Perhaps you are one of them. Or you may suspect that you are about to lose your job. Or you may be thinking about making a career change. In any of these situations you'll need to use every marketing tool available to attain one of the most important successes in your contemporary life - a new job.
Career Networking
Typical approaches to job-hunting include reading help wanted ads, sending inquiry letters with resumes to prospective employers and contacting employment agencies. However, networking may be an even more important, effective and successful tool. Experts opine that about four out of every five jobs are filled through personal contact. Through networking you'll reach people who might not only know of job openings, but might also be in a position to get you an interview or support your job application personally.
Networks are like casting stones in a serene lake, it forms ripples and each ripple forms a contact with another until they spread all across the lake.
Where To Network
In a word, EVERYWHERE! You can network through personal business friends, customers, casual acquaintances, just about anybody you know. You never know where your next job is hiding and your contacts will help you find it. Just getting out and telling EVERYBODY that these are your qualifications and experience and you need a job is the answer.
Who is EVERYBODY?
If there is a weakness in the networking process, that weakness is shortsightedness on the part of networkers. We fail to consider all of the people with whom we can network. This is particularly true with job-seeking, which is a process which is frequently time-sensitive. You've lost your job. You expect to lose your job. You're forced into early retirement. You're about to graduate with no significant job prospects. You've had to close your business. You need a job NOW, but just don't know where to look?
To find a job or embark on a new career you have to net work with everybody and you can't forget anybody. In job prospecting you have to consider everyone with whom you come in contact as a potential networker - someone else who might help you find a new job. Make a list of people who have the potential to help you and start to build on it.
Your Best Prospects
Your EVERYBODY list can be refined. There are those among your prospects who are more likely to be helpful than others. For these contacts you'll have to set up a special agenda and single these people out for special attention. People in your close network include friends, family, mentors and influential people - people who head up businesses, organizations, political parties, etc. The use of an influential person's name in an introduction will act as a reference for you.
Where The Ducks Are Flying
There's an old axiom that says, "If you want to shoot ducks, go where the ducks are flying." The same holds true for job-hunting. Often finding the people you'll want to network with will require looking in special places. Attend trade shows, talk to people when you are in Church, jobless support groups and networking groups are all a valuable source of networking for the job you are looking for.
Letters Of Introduction
One of the best ways to get an interview is with your own letter of introduction. It will precede the sending of your resume. It should tell who you are, what you can do, promote some of your strengths, benefits to the employer and "ask for the order". Your letters of introduction should create enough curiosity to get the prospect to want to contact you for your resume, or ask you for an interview.
These letters can be mailed on a selective basis, going at first only to those who you think will have an active interest in you. Next you can do an entire direct mail program, mailing to as many as many people as you can comfortably manage.
Your Resume
Time, effort and money are all well spent on your resume. Though its importance will differ from prospect to prospect, rest assured that a professionally designed and written resume is one of the most effective tools in your quest for employment. Your resume can be handled in two ways. You can tackle it as a do-it-yourself project. A word of warning here: because of the importance of your resume, if you are going to do it yourself, please source information through books and the net on how to go about it. Your second choice is to have your resume done by a professional. If you can afford to do this, the investment is well worth the money you spend.
Your Business Card
A business card is an accepted tool of professional and social etiquette. When seeking employment you should have your own business card that carries all of the necessary information needed for a prospective employer to have when the need arises to contact you.
Be sure to include several of your business cards in any correspondence you send to prospective employers. That way, they can keep one for themselves and perhaps pass the others on. Be generous with your cards and give your cards to everybody you meet and that means EVERYBODY. Don't be bashful - give more than one to each person. You might make a handwritten note on the back of the card mentioning that you are on a job search. That way, the recipients will be less likely to forget where and why they received your card.
Telemarketing
Before you find a job you may find that your cell phone has become an appendage to your ear. The phone is the networking tool you'll use the most. To get the most benefit from the use of your phone you should follow some basic rules for disciplined networking calls. They include:
- Set up an efficient phone desk. Have your tools handy: appropriate phone books, pencils, pens and paper, a clock and your database.
- Do basic research and preparation before you make your call. Know something about the person you are going to call. Have written objectives - know what you are going to say and how you are going to say it.
- Pause before you dial. Are you ready? Do you know how you are going to start your conversation? Are you pre pared to speak with authority? Be careful of your voice. Not too loud, not too soft, not too fast and not too slow. Well then, what do you do? Communications experts suggest that you try to match the tone and speed of voice to that of the person on the other end of the phone.
- Be prepared for rejection. Sorry to say, but that's what you'll get on most of your calls. Know how you'll handle the initial rejection; create a situation where you can go back to the same persons again if you didn't get them the first time or if you received a negative response.
- Avoid idle chatter. Recognize that people's time is limited and that you are imposing on them. Get to the point quickly, but don't rush your presentation.
- Set goals. Know exactly what you want to accomplish on each call.
- Listen carefully. A rejection might come with suggestions for other places to try. Or, with careful listening you may detect that a rejection is not final. Remember that talking too much can sometimes lead to you talking yourself out of a potential winning situation.
- Follow up and follow through. Every phone call has the potential for some action. If you make promises, keep them promptly. If you're told to call back remember to call back. If nothing substantial happens initially, consider what a call-back might accomplish.
- Make notes in your desk diary or database of what hap penned with each call. You'll be amazed at how helpful this information will be at a later time.
- Remember to say "thank you" even if you get turned down. And add, "Keep me in mind if the situation changes." Remember, not every person interviewed will make a lasting impression. Most employers don't forget appreciation ex pressed, particularly by applicants who have been turned down.
Second party references, endorsements and testimonials have a lot of impact. When networking, try not only to get leads, interviews and a chance to mail a resume, but find people who know you and will be willing to say something good about you. Your very best results may come if you can have someone "at the top" pass along a recommendation to someone at a lower level.
Research Networking
The more you know about a prospective employer, the better your chances of getting a job. Researching a target company is both necessary and detailed. You'll want to do the obvious library work, checking on financial directories, annual reports and news items. But don't forget to use your network to get personal information about the company and its officers before you make your first contacts.
Motivation
When you're in the job market the chances for disappointment and discouragement are ever present. Consider your networking as a competitive endeavor. How many letters can you write today? How many phone calls? How many appointments can you get? How many answers can you get to your letters? How many supporters can you find? Just as with a competitive sport, keep records. Reward yourself for small victories. Celebrate bigger victories. Convince yourself that you will get a job. You can network your way to success.
