Tips for Networking Effectively – It’s Easier Than You Think
Although the general consensus is that most jobs are found via networking, very few job seekers actually understand (or are comfortable executing) what it takes to do this effectively.
When I ask of those with whom I do job search coaching, “How many people are in your network and how often are you speaking or communicating with them”, they admit that little to no time has been spent working their network. A significant percentage even claim they have no networking contacts, which is most often incorrect.
Bottom line for making networking work is to help those in your network help you. That’s basically it…really.
Here are some time-proven tips that any job seeker can use to vastly improve their chances of finding good opportunities and landing an interview:
Networking is Communication – with family members, friends, neighbors, business associates, clients, club members and yes, even all of those baseball, soccer, basketball, hockey or swim parents. You don’t need to create a network the day after you are laid off, because you already have one! Start with your existing network and grow it from there.
Don’t Start Your Conversation – with someone new to your network or someone with whom you have not spoken to in a while with “I just got laid off and need to find a job”. This is the equivalent of one person telling another, “My girlfriend/boyfriend broke up with me and I am looking for a wife/husband.” What would your reaction be if someone said that to you!
First get acquainted/re-acquainted and then, when the conversation turns to you and, “What do you do/what are you doing now?” tell them your story.
Tell Your Story Effectively – by providing everyone in your network with the following information: What do you love to do, What type of position are you seeking, For which of the companies that offer such positions do you want to work (email your network contacts with a list of your top 10 or 20 target employers and update this list as necessary). With this knowledge, those in your network can do a much more effective job of assisting you. This is the “help me help you” concept.
Stay in Touch, Follow Up – with phone calls, in-person meetings, emails, social networking (e.g., LinkedIn and Facebook). After you have made the initial contact to advise everyone in your network of your current status, follow up with them at least once every three to four weeks. Provide an update. Don’t ever assume that everyone in your network is up-to-date regarding your job search activities. Let them know with whom you have interviewed and your impressions of those interviews. Keep a log (an Excel spreadsheet is great for this) of the contacts made with the people in your network.
Use Social Networking Tools – such as LinkedIn and Facebook to create an online network that has access to your profile (LinkedIn’s format is far more conducive to this than is Facebook). You can also use LinkedIn to help you research who works where and who in your network might know the key personnel. For example, while typing up this posting, I stopped to go onto LinkedIn and did an Advanced People Search. I entered in the name of the first company that came to mind and found over 1,000 employees of this organization (a large manufacturer in northeast, OH) who had LinkedIn profiles. The second person in the listing just happened to be the corporate HR manager. I quickly found that one of the folks in my network was directly connected to this person. So, if I wanted to, I could contact that person in my network and ask them to introduce me to the corporate HR manager of this large manufacturer (or pass along to him my resume). That took me about 2 ½ minutes.
Give to Get – by volunteering. This could be volunteering to do anything from being a little league coach (each team consists of about 12 players and that is at least 12 parents coming to the games, along with maybe grandpa and grandma, uncles, aunts, etc.) to being on the board for a local non-profit agency/organization. Not only do you get a great feeling by helping others through volunteering, but you are exposed to a whole lot of folks who just might know the president or HR manager of one of the companies on your target list of employers.
Networking is like customer service. With so few people really doing it well, it is not that difficult to stand out from the crowd.
During a presentation to a group of business owners regarding differentiating themselves, professional sales trainer, coach and author, Marvin Montgomery suggested, “Don’t wait for your ship to come in, swim out to it”. A simple, but powerful statement. Lots of people on shore in sight of the boat – difficult for the captain to make out one from the other…except for those making their way to the ship.
With the large amount of candidates for virtually every job opening, you will need the power and resources of your network if you want to significantly improve the chances of having your resume find its way into the hands of a hiring manager, who may have a stack of 300 - 500 resumes to sift through on his or her desk.
While proofreading this posting, I received an email message from one of my business contacts. He sent me a resume for a person he knows who is seeking a job as a tool and die maker. My contact asked if I could pass along this person’s resume to the people I know who own manufacturing companies in northeast Ohio.
Networking does work!
When I ask of those with whom I do job search coaching, “How many people are in your network and how often are you speaking or communicating with them”, they admit that little to no time has been spent working their network. A significant percentage even claim they have no networking contacts, which is most often incorrect.
Bottom line for making networking work is to help those in your network help you. That’s basically it…really.
Here are some time-proven tips that any job seeker can use to vastly improve their chances of finding good opportunities and landing an interview:
Networking is Communication – with family members, friends, neighbors, business associates, clients, club members and yes, even all of those baseball, soccer, basketball, hockey or swim parents. You don’t need to create a network the day after you are laid off, because you already have one! Start with your existing network and grow it from there.
Don’t Start Your Conversation – with someone new to your network or someone with whom you have not spoken to in a while with “I just got laid off and need to find a job”. This is the equivalent of one person telling another, “My girlfriend/boyfriend broke up with me and I am looking for a wife/husband.” What would your reaction be if someone said that to you!
First get acquainted/re-acquainted and then, when the conversation turns to you and, “What do you do/what are you doing now?” tell them your story.
Tell Your Story Effectively – by providing everyone in your network with the following information: What do you love to do, What type of position are you seeking, For which of the companies that offer such positions do you want to work (email your network contacts with a list of your top 10 or 20 target employers and update this list as necessary). With this knowledge, those in your network can do a much more effective job of assisting you. This is the “help me help you” concept.
Stay in Touch, Follow Up – with phone calls, in-person meetings, emails, social networking (e.g., LinkedIn and Facebook). After you have made the initial contact to advise everyone in your network of your current status, follow up with them at least once every three to four weeks. Provide an update. Don’t ever assume that everyone in your network is up-to-date regarding your job search activities. Let them know with whom you have interviewed and your impressions of those interviews. Keep a log (an Excel spreadsheet is great for this) of the contacts made with the people in your network.
Use Social Networking Tools – such as LinkedIn and Facebook to create an online network that has access to your profile (LinkedIn’s format is far more conducive to this than is Facebook). You can also use LinkedIn to help you research who works where and who in your network might know the key personnel. For example, while typing up this posting, I stopped to go onto LinkedIn and did an Advanced People Search. I entered in the name of the first company that came to mind and found over 1,000 employees of this organization (a large manufacturer in northeast, OH) who had LinkedIn profiles. The second person in the listing just happened to be the corporate HR manager. I quickly found that one of the folks in my network was directly connected to this person. So, if I wanted to, I could contact that person in my network and ask them to introduce me to the corporate HR manager of this large manufacturer (or pass along to him my resume). That took me about 2 ½ minutes.
Give to Get – by volunteering. This could be volunteering to do anything from being a little league coach (each team consists of about 12 players and that is at least 12 parents coming to the games, along with maybe grandpa and grandma, uncles, aunts, etc.) to being on the board for a local non-profit agency/organization. Not only do you get a great feeling by helping others through volunteering, but you are exposed to a whole lot of folks who just might know the president or HR manager of one of the companies on your target list of employers.
Networking is like customer service. With so few people really doing it well, it is not that difficult to stand out from the crowd.
During a presentation to a group of business owners regarding differentiating themselves, professional sales trainer, coach and author, Marvin Montgomery suggested, “Don’t wait for your ship to come in, swim out to it”. A simple, but powerful statement. Lots of people on shore in sight of the boat – difficult for the captain to make out one from the other…except for those making their way to the ship.
With the large amount of candidates for virtually every job opening, you will need the power and resources of your network if you want to significantly improve the chances of having your resume find its way into the hands of a hiring manager, who may have a stack of 300 - 500 resumes to sift through on his or her desk.
While proofreading this posting, I received an email message from one of my business contacts. He sent me a resume for a person he knows who is seeking a job as a tool and die maker. My contact asked if I could pass along this person’s resume to the people I know who own manufacturing companies in northeast Ohio.
Networking does work!
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