What Fish are In Your Networking Pond?

Let’s continue along my last post about fishing and networking. As you’ll recall, we were extending the wonderful post about fishing as a metaphor for job search networking that Anna Farmery from Buzz Networker had brought to our attention a few days ago.

One of the points that Anna raised was what kind of network are you looking for – or to continue our fishing metaphor – what type of fish should be in your network?

I’ll be so bold as to suggest that most of the fish in a job seeker’s network STINK!

It’s not that most networking contacts are bad people – but rather the network that a typical job seeker has assembled to help generate job leads and referrals is nothing short of useless in most cases. Brad and I take you through this introspective look at your network in our networking chapter in our book “This is NOT the Position I Accepted.”

One of the services that IMPACT Hiring Solutions provides is Job Search Networking Strategy and Coaching. Every day, Brad and I are immersed in reviewing the networks and networking activities of job seekers within our job search network (those that have participated in our tele-seminars and webinars, those who have downloaded our FREE Internet Radio Shows on conducting a Job Hunt, and those who participate in our LinkedIn Discussion Group for conducting an effective Job Search.

Although I have not yet quantified the data (do you sense another survey/research project coming on?), I’d surmise that less than 5% of the networks most candidates are using – are useless and yield very little in terms of job leads and referrals.

Why?

It’s because you have the wrong fish in your network. As a candidate involved in a job hunt, you need four classes of fish to have an effective network that can generate an abundance of job leads and referrals.

The four classes of fish (network contacts) are:

1. Hiring Managers who might potentially hire you for a position
2. Contacts who would know the hiring manager (peers competing for a similar position and peers of the hiring manager)
3. Recruiters who fill the positions you want
4. Personal Service Providers (lawyers, benefit consultants, CPAs, construction company project managers, landscape service businesses, leasing agents, etc.) The key to having these folks in your network is the ones who are “trusted advisors to their clients” (more about becoming a trusted advisor in a future post).

If you can assemble a network of individuals balanced among the 4 classes of fish we’ve defined, you’ll begin within 3-6 months to generate more job leads and referrals than you can handle. It goes without saying that once you’ve pulled all your fish together, you’ve still got to do all the little things that comprise best practices in networking activities.

Pulling together the “right” job search network is only the first step in reducing the time it takes to conduct a job hunt in half. This is the core theme of our entire Job Search approach: The Career Success Methodology – Cutting your job hunting transition time in half!

Thousands of job seekers have shared their success stories with us that by following the Career Success Methodology they’ve reduced the time it takes to find a job by 50% or more compared to their peers conducting a similar job search.

Having the right contacts in your network who can deliver an abundance of job leads and referrals is only one important element of the disciplined job search approach found in the Career Success Methodology.

Barry

Is Fishing like Job Search Networking?

Anna Farmery of the Buzz Networker put up a blog post the other day titled “Why Networking is like Fishing” that should serve as an important reminder to those conducting a job search.

Networking for Candidates

The funny thing about this title is that it is the opposing strategy for job seekers of the technique we teach in our “You’re NOT the Person I Hired” workshop for hiring executives and managers. We teach that you must be able to “fish in deep waters” to attract the best talent. Posting onto the various job boards a job description that is masquerading as an ad is rarely an effective strategy for finding great talent.

If the best technique to be found by recruiters and hiring managers is networking and the best technique to find great talent is through networking – the intersection of these two overlapping strategies by candidates and recruiters/hiring managers should result in great matches.

Seems obvious – right?

Why doesn’t it work most of the time?

Job Search Networking – Fact or Fiction

It doesn’t work because most candidates do a terrible job of networking, personal branding, and positioning themselves to be found. Most recruiters/hiring managers do a terrible job networking by fishing in the deepest ends of the pool for great talent.

So what really happens in most hiring situations? The recruiters/hiring managers revert back to pre-historic approaches to finding candidates by running ads and candidates devote the vast majority of their job search to responding to job ads. Is there any wonder why top talent fails to find great opportunities and companies fail over and over to bring top talent to their doorstep?

Brad and I will be releasing over the next week or two a self-assessment for you to determine if you’re networking plan needs a major check-up. Stay tuned for this release. Our surveys and research within our job search network on LinkedIn (which you can join by clicking here) indicate that less than 20% of executive and managerial candidates have an effective networking plan.

Here are a few questions to be thinking about while you await the release of our networking plan self-assessment tool:

1. Do you have a written networking plan?
2. What do you believe are the top 5 best practices in a networking plan of action?
3. Have you ever seen a formal networking plan with action steps, metrics, objectives, and tasks?
4. If you develop plans for projects at work – why wouldn’t you do it for your job search?
5. Can you list the top 20 articles/blog postings/content/books and other audio/video related content on job search networking that you’ve read within the last week and have taken 1-2 ideas from to incorporate into your job search.

Are these tough questions? Most candidates we’ve surveyed wouldn’t be able to answer them. If you can’t, your probably are facing a major need for a networking check-up OR the alternative is a prolonged period of unemployment that could have easily been cut in half.

Resources for Developing a Networking Plan

1. In our Book, “This is NOT the Position I Accepted”, we dedicate an entire chapter to the concept of Job Search Networking.
2. In our Job Search Home Study Kit, we have exercises, templates, and guidelines for developing a powerful networking plan that could help reduce the time it takes for you to find a job by at least 50%.
3. Brad and I have talked about networking numerous times – both about job search networking on-line and off-line – in our weekly Internet Radio Talk Show on LATalkRadio. We’ve taken all our Radio Show Broadcasts and put them in an audio archive for you to listen to and download.
4. If you’re in need of a “Networking Check-Up” for your job search, be sure to check out our Networking Strategic Plan Coaching to get an immediate boost over your competition.

Barry

Job Search Disaster: Too Many Eggs in the Wrong Basket

I read with great interest a post today on The Work Buzz Blog by Rachel Zupek, where she revealed that in CareerBuilder’s most recent Quarterly Staffing and Demand Outlook that 25% of surveyed candidates indicated they planned to use a recruiter over the next quarter in their job search.

What the heck does that mean for using recruiters in your job search?

Is using a recruiter mean you’re praying they find you a job at the expense of investing in personal networking?

Does it mean that you plan on contacting a recruiter?

Does it simply mean you’re going to send your resume to a recruiter and if something happens – good for you.

No fault of Rachel’s here – I’m just giving her a plug for publishing the survey results. However, my frustration is apparent that I consider most surveys to be worthless from an informational and useful perspective. Should this data give hope to recruiters? Should it convince job seekers that a major part of their job search should be working with recruiters?

Let’s be real about the effectiveness of using recruiters in your job search (By the way – 90% of my income is generated as a Retained Executive Recruiter).

1. The recruiting profession covers less than 10% of available job opportunities. The higher up the food chain you go, the lower the probability a recruiter will help you find a job. Why is this? It’s because the vast majority of jobs are in the “hidden job market” – they are not advertised, published, placed with recruiters. They are filled through networking.

2. At a managerial/executive job search level, you should be in contact with good recruiters who specialize in your area of expertise/job level/industry/geography. Your contact – interaction – time invested with recruiters should be less than 10% of your overall job search strategy.

3. Networking is KING! 80% of your job search should be focused on networking. If you would like to learn more about how networking, job search personal branding, creating an abundance of referrals and job leads can help you – be sure to visit our FREE Audio Library where Brad and I have posted all our LATALKRADIO broadcasts about job search, including networking, resumes, interviewing, and personal branding. We cover networking strategies and tactics in-depth through our “Job Search Home Study Kit“. If you want to understand how to reduce the time it takes to find a job by at least 50%, this kit has everything you’ll ever need.

4. Sending your resume to a recruiter “blindly” is a useless exercise. 99.9% of these will end up in the trash can. There are a number of techniques you can use to gain a recruiter’s attention, manage the relationship, and get your resume to “pop” to the top of the stack. Learn more about how to work with recruiters by reading our recently published book on Job Search titled “This is NOT the Position I Accepted”. We also have talked about how to work with recruiters on our Weekly Radio Show.

5. Like most networking best practices, working with a recruiter is no different. You’ve got to be able to “help the recruiter” if you want help back. Try to find ways to make referrals on their other searches, ask how you can help them, try to find ways to make the recruiter successful. It’s a two-way relationship. I cannot remember the last time a candidate said to me “How can I help you?”

Hopefully, these 5 tips should help put into perspective what “working with recruiters” really means for your job search.

Barry

Weekly Job Search Round-up: August 1st-7th

Here is a round-up and review of our blog posts over the past week. Our blog posts have covered the spectrum of job search mistakes, resumes, networking, leveraging social media, and techniques to reduce your job hunt timeframe by at least 50%.

The Top Ten Job Search Mistakes – Are You Guilty?

We explore the most common Top Ten Job Search Mistakes based on research over 25 years. Are you making one or more of these mistakes in your job search?

Un and Under-Employment: What You Don’t Know

Recognize the emotional side of being unemployed in one of the worst job markets we’ve seen in 25 years. We interview of the leading experts on dealing with the emotional side of a job search.

Stay tuned next week as we begin to explore each of the Top Ten Job Search Mistakes and how you can overcome them. Imagine how quickly your job hunt could be over by just avoiding a few of the most common pitfalls to conducting an effective job search.

We will also begin to take an in-depth look at most powerful technique ever used to prepare for any interview question. Using this one preparation technique which is a core element of our Career Success Methdology, you’ll have potential employers almost begging you to come and work for their company.

Barry

Top Ten Job Search Mistakes – Are You Guilty?

Why Do Job Searches Fail Frequently?

We’ve conducted extensive research with candidates over the last 25 years regarding career management and job search. We’ve attempted to isolate the major failure points of careers and job searches. In our book “This is NOT the Position I Accepted“, you’ll discover more details around the classic job search mistakes the precise steps to overcome each of them.

Luck sometimes happens – we all deserve a lucky break. However, luck and hope are not sound strategies on which to base a successful job search and long term career.

In our Job Search Home Study Kit, we have a series of templates which walk you through the job search process in great depth and precision. In this blog posting on the Top Ten Job Search Mistakes, we’d like you to answer a few introspective questions about your job search success (or lack thereof):

The Top Ten Job Search Mistakes

1. Are you currently guilty of making any of the Top Ten Job Search Mistakes?

2. In the past, when you’ve made one or more job search mistakes, how has it negatively impacted your success?

3. Is there one or more job search mistakes that you consistently make? What are you doing to change and not make these mistakes in the future?

In future blog posts, we’ll explore each of these Top Ten Job Search Mistakes in more depth. Here are the most common job search mistakes made by managers and executives:

1. Not having a systematic approach to conducting a job search

2. Jumping at an opportunity based on desperation

3. Not adequately preparing for interviews

4. Lack of follow-up after interviews

5. Ineffective networking

6. No personal branding to help hiring managers and recruiters find you

7. Not leveraging on-line tools and resources

8. No coherent long-term strategic career plan

9. Poor attitude – pessimism, negativity, frustration dictate your actions

10. Ineffective engagement with recruiters

Overcoming the Top Ten Job Search Mistakes

Once you overcome these Top Ten Job Search Mistakes, you’ll be amazed at the abundance of opportunities, leads, and referrals that start to land in your lap.

Many candidates stuck or stumped in their job hunt do not recognize they are making the same mistakes over and over – thus prolonging the time period they are out of work. With a few simple exercises,  templates, worksheets, and structured plans of action that you’ll find in our Job Search Home Study Kit, you’ll be able to reduce the time it takes to complete a traditional job search by at least 50%.

Be sure to stop by our FREE Audio Library where Brad and I have archived all our Internet Radio Talk Shows discussing how to overcome job search mistakes and how to reduce the time it takes to complete your job search.

Barry

Are You In The “Circle of Transition”

As a recruiter I must review hundreds of resumes a week and tens of thousands in my 30 year career. Over the last few years, I have noticed a dramatic increase in the amount of turnover candidates have on their resume. I have also noticed a dramatic increase in push back from clients on the amount of candidate turnover.

There are many good reasons that one finds themselves on the job market. For many, a pattern of turnover develops and it is hard to accept that it is just coincidence that the company was sold, a new boss, the company relocated etc. Granted, this may happen once or twice, but it is hard to accept 5 or 6 time in 8 years. For a few maybe. Often the real reason is clear, the person took a position they really should not have accepted in the first place. We call this the, “Circle of Transition.”

One enters the Circle of Transition the moment any level of frustration enters their job search. You can be employed or not, it doesn’t matter. Once you become frustrated with your current situation you are either in, or about to enter, the dreaded Circle of Transition.

So this is how the circle works; that frustration eventually turns into desperation, that desperation turns into rationalizing that a less than acceptable position may be a “good” opportunity. After enough rationalization the candidate begins the justification process. Now in their mind they have actually justified why a less than acceptable position is a “good” opportunity. Once it is justified, that then leads them to accepting a less than acceptable position. Six to twelve months into the less than acceptable job, frustration sets in, then desperation and you are in the Circle of Transition.

Our job search workbook, “This Is NOT The Position I Accepted” goes into great detail on the Circle of Transition and how to avoid it. You can get a graphic of the Circle of Transition for free on our Web site just click here.

One solution to the Circle of Transition is always understanding exactly where you are in the circle. This is extremely difficult for most candidates. Simply because once in the rationalization phase, candidates don’t or won’t accept that the position isn’t right for them. They completely ignore their gut, coaching from others, or any advice.

My recommendation is to click here and download the graphic and paste it on your mirror. Every morning pinpoint exactly what phase you are in. This way at least you can start to deal with the issues. The solution to every problem starts with identifying the problem. Once you know what phase you are in then you can deal with it and maybe find your way out of the circle.

We offer a wealth of FREE resources for candidates in-transition. We encourage you to take complete advantage of these resources.

To explore our audio library and download past radio shows just click here.

To listen to our talk radio show every Monday from 11 – noon PST click here.

We encourage and request your comments and feedback. Please consider giving us your thoughts in the comment section.

Become a Beacon in Your Job Search

Adam Singer, writing today in his blog, The Future Buzz, used a lighthouse with it’s powerful lens as an excellent metaphor for networking on-line, particularly in using on social media, groups, discussion boards, and other communities to draw attention to yourself in your job search.

Adam uses this powerful metaphor and visualization to call attention to the importance of establishing your own personal brand in social networking, for both your success, career, and job search. He states:

A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to focus attention on a specific location.

Visualize what image the word beacon conjures in your mind:  perhaps a lighthouse casting light onto an otherwise dark horizon, or a signal fire atop a hill illuminating the night sky.  In the physical world, a beacon is used to draw attention, act as a guide, or call to action.  Civilizations have long used them to rally citizens together, protect ships from coastlines, and act as signal points.

But the concept of a beacon is not limited to purely physical signaling points.  There are beacons on the web – they are people, companies, networks, blogs, anything that can direct attention.

You must become a beacon or you are essentially at the whim of others who point attention at their own discretion, perhaps shining the light on you for fleeting moments…if you’re lucky.

You can read Adam’s full blog post at The Future Buzz.

Are you a beacon to others in your job search. Is the attention of hiring managers drawn to the light you cast?

If you missed our last post about using your LinkedIn Profile to become visible in your job search, you can still download the 8-Point Success Matrix for Your Job Search LinkedIn Profile. Within minutes, this matrix will help you to improve your existing LinkedIn Profile to become a bright beacon and attract the attention of recruiters, HR managers, and Hiring Managers in your job search.

Barry

Photo courtesy of Adam Singer at the Future Buzz

Put On Your Sales Hat in Your Job Search

I just conducted one of our regular weekly Internet Radio Talk Shows. You can download the new audio broadcast from our website in our FREE Audio Library.

In this program we discussed the following topics and took questions from our audience regarding their job search issues about “Putting On Their Sales Hat”:

Plan Their Work

1. Networking Plan
2. Target Plan
3. Group Participation Plan
4. Research – hot industry’s/goggling hiring managers

Numbers Count!

1. Well-Prepared to being their sales efforts
2. Documents lined up
3. Details/Research/Comparative Information – armed with right info
4. Rehearsed and polished

The Interview/Presentation

1. Quick Rapport/First Impressions
2. Solution Selling – what’s your pain (should know this in advance – top 4 typical problems/issues for that role
3. Enthusiasm/Energy – show your passion

Follow-up after the interview

1. Thank You Notes
2. Sending relevant information
3. Networking
4. Finding backdoors

We’ve got a wealth of tools on our website to help you Put on Your Sales Hat. Check out our Candidate Product Library – where we’ve taken this concept and built a structured workbook, templates, and audio programs.

Take a look at our Job Search Service Catalog where we’ve developed a series of coaching and assessment tools to determine if you’re effectively applying the concepts and methodology behind “Putting On Your Sales Hat”.

Finally, join our LinkedIn Discussion Group which provides a vibrant forum for posing questions and getting answers from other candidates conducting a job search and how their applying each of the key steps of our Career Success Methodology.

Barry

photo credit JL McVay

7 Steps to end Job Search Voyeurism

In my last post on Job Search Voyerism, I mentioned that I would explore each of the 7 Steps in more depth. In future posts, we’ll jump into even more detail about each of these steps.

Step 1: Join the LinkedIn Group for Job Search which my Partner, Brad Remillard and I facilitate. Click here to join this vibrant and active group.

Step 2: You have my permission to “lurk” or “kibbitz” for two weeks. After that, you must promise to become active in the group. There are approximately 1500 members in this group who network with each other in their job search, share ideas and strategies about jobs, interviewing, networking, salary negotiations, and much more. Many members of the group also pose questions for help, such as asking who knows someone in a particular company, how to overcome a negative in the interview, or how to prepare for a homework assignment.

Step 3: Start to comment on job search articles and sites in the news tab that other group members have shared. Start to comment on the discussions that other group members have started. Start your own discussion point, ask a question, and make a request for help on some element of your job search.

Step 4: Follow Brad and Barry on Twitter. Check out the variety of tweets, useful job search articles, and comments we make about postings by candidates. Start tweeting about your job search.

Step 5:Sign up to receive our Career and Job Search Blog in whatever feeder you use to read blogs. I highly recommend Google Reader. Make sure to post comments on the blog articles Brad and I write.

Step 6: Now that you’ve joined our LinkedIn Discussion Group on Job Search and you’ve practiced and gotten the hang of being an active community/group member, start joining other groups that fit your function expertise (ie marketing or financial management), industry specialization, and alumni group. Become active members of these groups.

Step 7: Now that you’ve subscribed to our Career and Job Search Blog, you understand how to read blog postings in a feed reader like Google Reader, and you’ve started commenting directly on blog postings, start subscribing to a few blogs that are in your functional expertise, industry specialization, alumni group, and in the area of job search, job hunt, interviewing – basically anything to do with finding a job. Become an active contributor on those blogs.

These are just a few small steps in beginning to create a personal brand for yourself, improving your job leads and referrals, strengthening your job search networking, and starting to make your voice heard to “differentiate” yourself.

As a bonus tip, download a few of our recorded Internet Radio Show Broadcasts in which we talk about being active in your job search in social media, like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Tell us what you’re doing right now in your job search that is similar or comparable to the steps laid out in this post. How are you making your voice heard?

Barry

photo credit lintmachine

Stop being a job search voyeur – let your voice be heard

Many candidates join groups on LinkedIn, Facebook, Ning, Yahoo and on a variety of other platforms  to languish in “lurker” land. What’s the use of joining a group unless you’re willing to actively participate? Is not one of the major reasons for joining groups on-line or off-line  to network in your job search?

One of the most powerful methods of networking for job hunting is to become known to other group members through your posting of job search-related articles, sharing of informational links/sites (a major element of active Twitter networking), that might help other job seekers, and commenting on the posts by others. Learn about networking in our 5-Step Career Success Methodology.

Through your active “voice”, others in the group get to know you, trust you, and start to go out of their way to help you when you become a valued member of their community.

Not becoming active in sharing your “voice” in these groups you join is the equivalent of “being beige” – fading into the woodwork. See the blog post I wrote titled “Networking Failure –  Stop Being Beige”.

For those who are a little shy, reserved, and introverted, what better method exists to let your voice be heard?  You don’t have to engage in physical groups, you don’t have to formulate a response on the spot (you can think about it, analyze, and carefully craft your on-line message). and you don’t have to portray yourself as an extrovert in a live setting.

Allow me to offer a starting point for beginning the journey of letting your voice be heard on-line to improve your job search networking:

Here are Seven Steps you Can Take to end job search voyeurism:

Step 1: Join our LinkedIn Group for Job Search

Step 2: “Lurk” or “kibbitz” and then get active

Step 3: Start to comment on job search articles

Step 4: Follow Brad and Barry on Twitter

Step 5: Subscribe to our Career and Job Search Blog

Step 6: Join other LinkedIn Groups and become active

Step 7: Subscribe to other blogs and comment frequently

In my next blog post, we’ll explore each of these Seven Steps to ending Job Search Voyeurism.

Barry

photo credit by Stewart