Connectors are worth their weight in gold for your job search

Keith Ferrazi, Author of Who’s Got Your Back, wrote a blog article titled “Seven People You Should Know (Besides Kevin Bacon) to Connect with Almost Anyone”.

Keith describes the power that comes from being connected or linked to “connectors”.

For years, we’ve been advocating candidates in their job search should work hard to find connectors. In our projects where we develop strategic networking plans for executives, we usually discover in assessing their existing networks that there are NO connectors and thus – almost zero leverage in networking.

Connectors are rare individuals who are well connected to others. They have great reputations. Their names constantly surface on every request for people who do similar work. They are on everyone’s short list. They’ve done a great job of personal branding and typically have strong large networks.

Connectors pride themselves on helping others in their network. They love to bring people together. They are constantly providing recommendations, referrals, and introductions. A referral from a “connector” is worth their weight in gold for your job search. A referral from a “connector” is similar to receiving the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval”.

Now the question is how do you find connectors with whom to network?

1. A connector is well-known to clients, customers, vendors, and suppliers. For example, I am a connector in Southern California in the Executive Search Field. If a company is seeking a “C” level executive, either myself or my partner will be on their shortlist of firms/individuals to consider. I have an extensive network of over 5000 CEOs and Senior Executives developed over 2 decades through-out the country that I have personally touched in one way or another and still maintain contact. My network is especially strong in Southern California. One strategy of finding me might be to ask other peers who do they use as a recruiter when they are looking for job? You’ll hear the same 2-3 names constantly pop in conversation.

2. Another strategy is to ask hiring executives and managers who do they use as a recruiter to hire top talent executives for their teams. Again, you’ll hear the same names over and over again on the short list of recruiters.

3. A third strategy is to see who has the strongest reputation within the social media space for the individual you are seeking? Do they write a well-recognized blog, are they one of the top 50/100 recruiters on Twitter? Do they get interviewed by major business publications. Do they share the wealth of their knowledge with their network and community?

I’ve used the example of an Executive Recruiter. My example for connectors could be lawyers, accountants, business development managers, benefit consultants, software sales reps – the list is endless.

The key is to identify “connectors” that can provide job leads and referrals in the career path you want to be moving along.

Are you linked to connectors in your network?

To learn more about effective job search networking and the powerful leverage connectors bring to your job hunt, listen and download some of our radio shows where Brad I focused on discussing networking.

Barry

P.S.: Don’t forget to join our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group to participate in a wide range of networking discussions.

Top Ten Job Search Mistakes – Radio Show

Are you making one or more of the Top Ten Job Search Mistakes? Are you frustrated that you are not getting many job leads, referrals, interviews, and offers? In this episode of the weekly IMPACT Hiring Solutions Job Search Radio Show, Brad and Barry discuss how to overcome the Top Ten Job Search Mistakes. This list of the Top Ten Job Search Mistakes is based on 25 years of Executive Search Experience, over 1000 search assignments, and interviews with over 200,000 candidates. Don’t be the one making typical mistakes in your job search.

Brad and Barry also discuss the release of their new FREE Job Search Plan Self-Assessment Scorecard. Within the span of a few minutes, the time it takes to complete this Job Search Scorecard, you can understand the steps required to launch an effective job search, re-start a stalled job search, and find your next dream job. You can download the FREE Job Search Plan Self-Assessment Scorecard just CLICK HERE.

To listen to or download this radio show CLICK HERE

Get Your Profile On Google. SEO Your Search.

Leveraging the social networks is a great search strategy tactic. Facebook and LinkedIn are both vital to one’s ability to be found by recruiters, HR, hiring managers, PE firms, or for that matter anyone looking to find you, or someone with your experiences. However, a big one that is often overlooked by many candidates is Google.

Making yourself findable on Google is an important on-line networking component you should consider. One great way to show up on Google with a high ranking is the use of Adwords. By setting yourself up with Adwords anyone looking for you, your functional area, industry, or even geographical area can find you near the top of the list.

It is easy to do by just following these simple steps. In our complete job search workbook, Rebecca Gonzalez contributed an article that gives a more detailed step-by-step process with graphics to assist you. (You can get the book for only the cost of shipping $5 CLICK HERE).

Step one in getting Google to find you is to have a website (or URL) for Google to find and link to. This is easily done through Linkedin. If you have a LinkedIn profile then you have the URL. Just try and make sure the URL includes your name. To check this go to your profile and look at the public profile link. If it doesn’t include your name just edit it so it does. For example, my LinkedIn public profile URL is http://www.linkedin.com/in/bradremillard. Since my name is rather unique it was easy to use. John Smith or Mary Jones might have a problem.

Step two is setting up a Google Adwords campaign. This will require a small investment, but the nice thing with Google Adwords is that you can control the amount you want to spend each month. It can be as little as $25 a month. Go to adwords.google.com. Login and a follow the wizard. You want your name on the first line. The next couple of lines are limited but this is where you can add something about your functional expertise, industry experience and location. The URL will be your LinkedIn profile. If your profile is complete (and it should be – see below to find out) you are now very findable by anyone and everyone searching for you or your expertise.

Step three set up keywords. You should add your name and include misspellings, maiden name,aliases, nick names, etc. Don’t be shy here. This is how you will be found.

Step four is to set up your account and turn it live. If you don’t have an account it is easy to do. Once you make it live, test it. Type in your name and see if you show up on the right side of the page.

Now when recruiters, HR, or other hiring managers search your name, you will often come up in the search results. You can also see who has searched on your name.

To check whether your profile is the best it can be, download our LinkedIn Profile Assessment Tool. It is free CLICK HERE.

Join our LinkedIn Job Search Networking Group. We post new articles and free downloads daily. CLICK HERE.

If your search is stalled our “Career Success Methodology” job search home study course has everything you need to get your search going. For what most charge just to develop a resume, you can have all the tools you need. To take a look and see what is in the course CLICK HERE. (and you get the book thrown in at no additional charge).

Is Your Fear of Networking Leading to Job Search Mistakes?

Job Search Mistakes and Errors – Classic Example

The Wall Street Journal Laid-Off and Looking Blog just posted a great story profiling F. Ellen Whaley, an out-of-work introverted executive fearful of rebuilding her network.

The example could be a poster child for the classic job search mistakes and errors facing most executives and senior managers when they begin their job search. Read the full article here.

Here was my response to the example posted on this blog regarding ineffective networking as one of the key job search mistakes and errors made by those starting or stalled in a job hunt:

Great example of not considering the value of networking while working. The vast majority of candidates we work with in our Executive Search Practice come to us with a woefully inadequate network to begin their job search. Most have no idea where to start in using social media as a tool in leveraging networking.

Like the commercials about loans, the time to do it is when you don’t need it. Networking should be something you do through-out your entire career so when you need it – it’s there for you. When senior managers and executives start networking for their job search, it can take a minimum of 6 months to establish an effective network that will begin to generate an abundance of job referrals and leads.

My partner and I host a weekly internet radio talk show on job search on LATalkRadio.com at 11-noon PST. This show and the FREE archived broadcasts on our website dealing with job search networking and LinkedIn are some of our most popular downloads. A month ago we posted a FREE scorecard (available to members of our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group – join the group and get the FREE Scorecard) to assess the effectiveness of your LinkedIn Profile for Job Search – the response has been overwhelming.

Interesting side note: of over 2000 job search candidates that have shared their Linkedin Profile Assessments with us, less than 10% meet a minimum standard for using the tools LinkedIn provides for effective job search networking and personal branding.

If you’re an executive and trying to figure out why your job search is a failure, stalled, or ineffective, you might not need to look any further than your network itself and the activities surrounding it. A weak network and lack of classic “old-school” networking disciplined methods will cause your job search to go from 6 months to 12-18 months.

Barry

P.S.: On Monday Brad and I will be discussing on our radio show at LATalkRadio.com 11-noon The Top Ten Job Search Mistakes and Errors and the use of a brand new FREE Assessment Tool covering your entire job search – within minutes you’ll be able to discover do you have a job search headed for a downward death spiral or will you quickly being to generate an abundance of job search leads, referrals, and offers.

P.P.S.: We’ll post the link to download the new Job Search Plan Assessment Tool exclusively into our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group on Sunday prior to the Radio Show Discussion.

How Recruiters Find People

In my 29 years of recruiting, I have talked with and trained over 200 recruiters around the country in advanced recruiting techniques. Given this, I’ve learned two things 1) the recruiting industry is not homogeneous and 2) we all may be different, but there is one constant; how we find people. There really isn’t anything all that unique about how recruiters go about locating potential candidates. We all use our networks and other people’s networks. This includes both on-line networks such as Linkedin (Click here to join our Linkedin Job Search Group) and off-line such as networking groups in our community.

So why is this important to candidates? Because the most often asked question of recruiters is, “How do I get in touch with retained recruiters?” The answer is a simple one; “You don’t need to.” You don’t really want to get in touch with every recruiter, that is impossible. You only want to get in touch with those recruiters that have a search that meets your background. All the other recruiters don’t matter! So the real question should be; “ How do I get recruiters looking for me, to find me?” Now that is an easy thing to do, but like most things it isn’t simple.

The answer is one word; NETWORKING. Since recruiters maximize the use of their networks and others, all you have to do is be so well networked that a recruiter can’t help but find you. If you really are well networked, as recruiters tap into their networks, your name will always come up as a referral. The more often recruiters hear, “You should call ____, they sound exactly like what you are looking for” the higher the probability you will get a call.

So, if you want to have recruiters calling you, make sure they can find you.

GET YOURSELF NETWORKED in multiple industries and with multiple functions. Don’t forget that Linkedin is used extensively by most recruiters, so it is critical to have your profile up to date and complete. You can download for free our 8 Point Success Matrix For A Linkedin Profile, just click here.

Using Social Media in Your Job Search

Using social media sites such as Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook to find customers, new employees or a job is new to most people. Today’s show is all about how you can leverage these sites to get what you are looking for. My partner Barry Deutsch and I discuss all the reasons to begin using these sites but most importantly how to use these sites to accomplish your objectives.

Social media sites are all the rage but few know how to use them to drive business, sales or sourcing for people or a job. Most become overwhelmed and just give up. We will show you how to start, which sites are best suited for your needs, how to engage people and the real purpose of these sites. Social media may be right for some and a waste of time for others. Find out which category you fall into to most effectively leverage your job search.

You can listen to or download our Career and Job Search Radio Show in our FREE Audio Library.