Stay out of the dumpster
We’ve talked about the Online Job Posting Dumpster ‒ submitting your resume and clicking the job postings.
o The companies that own these sites are there to make buckets of money, they don’t care if you find a job.
o The employers are overwhelmed with unqualified applicants to their poorly-written job descriptions.
o You’re frustrated and ghosted, wondering what’s going on and feeling badly about yourself.
Despite the endless ads promising quick results, this is not the road to success when you’re seeking a career-expanding role.
The solution is Networking ‒ but it’s not a quick solution. It takes time to develop your professional network, and there are ways NOT to approach it.
It was a great event, I collected 17 business cards!
Some advocate going to meetings and collecting business cards. I saw a diagram being circulated that showed how you could go into a roomful of people, collect all their cards, and be out in ten minutes!
Networking means different things to different people, but this ain’t it! You’ll have a great collection of cards that might be good for an unusual wallpaper ‒ but nothing else.
Your network is professional relationships with people who work in the same career as you. You don’t have a network if you’ve just collected someone’s card ‒ you don’t even know that person!
Collecting cards isn’t networking!
You don’t need a book
Several years ago, there was a popular how-to business book about networking, but the ideas presented were more like how-to-stalk rather than professional business networking.
In one example, the author was next to a famous person he did not personally know. His approach was to introduce himself and pretend he didn’t know who the person was:
“Hello, my name is _____.” He then asked, “And you are . . .?”
The author’s idea was that, by approaching the celebrity in that fashion, it would appear to be a casual meeting rather than a planned ambush. This method apparently worked for him, and it certainly provided fodder for the book.
Stalking people is not networking
Your online connections won’t help
There’s a lot of hype about having umpteen online connections. Just do a quick search:
o Having 500+ connections gives you a special edge . . .
o How to quickly add 200 new connections this month
o Blah, blah, blah
Guess what? This is the digital version of business cards! The only online connections that will help you are ones that you already know personally.
Having tons of online connections is not networking
Networking for results
The road to avoiding the dumpster and finding the best jobs is through your professional network.
Your professional network is the same as your personal network of family, friends, clubs, or religious organizations. Any real network is a group of people with whom you have something in common. You actually know each other, and your share your time and knowledge, you learn, you enjoy their company, and you support each other.
Your professional network is comprised of people who have the same career and career interests as you. It takes time and effort ‒ going to professional meetings, reaching out to people in other companies.
It takes time and effort, but it’s a rewarding and interesting journey when you network properly and professionally. As a good networker, you’ll give back and support others, you’ll learn, and you’ll stay current with your profession’s best practices.
Another reward? Someone in your network knows about a great job that’s open and not advertised. They can introduce you directly to the Hiring Manager. No HR Blockade to plow through!
Won’t that be a lot better than applying online with hundreds of others and waiting for a response that rarely comes? Contact us at The Resume Constructor so we can help you with your networking!