This topic represents what most people call ‘active job search, but, as you can learn, the HOW –TO is what creates your success in networking. It professes strategies and tactics that will generate more effective networking.
In your ‘first wave’ of networking you had the opportunity to reconnect with people you already know, in the ‘second wave,’ those you have cause to know… a nice by-product of your efforts is the identification of attractive opportunities, and targeted organizations!
NEXT WEEK’s Session, Thursday, May 30th… Turning Opportunities Into Interviews: A closer look at networking your way IN to a targeted organization
You’ll be the first to know when you’re ready for ‘wave 3’ of networking… which, simply put, is networking your way in to attractive opportunities.
You will focus your activity and time management to the business of creating INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATION with employees, customers, and vendors–the “stakeholders”– within and surrounding any targeted organization.
THE BASICS
So what are those basics that will allow you to effectively network to identify appropriate opportunities, and then secure the requisite INTERVIEWS in order to “close the deal?”
- Practice your two minute drill every chance you get…. it’s the fundamental building material of your communication strategy–your verbal collaterals!
- Practice your exit and qualification statements… most all potential employers and networking contacts will want to know your current situation and why you are available.
- Practice answering both common and tough questions… including pre-offer negotiation tactics. The most asked question during career transition is, “Tell me about yourself.” Appropriate use of your two-minute drill and related verbal strategies, your “verbal collaterals,” is a key ingredient to personal salesmanship.
Let’s not forget a couple of additional ‘collaterals’ that will help you round out your ability to ‘get the word out’ and serve as evidence of your qualifications.
- Brag bytes… Wordcraft various collections of words, phrases and sentences to capture memorable moments or accomplishments–the best you have to offer. “…saved 80% cost-perhire…” Used in MSWord, ‘Quick Parts’ can be quite efficient when building high impact correspondence as well.
- Personal Portfolio… Your collection of certificates, examples of work, reference letters, etc that can bring life and interest (not to mention PROOF) to your story.
RESEARCHING TARGET Organizations
Step six in our 12-step Process, first level research, will help you to identify attractive trends and targeted companies. But, in THIS context, I suggest digging a bit deeper in order to help secure an interview…
Learn as much as possible about the company, the potential opportunity, and the hiring authority–This is usually your next boss, but could be even higher in the chain of command.
Your research goals ought to include developing information about the company’s products, people, organizational structure, successes (and failures), profits (and losses), capital spending, strategic plans, philosophy and labor climate.
- As part of your ‘second wave of networking,’ ask a friendly recruiter, business acquaintance or stockbroker what they know about the company… and by extension, call people with whom you have networked and ask what they know about the company
- Check with the local Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau.
- Call the company directly; request a sales brochure, annual report or other company information. Companies have to market themselves, too, you know!
Telephone and Networking Skills
On a scale of passive to assertive => to aggressive, let’s take a look at how we could communicate direct to contacts in and surrounding a targeted organization…
Email…safe, but too easy to be deleted before a relationship is established. Requires follow-up.
LETTER of introduction… also safe, but read more often. Paves the way for a first call to a referral… creates dialog. Requires phone follow-up.
Phone call…direct… often a cold call… requires risk. Establishes contact, interaction and, worst case, VISIBILITY.
There’s only two reasons to be on the phone during active job search…
- Reconnecting with valid contacts, seeking their advice and information, sharing your communication strategy, and seeking referral activity…
- Securing actual interviews
Cover NOTE and resume… Rather than mindlessly applying to countless jobs, playing the numbers game; develop your networking style to motivate a person to request your resume. When requested, resume gets read more often. Establishes relationship. Requires follow-through. Face2face office visit!
Creating visibility for yourself through posted “white papers” or blogging can be very useful if you’re looking for work. On the LinkedIn platform, such ‘activity’ will contribute to your serach page rank. Blogging can give you that edge over other candidates…without taking any of the original fun out of it!
Networking is a primary means of finding and landing that next right employment opportunity. Social Media is an internet phenomenon that has become a very important tool for job seekers to use in their networking efforts. It is an extraordinary method for self-marketing. In fact, I like to call it your “
The “top three” social media sites for job search are Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter
The Careerpilot’s high TECH-HIGH TOUCH philosophy comes into play with the explosive growth of business professionals using social networks to build relationships, meet new contacts, and market themselves. While the Internet provides many choices, diving into the virtual meet-and-greet can represent a real challenge. Which one is worthy of your start-up investment: learning curve time and actual ROI of your efforts… Where to begin?
The Careerpilot encourages a choice that reasonably assures one’s confidentiality, has a multitude of useful applications, and can serve as your focal point of networking decisions.
Never allow your LinkedIn usage to spiral out of control… However, that said, you want to get to your statistical ‘tipping point’ as soon as possible to cut the workload.
LinkedIn will allow you to search for people you know to see if they’re already members. But once you connect to someone, you can also look at the profiles of anyone they know, and in turn anyone those people know. Because of these three degrees of separation, your network can grow rapidly. Before you begin connecting, decide who you want to connect to. LinkedIn suggests in its FAQ, “Only invite those you know and trust.”
Every step in the job search process is aimed at obtaining interviews. It is at that point, a potential hiring manager decides if you are right for the job, and, just as important, it is your time to evaluate whether the job is right for you. Most interviews follow a predictable format, with steps that both the interviewer and applicant follow to decide if both will benefit from working together.
The best interviews are ones in which both participants are equal and can have a mutually beneficial, interactive conversation regarding the opportunity at hand.
You’ve had a great career, and you’ve ‘captured it all’ in your resume. But, the average time human eyes scan your resume is around 20 seconds before the ‘YES-No-maybe judgment’ is rendered. And in the digital world of recruitment, Automated Tracking Systems (ATS) are even more ruthless in their time management. Therefore, you should get rid of as much excess material as you can in a resume and only keep the stuff that employers want to see.
Less is more in this case, because every bit of relevant information supports your personal brand and the ‘story’ you have to relate regarding your candidacy. You need to strike the right balance between just enough data to pique someone’s interest and leaving the hiring manager(s) wanting to hear more of your story in an interview. Take your current draft resume first to good CONTENT, then on to becoming a GREAT RESUME.
Just as the competent sailor must select their destination in order to have a successful voyage, so must the productive and efficient job seeker know what is a right work opportunity to identify, proceed toward…and secure! While this seems like an incredible over-simplification, mere ‘common sense,’ it is knowledge that eludes most unemployed people. You see, when you’re employed you tend to assume that your employer will help you to navigate those ‘next steps’ in your career.
How can one accomplish this critical element of your Personal Marketing Plan, your ‘digital footprint?’ Use the time you spend on LinkedIn to address your two critical tasks:
Many job seekers feel “swamped,” like being pitched overboard from their boats in the challenging waters of career transition. When they lose their job, they realize that they have not provided themselves with the appropriate life preserver. In today’s digital world of recruitment, the traditional approaches to job search seem to provide more opportunities to drown, than to survive and thrive…
In “Embracing the OTHER Job Market,” we learn to be aware of our surroundings in the challenging waters of career transition. We learn to provide ourselves with supportive career strategies to avoid the “black hole” of Internet job and resume banks… So, to come back on point, job seekers need to find out how to get your resume ranked highly within applicant tracking systems, so that it can then go on to the real human beings who will call you for interviews.
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