The Art of the Approach (networking to your next job)

Posted by jobspeaker in Job Market on February 16, 2010

This post is Part 4 in our 7 part series on how to manage your job search.

So I have to admit that writing this blog post took longer that I expected and I guess it reflects the difficulty of the subject matter. Making contact with colleagues, friends and other acquaintances in looking for a job is difficult, delicate and not what you would expect if you haven’t done it before. But before we get to how you go about doing this, let’s first talk about why:

According to a 2009 survey by Career Crossroads, 38% of all jobs get filled from candidates that are already known to the company. Only 8% get filled by candidates that sent their resume in without an introduction. So, are you better off sending your resume in the hopes of hearing something back or are you better off investing some time and effort to network so that your resume gets a warm introduction?

Clearly the answer is to get the warm introduction wherever possible, but how do you do that? That’s where networking comes in – it is an attempt to get that introduction through one of your existing or new contacts. In our opinion, it’s definitely an art rather than a science as it requires you to be creative, diplomatic, and delicate in how you find/approach people. You need to be able to understand the strength of your relationship with each individual and gear your approach based on that, plus other considerations such as: how badly do you need them to introduce you; how many times have they helped you before; the last time you’ve talked to them and do you have something to share with them. If you have established a pattern over the years to show that you have reciprocated any assistance given or kept in touch with people, then you’ll likely be helped. Otherwise it may take some time and effort in order to re-establish those relationships and politely ask them to help.

LinkedIn is a great tool to help you manage your professional relationships, but it too requires time and energy over a prolonged period in order to help. LinkedIn helps you understand how you are connected to companies in your Target list. Even with tools like LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook at your disposal, you’ll still have to manage it all yourself and keep track of your contacts and the result of conversations. In some cases you might already know people at the company. In others, you’ll have to carefully work your network to get to the hiring manager. In most cases though, you’re probably no more than 3 steps away from someone at that company. Start with the people you know best, but don’t expect a response from everyone – move on to the next person who will bring you one step closer to the company.

There may be cases where you’ll have to reach outside of your network altogether in order to reach someone at the company. In these circumstances we recommend understanding where people from that company might hang out. Remember face-to-face meetings are best where you can establish a personal relationship so whether it be a coffee house, a professional club or another social setting, you need to put yourself in situations where you can meet these people and where they too are more open to meeting new people.

But make sure to stay open to exploring new opportunities during these conversations as that’s the best way to uncover the hidden job market.

Next:
Step 5: You’ve made contact with the hiring manager, now what?

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Understanding and choosing the right Job Search Strategy(s)

Posted by jobspeaker in Job Market on December 14, 2009

This post is Part 2 in our 7 part series on how to manage your job search.

So you need to start looking for a job? Perhaps you just got laid off, you’ve just realized that you need to proactively find a new job or you just need to re-launch your job search after a break. Well, what now?

In this blog post, the second of our series on how to manage your job search, we recommend understanding the most common strategies that can be used during your search. In doing so, you can choose which strategy(s) suits your particular circumstance. Here are the most popular job search strategies today and a brief explanation of each:

  1. Work Existing Off-Line Relationships
    Whether you play bowling once a week, recently participated in a cooking class, participate in networking events, run a professional organization or are a member of your local golf club — if you have access to a member group that enables you to network to 10+ people that you haven’t talked to before then this is a good strategy to employ.

  2. Network to New Offline Relationships
    If you are now looking for work and you have exhausted your usual contacts, then it’s time for you to mine new territory. This doesn’t have to be a painful experience. Pick a group with a large enough contingent that meets on a regular basis. Look for a new subject area that you’d like to explore: a new hobby or a new professional interest area that you need to know more about. Trying to associate this potential new group with your job search makes sense, but it also needs to be fun. More than ever, employers are interested in your hobbies as a way of seeing how you pursue your interests, so go explore.

  3. Work Existing Online Relationships
    A lot of people are using professional online networking tools like Plaxo and LinkedIn, which are truly great resources if used in the right way. Assuming you have a good-sized online network then it’s time to selectively ask those contacts for help. Don’t just send them an email saying “I’m looking for work, can you hire me?” - be more selective and look for specific individuals who are properly connected to the companies that you would like to explore. If you are not already networked online, it’s time to start.

  4. Network to New Online Relationships
    This is best done in conjunction with your target company discovery. Expanding your online network during a job search in some haphazard way is not going to help. Review your target companies and then look to expand your network that gets you into or close to people in that organization (preferably the decision maker).

  5. Work with Recruiters that you know
    Recruiters are one resource that you should not neglect during your job search. Recruiter results vary significantly so hopefully you know which ones you prefer. If you have some recruiters who you like working with, make sure this strategy is one that you employ, but not exclusively. More and more employers are looking for candidates directly so you can’t rely on recruiters alone. Don’t forget to use our Recruiter Rating and Discover tool to help you rate/find recruiters you like.

  6. Find New Recruiters
    A good recruiter is a way to leverage up your resume. He or she should be able to get you into companies and roles that you are qualified for but otherwise would have had difficulty accessing. They should vet the roles for you, know what you like or dislike and not push you into a job that does not fit you (so they can earn a fee). Find recruiters who are respected, recommended and have a good track record of placing people in your industry at your level.

  7. Use Online Job Boards
    Everyone knows about the online job boards: they have been very successful in creating an image for themselves as the place to go to manage your job search. We don’t agree, however we also understand that you can’t ignore them either. So use them efficiently to make your job search more effective (see our upcoming release for tools to help you manage job boards) to understand who is hiring and what positions might be interesting, but do not make this the centerpiece of your job search.

  8. Use Offline Job Boards
    Even though the newspaper industry is now reeling from the effect of falling classified ad revenue, newspaper, magazines and other publications still have ads and in some smaller niche industries, this is still the only place to find the jobs. So if you’d like to use this strategy make sure that the jobs that you want are published offline in a publication that you are now or will receive and review on a regular basis.

    9. Generally you should apply several of the strategies listed above - those that best apply to your situation and your industry. Today there are numerous ways that allow you to conduct your search without leaving your home but our advice is to get out and go meet people. You need to practice talking about yourself and no matter how good you are at online networking, face-to-face networking is best. Networking and learning new things can be a fun and an exhilarating experience so go out there and enjoy yourself!

    A note about language - you’ll notice that we use more sales language in talking about how to deploy these strategies, that’s because it is a sales process. Like it or not when you are in a job search you are selling yourself and you’d better get good at it!

    Next:
    Step 3: Why Google may not be your ideal target company - 5 questions to ask

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How to Define the Goal of Your Job Search

Posted by jobspeaker in Job Market on December 3, 2009

This post is Part 1 in our 7 part series on how to manage your job search.

Defining Your Goal:

Before you start out on any journey it’s important to know your destination. In this case it’s a life-long journey so it’s best to be realistic. In other words, don’t set your goal to be CEO of GE when you have only 2 years of experience. You need to set goals that are attainable, but also stretch your abilities and afford you the opportunity to learn. The approach we are suggesting is best shown by using an example:

The Subject: Jean Hughes
She wants to move from project management to product management, and ultimately product marketing. She sees herself in a VP of Marketing role within 5-10 years. She has 4 years of experience in project management and enjoys her job but would prefer to work in areas that she feels more passionate about, has more aptitude for and where some of her education might help (she has a degree in Business & Marketing). Jean has defined her goals as follows:

# Jean’s Goal Jean’s Notes Jobspeaker Comment
1 Marketing Project Management I want to get more exposure to the marketing function than in my current role, so I think I can leverage my project management experience into managing projects on the marketing side of the business. This is a good approach, particularly in this job market. It’s not settling but it is being realistic about her experience and the job market today. While it’s similar to her current role, it’s different in a very significant way that provides her experience within or alongside the marketing function.

Thus, she is leveraging both her project management experience and her education while learning more to better position herself for the next role*.
2 Consulting: Marketing Analyst Working at a consulting firm will give me more exposure to lots of companies and their different marketing strategies. I may have to take a step back but ultimately this will benefit me long-term. By thinking long-term, Jean has decided that taking a step back in her career may be the best thing right now, in order to position herself better for her next career move*.
3 Senior Marketing Manager Perhaps at a smaller company my project management experience and my industry exposure combined with marketing education can be enough to propel me directly into this role. This is Jean’s aspirational role that would make her transition into the marketing function quicker and increase her rate of learning towards her longer-term goal.

Jean is also comfortable with the sink-or-swim aspect of this role - she has learned quickly before in some of her project work and so it’s likely the pros outweigh the cons. She enjoys the pressure that this enforced learning environment might require.
4 VP of Marketing This is my long-term goal. Keeping an eye on the long-term goal is a great idea.

The basic premise here is that you can’t afford to focus exclusively on one role and that you should employ a strategy that will give you tiered options: a role that you know you can attain based on your experience today, a role that is a stretch, a role that takes a different approach and even a role that is your dream job just to keep you focused. Then you’ll be better able to understand the pros and cons of each of the options and put them in the context of your long-term career goals.

* You’ll notice that we talk a lot about “next career move”. We do this because you can no longer rely on an employer to employ you for your career or to manage your career for you, you must do it yourself. Therefore, it is assumed that this approach to managing your career is now or is becoming THE strategy for job seekers. This is our recommended approach as it puts job seekers in the driving seat by pro-actively managing their careers and taking a step-by-step approach to learning the skills they need to get to the role they want over time.

Next:
Step 2: Understanding and choosing the right Job Search Strategy(s)

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