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When the
word "networking" is used, we tend to think of
upwardly mobile college graduates with a bursting
day timer in hand chatting up the competition at
business meetings, conventions, or workshops. The
average blue/pink/white collar worker disconnects,
feeling that they could never be that pushy, don't
know enough people to even start the attempt, and
that the method only works in competitive business
environments.
Wrong!
While
networking can, and often does, follow such a
scenario, the concept is much broader than that. The
premise is that most people find a job through
someone they know. It may be a direct referral or,
more likely, indirectly hearing about an opening
that seems suitable.
Procedurally, networking could not be simpler:
contact everyone you know to see if they have any
firsthand knowledge about job opportunities. Then
contact all the people they know. Obtain referrals
to other people from everyone you contact and in a
short period of time, you will have a veritable army
of people working with you to find the right
position.
An
organized approach to this time-demanding but highly
effective technique is discussed in depth in my
workbook "The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment
Survival Manual" (Authorhouse, 2003). Contact lists
in various categories are provided as well as
schedules for follow-up and strategies for
maintaining the strength and commitment of your
lists.
For now,
let's look at the different levels of networks you
can develop.
1. Sizzling Contacts
These are
the people you know personally. They include your
family, friends, former co-workers, and
acquaintances: your barber, your mailman, your
doctor, your real estate agent, the guys you see at
the golf course, the women at your club, your
children's teachers, other PTA parents - anyone with
whom you have regular contact. Often, you need go no
further. How many of us obtained our first job
through our family or their friends? It is a common
occurrence. Look for a moment at ethnic groups and
how they operate. Most new immigrants find a
position through personal contacts. Hispanics are
famous for bringing in their brothers, cousins, and
nephews when there is an opening. Most companies who
hire mainly Spanish-speaking labor never advertise.
All they have to do is tell their employees that
they need more workers and the next day dozens of
assorted relatives show up and they can make their
selection. There are large ethnic communities in
different parts of the country: Vietnamese,
Armenian, Indian, Korean, Chinese, Irish,
Portuguese, Samoan, and Filipino. In almost every
group, initial job search is strictly word-of-mouth.
Later, as individuals, many workers become
culturally assimilated and move into more mainstream
jobs but the core of the group, especially those
with poor English skills, tend to remain within
their original subculture. There are, for example,
airlines whose entire ramp staff at some airports
are Pacific Islanders, manufacturing companies where
the usual language on the production floor is
Portuguese, and supermarkets where the workers (and
customers) are overwhelmingly Korean. Contrast the
successful employment rate of these groups with, for
example, African-Americans who are very loosely tied
to their communities. Until recent attempts by
Church and civic organizations, networking was
almost non-existent in African-American culture and
a consistently double-digit unemployment rate
directly reflected that lack of connectivity.
2. Warm Contacts
From
everyone you seek out while you are making personal
contacts, you try to obtain the names and contact
numbers of people they know and if you can use their
names as a source of referral. If all the people you
directly know, literally dozens, give you a few
names to call, you may have well over a hundred
names within a few days. Frequently, the first and
second level contacts are all that is required.
Someone you touch will know of something suitable
somewhere.
3. Tepid and Cold Contacts
If you
are really unfortunate, your circle of social
acquaintances is very limited, your geographic area
has devastating economic blight, your have negative
or limiting personal aspects (prison record,
disabilities, a very poor work record), then you may
need to expand an extra level or two. Secondary
referrals have some potential but the more tenuous
the link between you and your friends and the target
person, the less effort to help you is likely to be
encountered. When you have exhausted all of your
contact lists, unlikely but possible, you are left
with the standard job search techniques
(classifieds, Internet, job fairs, agencies) or cold
calling. Cold calls, whether by telephone or,
preferably, in person, require you to call or walk
into an employer without any introduction, and with
no knowledge of any openings. You are likely to
receive many negative responses to your queries but
sometimes you just happen to time it perfectly and
there is a newly available position that suits you.
While the chances are sobering, you can still feel
proud that you are out in the world, taking positive
actions for yourself, rather than withdrawing into
the sanctuary of home where the odds against success
become astronomical.
Virginia Bola operated a rehabilitation company for
20 years, developing innovative job search
techniques for disabled workers, while serving as a
respected Vocational Expert in Administrative, Civil
and Workers' Compensation Courts. Author of an
interactive and emotionally supportive workbook, The
Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual,
and a monthly ezine, The Worker's Edge, she can be
reached at
http://www.unemploymentblues.com.
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