The Beginner's Guide To Job Networking - By Drew Kerr Of Four Corners Communications

Drew Kerr 212-849-8250

THE BEGINNER’ SGUI DETO JOBNETWORKI NG “Youc annotwi ni fy oudonotpl ay . ”

Sending e-mails and letters to advertisements or just over-the-transom to companies is a routine job hunting tactic. However, not all advertisements have real jobs attached to them, and you are sending your cover letter and resume in with hundreds and hundreds of other people. While you should continue to do this, you are not covering all your bases when hunting for a job. Remember, the name of the game is to improve your odds. You want to find a job whe r ey ou’ r enotne c e s s a r i l yc ompe t i nga l ongwi t ht onsofc ompe t i t or ss e ndi ngi nt he i rr e s ume for the same position. Tha t ’ swhe r ene t wor ki ngc ome si n.Your job search is not completely effective unless you devote time to networking the right way. Put yourself in the shoes of somebody hiring for an open position: would you rather go through the pile of letters and resumes, or meet with people who were actually referred to you by friends and/or associates? I t ’ sano-brainer. Another piece of advice: you are not married to your first job. You want to get out there a ndl e a r nwha tt hebe s tf i ti sf ory o u .Youma yknow i ta l r e a dy ,buti t ’ sOK i fy oudon’ t .If s ome t hi ngt ug sa ty ourhe a r ta ndmi nd,t he nt r yi ta nds e ei fi t ’ sf ory ou. Here are the steps to get yourself out there networking to a real job:  SET UP A LINKEDIN ACCOUNT (http://www.linkedin.com/): Facebook is great for friends and family –i t ’ svery socially geared. However, LinkedI ni swhe r ei t ’ sha pp e ni ng when it comes to jobs and careers. Fill in as much as possible that will sell you. Visit this site for some advice on how to do this: http://tinyurl.com/5thzkf. Once you are set up, start connecting with as many people as possible, including friends, mentors, professors, and people you met on jobs and internships. Everybody is fair game –don’ the s i t a t et o send them an invite. The other benefit is your LinkedIn profile will turn up higher on search engine rankings, like on Google.  MAKE A LIST OF PEOPLE YOU WANT TO SPEAK WITH: Think about companies which interest you, in fields which catch your fancy. Go onto Google, look up their corporate sites and search for a couple of executives at these companies. Write them down. Go to the web sites of publications which cover the fields you are interested in (i.e. i fy ou’ r ec ur i ousa bouta dve r t i s i ng ,g ot owww.adage.com or www.adweek.com). Look for pieces of news that interest you and take note of the names of the people you read about. Look them up too on Google. Do your professors know interesting people? How about people from the alumni office or college mentoring program? What do your f r i e nds ’pa r e nt sdo?Addt he mt ot hel i s tt oo.  ASK FOR INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEWS: Employers will have their guard up for job interviews and may not respond, turn you down, or refer you to HR, which nearly all the time is as good as being nowhere. However, if you send an e-mail or letter asking for 15 minutes oft he i rt i met ol e a r nmor ea boutt he i rpr of e s s i ona ndwha tt he ydo,i t ’ sf a r less threatening. Al wa y sputt h epe r s on’ sf i r s tna mei nt hes ubj e c tl i neoft hee -mail (i.e. Mr. Joe Smith: Informational interview request). People like to talk about what they do.

They will be more receptive to having you come in and meet with them. And yes, have a c ha twi t hy ourf r i e nds ’pa r e nt s . Ma y bee ve nf r i e ndsofy ourownpa r e nt s .  DO YOUR HOMEWORK: Before you meet anybody, go on to Google and learn something about them and the company. Se ewha tt he ya r eupt ol a t e l y ,de a l st he y ’ ve been making, etc.  MEET WITH THEM: Show up 10 minutes before the interview time, no earlier. I t ’ s OK to bring a resume and give it to the person you are meeting, but remember why you are there –to network. Thank them first and then ask questions about what they do, how they got to be where they are. Ask follow-up questions. Be interested and upbeat. Listen. Don’ the s i t a t et ot a ke notes. Tell them that you want to learn more and you hope to get a job soon. Give them your resume. Do not overstay your welcome. Don’ tf or g e t-- ask them if they know anybody else you can speak with. I ft he ydo,pe r ha pst he y ’ l lg i vey ou that info right t he r e .Ort he y ’ l lpr omi s et oc ont a c tt he m.This is where you build out your next contact.  SEND A THANK YOU NOTE: Within the first 24 hours. Very very important –it really counts.  MAKING CONTACT WITH THE REFERRAL: Take that new contact and drop them an e-mail –us ey ourr e f e r r a l ’ s name in the subject line (i.e. Ms. Jane Doe: Joe Smith referred me to you). Again, ask for 15 minutes for an informational interview.  LINKEDIN CONNECTIONS: Invite every new person you meet to connect with you on LinkedIn. Don’ tbes ur p r i s e di faf e w pe opl edon’ tc onne c tort a ket he i rt i me connecting. You want to keep adding people to LinkedIn.  FOLLOWING UP WITH YOUR NEW CONTACTS: You want to stay in contact pe r i odi c a l l ywi t he ve r y bodyy o u’ veme t .Youwa ntt oma i nt a i ng oodr e l a t ionships in your network and stay on their radars too. There are two good ways to do this: 1) create a Goog l eAl e r tf ort hec ont a c t ’ sf ul lna meso that anytime that person shows up in the ne ws ,y ou’ r enotified. Then drop that person a short e-mail saying you read about them, c ongr a t s ,ora s kaque s t i on,l e tt he m know wha ty ou’ r edoi ng–no more than a two paragraph e-mail. 2) If you see something online that you think will interest one of your c ont a c t s ,f or wa r di tt ot he mwi t hanot el i ke“ Thoug hty ou’ df i ndt hi si nt e r e s t i ng . ”  UTILIZING LINKEDIN: The beauty of this site is that you can see all the contacts of your connections, all the people they know, what they do. I t ’ sl i keawonde r f ulr oa dma p of contacts, so dig in and see who knows who. See somebody int e r e s t i ngy ou’ dl i ket o meet for an informational interview? Drop a line to your contact and ask them if they can introduce you to that connection of theirs for an informational interview.  GO TO NETWORKING AND CLUB EVENTS: Download a free RSS reader to quickly and efficiently read blogs and web site news. I recommend Feed Demon (http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/FeedDemon/Default.aspx) and always keep it running on your PC. Subscribe to sites like Mashable (http://mashable.com/) and Meetup (http://www.meetup.com/), which are invaluable for finding local networking events and groups, as well as providing excellent job hunting advice utilizing social media.