A mentor of mine, when I was in Career Services, used to tell MBA students that their next great job was not going to be found on the internet; it was going to be found through their professional network. It was a concept that didn’t often sink in right away. What he was saying was that your best shot at a job is through people; more specifically, through people who know and like you.
Knowing how to build your professional network is an important skill to learn and cultivate. When a hiring manager has a job opening, he is likely required to post it; but he will also be thinking about who he already knows with the skills and talents to fill the position. He will probably also talk about the job with his immediate circle of colleagues and friends. If that hiring manager is in your immediate or extended network, you want to be the person that comes to mind.
For those of us changing careers, our most potent weapon is the army of colleagues that we have assembled over the various battle campaigns of our careers. Make no mistake about it - the military metaphor is intended; it’s a war zone out there. Make sure you don’t burn bridges. Stay in contact with your comrades-in-arms.
Over the last few years, of course, the word “networking” has ceased to bring to mind the image of uncomfortable mingling at after-hours cocktail gatherings; or eating cold scrambled eggs at a too-early-to-function Chamber of Commerce event. It has been replaced with one primary “social” network: LinkedIn.
Your comrades at each company for which you’ve worked have comrades in other companies, who have comrades in other companies, and so on…and so on. Voila! Your LinkedIn network is born. I haven’t even begun to include your friends from college and grad school, family, neighbors, book club, PTA…you get the idea.
[If you don’t know about LinkedIn, check it out here. Now. I mean it. Don’t finish reading this blog. You can come back later. It’ll be here. Go. Yes – it’s that important. What are you waiting for?]
Here’s an example of the beauty of LinkedIn: I recently applied for a position at “Widget LLC”. I’ve never been a “widgeter”. But, a company I worked for ten years ago had many “widgeter” clients, so I had some semi-widget experience. I did a search for "Widget LLC" on LinkedIn to see if I could make a connection through former colleagues. Nope…not one connection found through my old employer. But I did find a recent colleague of mine – in an industry in no way related to “Widget LLC” – who has a 1st level connection (a high-level one) there; they sit on the board of a non-profit together. My colleague happily put us in touch with each other. Now I have someone who can put my resume in front of actual human eyes at “Widget LLC”.
And that’s what it’s all about – with the hiring world being so automated, sometimes just having someone who can get your resume seen by the hiring manager, or the resume reviewer, is the difference between a shot at an interview, and a bank shot off the circular file.
Today’s Sign Post, borrows from the classic real estate mantra:
In job-hunting, it’s all about networking, networking, networking.
As my mentor said, it’s through your network that you will find your next great job. To borrow another old adage, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. Networking is all about who you know (and maybe who they know.) Networking gets you connected to people on the inside; the people who either have the jobs, or know the people who have the jobs, or know the people who are reviewing the resumes for the jobs. Networking is the key when it comes to getting your foot in the door for an interview, because the entry point is via people. In this electronic age, you still need human beings to work on your behalf for the best chance at the job you really want.
How well you do in the interview…now, that’s entirely up to you.
What are your networking tips? Please share in the comments below.
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