Network, The Noun: Your personal friends and family and their networks.
Network, The Verb: Finding fast whom you need to get what you want and helping others do the same.
Network, The Purpose: Find a job! To advance your job-search one linear step at a time.
Six Degrees of Separation? Not in job-search, landing a prized position frequently happens in two degrees of separation (your friends and family and their networks).
Network, The Arithmetic: Studies show that we each average about 250 friends and family. Oh, so you’re not so friendly, O.K., you average 100 friends and family x 100 (their friends and family) = *10,000 people likely concerned about helping you land a great job.
The Top Ten Reasons Why Networking is the #1 Job-Search Technique
10. Your network (100 friends & family) replaces your main weakness (where to get a job) with the power and strength of more than *10,000 people.
9. Job Secuity of the past no longer exists. You cannot rely on loyalty to an organization, but you can always rely on your network. That’s real job-security.
8. Your network contacts have much to gain for their own career development.
7. Job seekers are always a source to network contacts of competitive information about current street-information.
6. Gossip, the entertainment value of relationship builiding in job-search.
5. Many people like helping for the sake of helping. For us, helping is it’s own reward.
4. People who have landed a recent positions are the most willing networking targets. They’re eager to discuss what it did for them.
3¾. Always! Implicit in the networking interaction is reciprocaton, returning favors.
3½. The world’s best résumé and cover letter can’t sell you like you can sell yourself eyeball-to-eyeball.
3¼. There’s a chance that there might be work available in your network contacts’ organization or they know of an opening somewhere.
3. Networking is the only time in job-search that there’s no competition.
2¾. Everyone’s networking. Smart people are always planning their next move.
2½. Ego! People love to be asked for advice. It’s flattering.
2¼. Chemistry, chemistry, chemistry. People hire people they like.
#1. For employers, network hiring is a financial windfall, i.e no fees/costs.
#1. For candidates, be in the hiring manager’s mind before a position opens; lest you get in line with hundreds after it opens? Which will be you? Many hiring managers report that they know who they want before a vacancy is posted!
