Find a meet up today and participate.

Learn more about this author, Thu Nguyen.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.