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Making the Right Friends By Networking
By Colleen Kay Watson
President
Career Professionals
1. Do A Personal Network Inventory. Sixty-eight percent of you are going to find your next job through networking. Fifteen percent of you will use a search firm. Nine percent of you are going to find your future job through newspaper ads while eight percent will be through direct mailing. So you'll need to do a personal network inventory. It has been estimated that if you were to pass away today, your passing would impact 250 lives. Call these people now. They obviously care about you. That is your personal network inventory group.
2. Ask For Introductions. Now ask your group for introductions. Do you know how many people you are away from meeting Ted Turner, Oprah Winfrey or the President of the United States ? It has been estimated between two and ten introductions. The median is six. I met a woman named Ginger. She decided that she wanted a date with Ted Turner. This is pre-Jane Fonda. It took her four introductions to get a date with the billionaire. Do you know anyone over at XYZ Company? No, but I know someone who might. Ask people for introductions. You can meet anyone you want even a billionaire!
3. Take Your Boss To Lunch. While you're working on getting the ideas for names, take your boss to lunch. Now this means that you pay. Say to your boss, “Who do you know? What do you think I'm good at? Where do you think I need improvement? Will you be giving me a good reference?” Ask him for that reference. Ask him for ideas of leads that you should go and meet. A friend of mine took his boss to lunch. That day a recruiter had called his boss with a job offer. The boss did not want the job. He sent my friend there and my friend got a 50 percent pay raise. Your boss is well connected. Take your boss to lunch…it pays for itself 10 fold.
4. Ten Minutes To Success. I want you to make a phone call and say, “So and so gave me your name. I would like to have 10 minutes of your time. Would any of these times, 8:40 a.m. , 10:50 a.m. , or 3:20 p.m. , be convenient for you?” Do not make an appointment on the hour or the half-hour. Psychologically, when you ask for those 10 minutes and ask for them on the hour, you are asking for an hour of their time. When you ask for time on the half-hour, I hear a half-hour. I will not give that to you. I will give anyone 10 minutes. When you talk to them say, “How did you get to your present position? What do I need to know how to do? And who should I meet?” Then, go back home and write a thank you note to the individual who gave that time. I did not write type or email. The reason I suggested the writing is that most employers know how easy it is to email and are not impressed. It is so easy to get a boilerplate thank you note off your computer. What's not easy is for you to sit down and carefully pen a note. Think how you feel when you go to your mailbox and there's a handwritten card with a stamp on it.
5. Remember Your Peers. Whenever you find information that is not of use to you, give the information away. Maybe, it's still of use to you, still give it away. There is not a finite amount of data available. Give away as much information as you can. This is what happened to me. When I went to graduate school, I had a Professor named Dr. Noonan. She specialized in Russian-Soviet relations with America . Years later a packet arrived on my desk. There was a conference in Moscow , which was of no interest to me but I remembered her. I picked up the phone and called Augsburg College and got Dr. Noonan on the phone. “This is Colleen Watson. I took your class”. “Oh yes, Colleen. How are you?” I told her what had happened. I lost my job and started my own company and we were doing pretty well. Six months later the phone rang. “Colleen, I just got a email from Moscow . A conference that was going to be held for sharing of intellectual papers from the colleges has been expanded to the emerging capitalist society for women. Would you come and represent the United States as a businesswoman at the University of Moscow ?” I was among three
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The above is an excerpt from The Last Job Search Guide You'll Ever Need: How to Find and Get the Job or Internship of Your Dreams, which is available for sale for $19.85 in our bookstore or $27.00 at Amazon.com but for free to those who subscriber to our free career newsletter. This hot new book contains job search secrets of the most experienced, most knowledgeable and most respected career experts. Learn career planning, job hunting tools and tactics, interviewing, cover letter and resume writing (lots of samples!), networking, and how to find an internship. Written by 149 career experts. To receive a free copy, subscribe to our free career newsletter. |
