Old-fashioned
networking is crucial to finding a job
Erika D. Smith / Knight Ridder
Newspapers (KRT)
AKRON, Ohio – In the same way an introductory e-mail
will never replace a firm handshake, blindly sending out
resumes will never replace old-fashioned networking.
About 70 percent of all jobs are obtained through networking
- the process of building relationships with others in a
chosen field.
That's an important statistic at a time when so many
people are looking for work. But even in fields that are
booming, such as corporate fraud investigation, networking is
crucial.
"Networking is pretty much the only way that you get
referrals and keep going," said Stephen Nelder,
president of the Association of Certified Fraud
Examiners' local chapter. "It's one of those
things where you make your own luck."
Indeed, luck has little to do with landing a job. It's
about networking, and that's a skill - one that many
people haven't mastered yet.
Career counselor Carla Owens teaches Kent State University
students and alumni the right way to network.
"We teach people to be assertive, not aggressive,"
said the assistant director of Kent's Career Services
Center.
And there is a difference. The trick, Owens said, is to
phrase questions in the third person.
For instance, instead of asking a colleague, "Can you
get me a job at your law firm?" you should say: "Do
you know if there are any openings at your firm?" The
latter question is more likely to put a networking contact at
ease because he won't feel any direct obligation to you.
That, in fact, is one of the cardinal rules of networking -
don't ask a contact for a job. Others include being
honest, not taking advantage of a contact, not claiming to
know someone you don't and always getting permission to
use a contact's name.
Networking doesn't have to be hard. It doesn't
require attending fancy dinner parties to mingle. But it does
require some initiative.
For students and out-of-work alumni just getting started,
Owens recommends building a list of potential contacts. They
can be relatives, colleagues from an old job, professors,
classmates, friends, your dentist, or even your yoga partner.
Once you talk to each person and figure out if a networking
relationship is appropriate, you can send them resumes and
cover letters. It's also important to keep in touch as
time passes.
"You're getting your name out there," Owens
said. "You're mixing, you're mingling."
Another way to feel out a list of contacts - as well as the
direction of your own career - is to do an informational
interview.
Job hunters should call a contact already working in their
desired field and set up a time to talk. Informational
interviews are not job interviews, and shouldn't be
treated as such.
The goal is not to sell yourself. It is to learn as much as
possible about the contact's job and decide if the field
is right for you.
Owens said she often recommends informational interviews for
alumni who have lost their jobs.
"A lot of them are taking this time to refocus their
careers," she said.
Just as many alumni are renewing ties to professional
organizations. Some had let their memberships lapse after
graduation and are joining again to do some networking.
Nelder said building contacts is more than just an added
benefit of joining the Association of Certified Fraud
Examiners, it's one of the organization's main goals.
"Networking is essential in my line of work," said
Nelder, founder of Investigative and Forensic Accounting
Services LLC.
Knowing that's true for many fields, Brian McCullough,
president of Resumewriters.com, decided to take networking
one step further - to the Internet.
The company's new site, Wherearethejobs.com, is built on
the idea of using friends, and friends of friends, to find a
job.
It differs from the likes of Monster.com and
Careerbuilder.com because users do more than post their
resumes or send them to random employers. Wherearethejobs
users are required to post one job lead to join the Web site.
They also must build their own community of job seekers by
urging others to join for free.
"We would just hear constantly, 'I've posted my
resume on Monster like 300 times and I've heard
nothing,'" McCullough said.
What's missing, he said, is the advantage of dropping a
name. Wherearethejobs lets people do that. It's a cross
between Monster.com and Friendster.com.
The idea is that a friend of a friend's brother will be
the hiring manager at a law firm and let you use his name.
And with the Internet, the scope of social networking can be
much broader.
Right now, McCullough's Web site covers all of North
America and has 10,000 users - nothing compared to
Monster's 25 million and Careerbuilder's 7 million.
Wherearethejobs only launched in mid-January, though, and is
still being developed.
"Most of the jobs are found through your friend's
brother's uncle," he said. "We wanted to use
that."
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BUILDING A NETWORK
- Put yourself in situations where you can introduce yourself
to others, but don't burden them with your job-hunting
woes. Just supply enough interesting conversation to persuade
them to give you some names and/or advice.
- Be honest and legitimate about who you know. If a friend
lets you use his or her name with a corporate hotshot,
it's OK. But meeting someone who casually mentions
knowing a corporate hotshot doesn't mean you can use that
name later on.
- Get someone you know to introduce you to the prospective
employer you want to meet. The employer is more likely to be
receptive because he or she won't want to offend your
mutual friend.
- Send resumes only when they are requested. Carrying a stack
of them at all times will make you look desperate.
- What goes around comes around. If you refuse to help people
find a job, chances are the same thing will happen to you
someday.
Source: Kent State University's Career Services Center
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© 2004, Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio).
Visit Akron Beacon Journal Online at http://www.ohio.com/.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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