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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 coworkers, 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.
| About the Author:
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.virginiabola.com
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