How To Get Job Lead Referrals. 3 Simple Steps

I preach all the time how important it is in a job search to have a steady stream of job lead referrals coming from your network. Few disagree with this.  Few also do much about it.  Oh they go through the motions, they generate a lot of activity, they meet a lot of people, and they go to so many networking groups they have lost count. Yes, even after all that activity, one of the biggest issues I have to help candidates with is getting referrals from their network. In fact, most of the people that come to me requesting job search help, this is the catalyst that starts our relationship.

The conversation often begins,”I have been looking for X number of months with very little results. I’m actively networking, meeting people all the time and just not getting the right referrals or leads. Can you help me?”

This person hasn’t built a sales force. They’ve built a lot of contacts, but every top sales person knows few contacts buy anything. Connections and a relationship often result in a sale.

So here is the proverbial $64,000 question for you, “How many sales reps do you have out in the field selling you?” If you answered 50 or more you can move on to the next article. If you answered, “I don’t know.” Here is how to find out, “Are you happy with the quality and quantity of the job lead referrals you are getting?” If no, read on. If yes, move on.

I find that most job seekers have less than 15 (usually around 10) really solid job lead referral sources  in their network. Most are getting referrals to other people, usually service providers, but not job leads. Few are tapping into the hidden job market.

The people I work with have a goal of 50 sales reps. I call them sales reps, because every candidate needs to have at least 50 people in the market place promoting and selling them every time a job lead or potential job lead comes up. The larger the geographical area, the larger the number of sales reps required.

My all time favorite line that best describes effective networking was given to me years ago by a person that understood networking before networking was even a word. Bill Ellermeyer said to me,”You have to take a contact and turn it into a connection.” Read it again if you didn’t pick up on what real networking is all about. This hits the problem square on the head.

Job seekers are not making connections, most are making contacts. Many don’t even know if the contact is willing to refer them or not.

So start turning all those contacts into connections. 50 great connections are worth more to you than 500 contacts. So start focusing on getting the 50.

Some ways to do that include:

1. Network with a purpose. Stop going to every networking meeting on the planet. Stop meeting every person referred to you. Start going to networking meetings that will provided you the connections you need to get job leads. If the meeting isn’t going to meet this goal, why go? Do your homework before spending a lot of time with someone. Ask the referring sources some qualifying questions about the person and why they think this person would be a good referral source for you. Don’t just run off and spend all that time meeting a bunch of people.
2. Select or target the people that can help you and eventually you can help them. Generally, if it is a service provider you are trying to make your sales rep,  they want business referrals. They want to meet decision makers. So you should have a list of people you are relying on for help and find out from them exactly what types of business referrals they want. Stop asking the question, “How can I help you?” Every service knows that rarely leads to anything. You want referrals so do they. So ask them, “What business introductions can I make for you?” Have your rolodex with you. Open it up right there and give a good referral. They now owe you.
3. Follow-up with these people regularly. Every sales manager knows you have to keep in-touch with your sales reps and with the customer. So you need to do the same thing.  Since you know the backgrounds of the people they want to meet invite them to meetings, introduce them to a potential referral  over coffee with you there to make the introduction, call and inquire if hey would be interested in meeting this person or that person, invite them to a social event, golf, sporting event, drinks, conference.  Maybe they would like to meet one of your other 50 sales people so they can network together. Why not set up  a small group meeting.  There are so many opportunities to take this contact and turn it into a connection once  you start thinking about it. The problem is very few think about it.

It only takes the ability to focus on the right things that will lead to quality job leads. I can tell you from personal experience, when I can get the candidates I work with in this mode most see quality job leads start coming in. Having a sales force is critical to a successful job search.

So please go out today and start building your sales team.

For a FREE example of a cover letter CLICK HERE.

For a FREE example of a Thank You letter CLICK HERE.

For many more FREE resources and articles, join our Job Search Networking Group on LinkedIn. 5200 people have done this. CLICK HERE to join.

If your LinkedIn profile doesn’t demonstrate you are the expert in your field you may be missing opportunities. Recruiters, HR and hiring authorities often start looking on Linkedin. This tool is critical in a job search. CLICK HERE to learn  how you can build an outstanding Linkedin Profile.

I welcome your thoughts, comments, suggestions and ideas.

Brad Remillard

Mediocre Networking equals Failed Job Search

I just published a blog on our HIRE and RETAIN Top Talent Blog aimed at hiring executives and managers on the subject of networking.

You can read this blog posting on networking for Executives and Managers by CLICKING HERE.

Outrageous Claim ? Networking is Critical to a Career

In this blog posting, I made the outrageous claim that Networking can make or break a career. As I was writing the post which was focused on employed executives and managers, the issue struck me that most candidates take too long to conduct a job search because:

Networking Efforts are INADEQUATE OR INEFFECTIVE

The Fundamental Problem of Job Search

One of the services we provide for executive and managerial job search candidates is job search coaching. We also have a specific project for developingNetworking Strategic Plan.

The first thing we notice is a woefully inadequate network and ineffective methods to build, grow, sustain, nurture, develop, enhance the network. Its no wonder the most common complaints about networking is that for the time investment it doesnt yield enough job leads and referrals.

If I approached networking the way most candidates approach it in their job search, I would consider it random luck if I got a job lead or referral.

Weve touched on Networking in the past and the importance of it for your job search. In my article addressed to employed hiring executives and managers, I claim its one of the most important skills they can possess and one of the most important activities they must do on a daily basis.

In a job search ? it is not just one of the important things you should be doing ? JOB SEARCH NETWORKING is the most important thing you should be doing ? without exception.

Here are few articles where weve touched upon the importance of networking:

CLICK HERE to Read How Recruiters Search on LinkedIn and What We Look For

CLICK HERE to Learn How to Stand Out at a Networking Event

Im writing an article series on 101 Job Search Tactics. A large percentage of those tactics are going to be centered around effective networking. Ive already described some of the networking tactics job search candidates should be trying on LinkedIn. Here are links to a few of those blog postings:

CLICK HERE to Read – Cares What Your Status is On LinkedIn?

CLICK HERE to Read ? 101 Job Search Tactics to Find a Job Now

Questions for Candidates Who Dont Network?

Why are you not networking?

What dont you know about networking that you must learn?

What are top 10 books youve recently read on networking?

What workshops/seminars/webinars have you recently attended to improve your skills at networking?

What blogs are you reading that offer great tips on how to network in your job search?

Whats holding you back?

Shouldnt you be investing heavily in time (and funds) everything you can to learn how to become a master networker in your job search?

If 80% or more of all jobs are not posted, in the hidden job market, and can only be found through networking ? why are you only focusing on the 20% that are advertised on job boards?

Resources for Job Search Networking

Basing your job search on answering job board advertisements instead of concentrating on effective job search networking is like betting your savings on the crap tables. Only if random luck intervenes do you stand a chance of succeeding.

Here is a list of a few resources that might help you in networking:

CLICK HERE to join our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group ? many good conversations on how to network effectively

CLICK HERE to see our Job Search Workbook that contains our focused chapter on how to network

CLICK HERE to Learn about our services for Executive and Managerial Job Seekers including Job Coaching and Networking Strategic Planning.

CLICK HERE to download some of our archived FREE radio show broadcasts on the subject of Job Search Networking

CLICK HERE to download the FREE Job Search Plan Self-Assessment Scorecard to determine if your networking approach is effective

CLICK HERE to visit our Job Search FREE Resources Portal where we bring together the blog feeds from some of the very best bloggers on the Internet focused on Networking techniques.

Barry Deutsch

Job Seekers and Warren Buffet

I am currently reading the book, “The Snowball: Warren Buffet and the Business of Life” by Alice Schroeder. It is an interesting biography on Warren Buffet’s life starting as a small child.  Some of the more interesting parts highlight what influenced his thought processes about everything from money to how he treats people.

I haven’t finished the book yet, but as I was reading it two sentences stood out. To me, these two sentences explained exactly why so many candidates stay in a job search so much longer than need be. I have known this for a long time. The candidates I work with one-on-one in our job search coaching programs often start out the same way.  I interview and speak with hundreds of candidates a month. It use to surprise me the number of people who acted this way. Not any more, I just accept it. I don’t understand it, but I do accept it.

When Warren was a teenager he read the book, “How to Make Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. Just about everyone has heard of this book.  His biography addresses the impact this book had on him. How it “honed his natural wit, above all it enhanced his persuasiveness, his flair for salesmanship.” Obviously, this one book influenced him so much that decades later he still remembered it and gave it credit.

It was  the two sentences before this which stood out and relates to the vast majority of candidates I encounter. Alice Schroeder writes, “Unlike most people who read Carnegie’s book and thought gee, that makes sense, then set the book aside and forgot about it, Warren worked at this project with unusual concentration; he kept coming back to these ideas and using them. Even when he failed and forgot and went for long stretches without applying himself to the system, he returned and resumed practicing in the end.”

This is what grabbed my attention. As soon as I read it, I thought this is exactly what most candidates do. This is exactly why so many candidates spend so many extra months searching for a new positions. They read a book, attend a webinar,  read a blog article or listen to an audio file and think, “Gee, that makes sense, then set it aside and forget about it.”

Few, my guess less than 10% do as Warren did. Read the sentences again. Does anything stand out to you as it did me? What did Warren Buffet do different than all the others?

I see this constantly.  People will return our job search workbook with a note, “Already know all this stuff.” At first I was stunned. When we wrote the book we spent an extensive amount of time identifying the mistakes candidates continually make. We  then worked extremely hard to provide solutions  to those mistakes. So it struck me as strange, that so many people knew all these mistakes, but just kept making them. How could this be?

I’m sure the many other excellent authors of books on this subject have experienced the same thing.

So I decided to test if it was true these people really did know all this stuff. I started doing some follow-up. I would call the person and ask for feedback. As I got bolder, I became more direct. I started asking very specific questions of those that “already know all this stuff?” For example, I would ask:

• Since you already know the only three things which can be measured during a phone interview, what do you do to properly prepare?
• As you know, there are only three types of questions asked in an interview. How do you identify which type of question is being asked and how do you prepare for each type of question?
• Of the ten most important questions to ask in an interview, which ones in your opinion were most helpful and of those which ones do you use most often?
• How long have you been using the cover letter we recommend and what has been your experience with this style?
• How often have you found yourself in anyone of the 5  positions in the Circle of Transition and how do you handle it? This could be really helpful to other candidates?
• How is your networking business card different from your interviewing business card?

It didn’t take long to discover these people may have read the book, but unlike Warren Buffet, they didn’t embrace the ideas with “unusual concentration.” Instead it was, “Gee I already know this stuff.”  When in fact, from their answers, they had no idea what mistakes they were making and how the book provides solutions.

Warren Buffet read Dale Carnegie’s book over and over again. He referred back to it time and time again. He practiced regularly. When he failed it was back to the book. That is what made him unique. He didn’t just know it all, he implemented the concepts. He didn’t blame the book when things went wrong, he adjusted and tried again.

I know from the one-on-one job search coaching we do, when we get candidates to stop knowing everything and start doing things the right way, they find job leads that eventually lead to offers and employment.

Although it might appear as an attempt to sell our book it really isn’t. There are many great resources available to candidates. Many are 100% free. It is positively an attempt to get candidates to stop saying, “Gee, that makes sense, but I already know it.” It is positively an attempt to get candidates to learn from Warren Buffet. To get candidates to refer back time and time again to excellent resources. To re-read the books, re-listen to the audio recordings and to take this advice to heart with “unusual concentration” as Warren Buffet did.

I have discovered the reason there is so much written for job seekers is because job seekers need so much help. If candidates did everything so perfectly there wouldn’t be a need for all the books, blogs, articles and webinars.

The next time you read anything designed to help you in your job search don’t let your first thought be, “Gee, I already know that.” Rather force yourself instead to ask, “Good advice. How am I implementing that in my job search?” Attack it the same vigor and “unusual concentration” as Warren Buffet.

Try this approach first and you will find yourself gainfully employed a whole lot sooner.

OK, now this is a blatant attempt to sell you a book. You can get our job search workbook to review for free. Just pay the $5 shipping. For details on this offer CLICK HERE.

Test your job search effectiveness by downloading our free Job Search Plan Assessment Scorecard. Find the strengths and weaknesses in your job search. Then attack the weaknesses with “unusual concentration.”  CLICK HERE to download.

For a FREE example of a cover letter that recruiters, HR and hiring authorities  like and will get your resume read, CLICK HERE.

I welcome your comments, thoughts and feedback.

Brad Remillard