Networking is contacting people your contacts know...and people their contacts know...and people their contacts' contacts know.
Because it's done face-to-face, Networking is "personal contact" in that sense. And since someone you've met introduces you to...or lets you use his or her name with...the next person you see, it's also "personal contact" in that sense.
Unfortunately, there's a big difference between asking people you already know for help and suggestions, and making the same requests of strangers you're sent to.
That's why we're looking at the two techniques separately, even though a lot of people prefer not to distinguish between them. And why we'll concentrate on getting only the good out of networking, and avoiding its pitfalls.
Networking is the single most powerful job-changing tool, so you should learn to use it effectively. Whether you give it heavy emphasis, or just let it happen spontaneously, some networking is inevitable every time you seek a new or better job.
First let's look at the advantages and disadvantages of Networking, including its most famous advantage:
"Networking increases your contacts geometrically."
For people who are actually out of work, Networking may well be the most popular method of finding another job. Certainly it's the most widely recommended way...particularly among the "outplacement" companies that employers hire to help fired employees find new jobs.
As those experts point out:
"Networking increases your contacts geometrically."
The concept is that everyone you approach, while probably not personally in control of a job that would interest you, can at least refer you to several additional people. And each of those can send you to several more. If each person only passed you along to one further person, your progress would be linear. But each Networking visit leads to multiple further visits, so your progress is geometric.
Everyone has at least a few contacts. Through Networking, those few can mushroom. Consider the following advantages:
More people meet and know about you. Your finite circle of acquaintances expands infinitely.
People who want to help can help. Only one hard-to-find person will provide your ideal job, but everyone can suggest additional people to see.
There's high impact in a face-to-face visit. Particularly in comparison to a printed resume arriving in the mail or posted on the Internet.
Here's a process you can initiate. Rather than passively waiting for a recruiter's call, you can be as active as your time and energy permit.
The job you find probably won't require relocation. Local visits lead you toward local jobs.
Appealing as its advantages are, Networking also has some disadvantages:
It's time-consuming. Making and keeping Networking appointments is slow, arduous work.
There's no confidentiality. You can't network without making your intentions public.
You reach relatively few people. You're doing well if you make and keep 2 or 3 Networking appointments per day...not enough to survey the overall employment marketplace very quickly.
Requesting favors from strangers isn't easy. Asking help from friends is hard enough; pursuing other people's friends is tougher still.
Focus is random and local. If you want to scour the nation for jobs in a particular field, a series of random local visits isn't the way to do it.
At its best, Networking is Personal Contacts. The big difference is that you're not limited to the few people you already know. At its worst, Networking is like dealing with Personal Contacts on a mass-production basis, with virtually all of the "personal" removed. Where on the spectrum you position your own version of this highly individualistic medium is entirely up to you.
Unemployment is a nasty thing...especially for the executive well above $100,000. Cutting off his income is like trying to choke off his air supply. He'll fight for life just as fiercely as any other wounded and cornered animal. Motivation he's got. Give him a strategy and he'll execute.
So, long before it appeared as a major national sport, the stage was set for NFL Networking. There were plenty of players available...all of them adequately motivated, without resort to Pro Football's megabucks. The only things needed to get a good rough game going were aggressive coaching and a new set of rules.
Enter the "Outplacement Counselors." Pervasive growth of the outplacement industry, which is paid by employers to help fired executives find jobs, has provided the missing factors: an aggressive and creative coaching staff which, in turn, has provided appropriately revised rules. Networking is the number-one favorite job-changing technique among these professionals, and they have contributed greatly to the advancement of the game.
The basic problem with the classically polite lawn-bowling-and-croquet form of Networking...the please-help-him-as-a-favor-to-me version... is its passivity, its lack of vigorous combat. The job seeker is put into play by someone else, who wishes to be helpful and therefore opens doors and makes appointments that the executive might otherwise have difficulty achieving on his own. Merely capitalizing on these thoughtfully-provided opportunities, the unemployed executive keeps these dates, presents himself and his achievements as pleasantly and persuasively as he can, and graciously accepts whatever is offered at the conclusion of each appointment...employment, offers of further help, or merely good wishes. Regardless of the outcome, he expresses genuine appreciation for the time he's been given, and he may attempt to kick an extra point with a "thank you" note.
How bland and wimpish! In these days when there's more mayhem in a love song on MTV than there used to be on The Untouchables, the game of Networking was obviously long overdue for an update. That modernization has been brilliantly accomplished in NFL Networking.
The breakthrough change has been to free the job-seeking executive from prior restrictions on his actions in the game. Indeed, he's now encouraged to seize and retain, if possible, total initiative for every aspect of play. No longer does he passively wait to capitalize on play-making opportunities created for him by others. Under professionally-coached NFL rules, the job-seeker initiates every phase of play, and fiercely defends his prerogative not to surrender the initiative to any other player.
Rules of NFL Networking
- Never fail to get into the office of anyone whose name is mentioned to you.
- Never depart with less than 3 new names.
- Never leave follow-up solely in the hands of the person you just saw.