After being made redundant there are many options to consider. Whether you end up in another job, starting your own business or even taking a mini retirement, here are my top networking essentials whilst considering your options.

1. Have up to date business cards. Whilst you have no business as such for now, having business cards to hand out whilst networking is the easiest way for people to get hold of your contact details.

2. Plan your activities around all your options - at least until you narrow your choices down. The key here is to keep an open mind to all possibilities until you decide.

3. Record what you learn. You are in the information gathering stage so to prevent you from becoming overwhelmed with detail, keep notes on what you learn from all your networking activities. In fact if you are networking extensively, it is useful to keep a note of the names and some brief details of everyone you meet.

4. Treat networking as a 'giving' to begin with - look to see how you can help others. One thing you will have plenty of during this period is time itself. You can afford to be generous with your time and invest in others.

5. Learn how to excel at 'impromptu' networking ie having casual conversations with those you come in to contact with during your daily activities - neighbours, petrol pump attendants, hairdressers etc. These conversations might give you valuable information about what sort of things are occupying people's minds or what is going on in your local area. This in turn may give you ideas for new business ventures or who might recruiting.

6. Make a list of the top business people in your local geographical area or area of expertise. Find ways of networking with them - what networking groups do they belong to - or contact them and ask them for the key issues facing their business. This will have a number of spin offs:-
a. An opportunity to connect with the person and tell them what you are doing. They may be able to help
b. An opportunity to ask for the names of other key business leaders to contact
c. The answers to the questions may give you ideas for business set up or job hunting

And finally, remember the golden rule of all networking - treat it as a long term project and do it consistently.