Day: May 5, 2015

7 Steps to Better Networking

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If published statistics are accurate, employment agencies and search firms fill about 20% of all jobs in the US. Job boards fill anywhere between 2% and 8%. So how do the others get filled?

Networking consistently fills more jobs than any other method. Yet people often don’t know how to network well or only act in crisis (I need a job now!) Networking when you don’t need a job will help you cultivate relationships that will help you find work.

Here’s what to do.

1. Develop an elevator speech. If you’re not familiar with the term, an elevator speech is a 30 second synopsis of you experience that you want people to remember about you. It needs to be delivered with enthusiasm, as an actor or actress might. Every single time.

2. Cultivate your network of relationships. Tap into your existing relationships-friends, family, former colleagues, people you know. Just let them know you’re looking for work and ask them if they might know someone in your field who might be able to give you advice. Ask each person you are referred to for at least 3 referrals. Create a snowball effect.

3. Participate in trade groups. The “mega-functions” are harder to be successful in than smaller ones. The more targeted the group, often the better. Get involved. Join committees. Let people get to know you through your contributions. Ask for support.

4. Help others. I’m sure you’ve the phrase, “give more, get more.” Help others and things will come back to you. Contribute to others and their successful search. This can also occur when you genuinely listen to others and their professional needs and offer assistance. There is advice that you will receive by supporting others, ideas that will emerge from helping others work through their problems and opportunities that will be afforded to you through listening.

5. Focus on creating a great impression and asking for support. If all you do is ask for a job, a lot of doors will be slammed in your face. If you focus on creating a great impression, rest assured that when you are in front of someone who needs you, they will be smart enough to see the fit.

6. Cultivate your relationships. Like dating and good marriages, relationships take time to develop and blossom. Don’t expect instant results. Send thank you notes (www.hallmark.com and other online greeting card sites will help you keep the cost low or free), a quick email or a periodic phone call to stay in contact.

7. Follow through. Act on all the leads you receive. If you promise to do something, do it when you say you will do it. Imagine what it is like for the other person who is trying to help you, who may have even alerted the other person to a phone call and then not have it acted upon.

Take the time to network, ideally when you are working and don’t necessarily need a job. The investment will be worth your time.

© 2005, 2010 all rights reserved.

It’s Not Always What You Know But Who You Know

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Things have conspired this week to bring me this article.

Last week, I spoke with two clients who landed new roles based upon their network. Then I received my copy of Businessweek and read a story about how grads find jobs primarily through their networks.

Most people tend to think of their network in the context of people they work with and, technically, one of the people did find their new position that way–through a vendor. The vendor was someone who had successfully sold business to his firm and, sensing his unhappiness, asked if he was open to something else. Several months of interviewing later, a new position was offered.

The second person found work though someone they went to college with 25 years before and had barely seen since! Yet that was the stepping stone to a new position.

Businessweek points out that information about available jobs remains very limited and that if we rely purely upon job listings you are only learning about a small subset of available jobs just like in the days when newspapers ruled the roost for job listings.

“Acquaintances (weak ties) have networks that go beyond a job seeker’s immediate circle (strong ties) Yet the acquaintances know the applicant well enough to vouch for their character.” Such introductions are often far more effective than shooting resumes into the black hole of applicant tracking systems.

So rather than only answering ads and talking to friends and other members of your immediate circle, stretch yourself and start reaching out to people who in a million years you would never have thought of connecting with.

It may pay off for you just like it did for my clients.

© 2012 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is an executive job search and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com changes that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions. NOW WITH A 7 DAY FREE TRIAL

Connect with me on LinkedIn

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle for $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

What Does It Say?

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I wrote my first book, Get Yourself Hired NOW!: The Big Game Hunter’s Guide to Head Hunting Your Next Job and Every Job After That!” several years ago. Concurrently, I released my job search organizer, “Get Yourself Hired NOW!” 6 months later, I released, “No B.S. Job Search Advice;” 6 months after that came, “The Single Best Question You Should Ask on Any Interview.’ Then came, “Look Me Up: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Social Networking Your Way to Job Search Success.”

They all sell regularly on Amazon (for the Kindle) and on BN.com (for the Nook). In addition, I sell copies in PDF format for people who want to read from a piece of paper. I don’t do print.

A few years ago, I started to release short guides to for recipes and card games. They have titles like, “Crockpot Cooking for People Who Can’t Boil Water,” “Pressure Cooker Recipes with Chicken for People Who Can’t Boil Water,” and “Playing Solitaire: 25 Versions of One of the World’s Great Games.”

The solitaire title alone outsells my job search book by more than 3:1 in each and every month!

What does that tell you about people?

It suggests to me that most people would rather waste time playing solitaire than develop the skills to help them get back to work or do more than conduct themselves in a “hit or miss” way in their job search.

Job hunting does not need to be difficult or time consuming. It is a skill, just like the ones that you employ in your work that can be learned. Yet most people would rather lose good opportunities that they want for lack of that skill rather than spend $9.99 for an ebook, whether it is mine or someone else’s, to get better at the skill that will help them earn $10000, $20000 or $50000 more in their next job.

They would rather spend $5 to learn how to play solitaire or cook better.

Does that make sense to you?

It sure doesn’t make sense to me.

 

Job Search Advice from the American Revolution: The Founding Fathers Offer 5 Tips for Your Job Search

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The Founding Fathers Offer 5 Tips for Your Job Search

The American Revolution like the French revolution and others that preceded it offers wonderful profiles in courage if we only take a minute to see them.

Yet there are other lessons that we can learn from them and from other heroes of the American Revolutionary War that we can apply to job hunting.

Lesson 1: There comes a time . . .

The American revolutionaries decided that enough was enough. That it was important to stand up to what they perceived as tyranny and take action. They tried to negotiate with the British but ultimately decided that war was necessary. You as a job hunter working for your employer need to decide for yourself when to negotiate and when to take action and, if you take action, take consistent decisive action.

Lesson 2: What are your principles?

The Americans established principles that have stood the test of time in their war with the British. They knew what they stood for and became clearer and clearer as time went on.

What’s most important to you in your next job or organization? What will you need to see or know in order to know it is the right place and job for you to work in?

Lesson 3: Find allies

Benjamin Franklin was sent to France to persuade the French to support the Americans. They sent troops and a general, General Marquis de Lafayette, to aid the Americans (and to support their own interests) in their battles with the English.

Who is there to help you outside of your family? Where can you find allies to aid you with introductions as well as advice during your job search?

Lesson 4: Do Not Give Up!

There were many reasons to give up and only one to stay the course. Especially in difficult times or when you are facing strong competition it will be easy to give up and hard to persist. Remember your reasons for job hunting and do not surrender your principles for expedience.

Lesson 5: Beware of traitors!

Like Benedict Arnold, you may have friends or colleagues who will sell you short and try to persuade you to stay. Like wolves in sheeps clothing they will make a strong case for surrender by manipulating facts into “nuanced thinking” and count on the passage of time to dissipate the strong feelings that brought you to rebellion. Beware!

Read more at: http://www.jeffaltman.com/JobSearchAdvicefromtheAmericanRevolution.htm#ixzz3ZFr03UaR
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