Tips for a socially awkward person attempting to network?

[Anonymous]

I feel like it may hurt my chances rather than help them. I lack a big circle of friends and co-workers from my past probably still think of me as the weird one in the corner.

[Anonymous]

you have to get the idea that you are social akward out of your head. We are usually far harder on ourselves than other people are.

The tricks to networking are:
1) staying connected to friends, coworkers, and people you know all the time, NOT just when you need a job.
2) being genuinely interested in other people
3) asking for help. for the most part, many people love to help other people
4) ask for information about a job or company, not necessarily a specific job at first
5) make it casual, like go for coffee rather than lunch, or just a quick 20 min phone call.
6) THANK the other person afterward for their time

If you feel like you are doing something wrong by networking, then you will not feel comfortable and it will show. All you are trying to do is let people know what you are interested in doing next, and find out what they are doing now and see if that somehow fits. Who do they know? What would they recommend you do? That is all. There's nothing sinister about it.