Originally published on LinkedIn
I am LinkedIn member 7653.
Every day, a few times a day, I log into LinkedIn and do some work. I am a headhunter and coach and am trying to find people for clients to fill positions. I am researching people and opportunities. I suspect many of you are doing the same thing.
I rarely request a connection; I use the tool and my efforts in person to find people to talk with. Even without making an effort to connect, as of today, I have over 13000 first level connections this despite the fact I will not accept a connection request from a recruiter or from a profile that looks to me like it is the profile of a spammer or scammer.
What is so stunning to me is that in my network, there are many people I have never heard from again after receiving a connection request!
Thus, no matter where you are in the employment space, a corporate or agency recruiter, or talent, it is no wonder you lurch from situation to situation trying to recruit people or find a job and it feels like you are starting from scratch all the time.
What you are doing with your network is treating it like an umbrella that you carry around all the time. The forecast is sunny and temperatures in the 90’s. You have an umbrella with you!
But let me offer a different metaphor.
You put $1000 in a safe and do nothing with it for 2 years.
Is it worth less to you after 2 years (YES)?
Has it’s purchasing power declined (YES)?
Is the money less valuable (YES)?
The value of a network decays far more quickly than money in a safe to the point of being only accidentally having value when you need it.
“But it takes time to nurture your network,” you whine, I mean explain.
Yes, that is true.
AND when you need your network, you want money in your safe, don’t you?
Thus, it is important to do things to maintain contact with people, not with stupid messages like, “Thanks for the post,” that seems to be the new vogue judging by the messages I receive after submitting an article.
Create real, regular and quality opportunities and act on them. Those few minutes will be worth a lot to you when the next recession arrives.
© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC 2015
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a recruiter for more than 40 years.
Follow him at The Big Game Hunter, Inc. on LinkedIn for more articles, videos and podcasts than what are offered here and jobs he is recruiting for.
Visit www.TheBigGameHunter.us. There’s a lot more advice there.
Email me if your firm is trying to hire someone.
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