Many job seekers and career changers use the holidays to network for a variety of purposes. Informational interviews provide valuable insights into potential career options. Holiday gatherings offer informal opportunities to uncover strategic alliances or generate job leads through personal connections.

All of these are great strategies but--you can blow your network quickly if you make the following mistakes:

Mistake Number One:  Reaching out to your highest value contacts before doing your homework.
If you are lucky, you know one or two people who are extremely well connected. It's tempting to call them first. Since you know them pretty well, you figure you can skip doing advance research or preparation. You walk into the meeting asking unfocused questions. You make a bad impression and probably cannot go back and fix it.

Consider this alternative. Make a list of the people you want to meet with. Schedule folks who seem less central to your industry or career-related goals first. Visit their LinkedIn page, research their field or organization and prepare your questions. Enter the meeting ready to have a highly professional conversation. Consider the possibility they may be more relevant to your future than you can imagine.

Build on each meeting, adding new questions, offering them support for any endeavor you can help with and following up with a well-crafted thank you. Work your way to the final meetings with your most influential contacts. Now you are ready to blow their mind in a good way.

Mistake Number Two: Skipping the golden question.
It's common to get anxious near the end of your meetings and forget the most important question: who else should I be taking to? This prompts the person you are meeting with to mentally scan their network and pick people who will deepen your knowledge. You earn the right to ask this question. Your excellent preparation and outstanding questions inspire cooperation. Your networking contact opens new doors keeping you out of the cold calling game.

Mistake Number Three:  Failing to stay in touch.
With your focus on moving forward and getting to your goal, it's easy to forget to touch base with your network contacts. You enrolled each person you met with to help you with your career. It's important to let them know how you are doing, share refinements of your objectives or accomplishments showing progress. Even if you feel down in the dumps, you must portray a positive perspective in your communication. Point out your enthusiasm for the career field you are researching, note important innovations, showing you are keeping up with trends. Your brief, friendly note reminds them to keep you on their radar.

Brilliant networking, built on your self-knowledge and through research, is the key to a successful career transition. If you or someone you know is exploring new opportunities, focus on a well-designed networking strategy. You will shorten the hunt and improve the quality of your outcome.