hidden job market secrets

Build Your Network Purposefully (Before You Need a Job)

By Debra Feldman

The concept of a geometric progression is fascinating because it appeals to one's sense of an ever-evolving world, conjuring images of a pebble hitting a pond and its resultant waves spreading out in concentric circles from the point of impact.

What does throwing rocks into water have to do with finding a job, you ask? It's simple. Just as the water keeps rippling and spreading out, your networking connections need to grow to continually impact leads to new opportunities. If you tell everyone — and I mean everyone you know — that you are in the job market, that still won't broadcast far enough. You have to stretch beyond that first level of contacts and those in your immediate circle of friends, neighbors, acquaintances, service providers and colleagues, to spread your proposition to new circles.

For your job search to progress, you have to get in touch with people that you don't already know. Your goal should be to meet and talk about new career opportunities with individuals outside your existing network by seeking out new contacts, making connections and sharing information and ideas. By connecting purposefully with highly qualified individuals and developing genuine relationships, you can put yourself on their radar for when an appropriate lead "with your name on it" comes up.

Remember the "six degrees of separation"? In his book, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell explains the phenomenon: how large groups of individuals become connected through just a few exceptionally well-connected individuals. Gladwell describes certain individuals who act as centers of communication (hubs) because of their pivotal positions in multiple networks of connected individuals.

To Network Purposefullyâ„¢, try to identify and meet or network with especially well-connected individuals who have the means to facilitate critical introductions, referrals and connections. Those "hubs" can introduce you to more of the people you need to know than randomly selected contacts. In other words, network purposefully by choosing the "right" individuals — those who are connected to others in your targeted network — and explain your interests compellingly enough for them to want to assist you. Networking with hubs will pay far greater dividends than just knowing a lot of people a little bit.

It's important to build your networking foundation with strategically selected contacts before you launch a job hunt. Decide in advance where you might need connections and purposefully begin the chain of introductions to get to know people at companies that might offer future employment opportunities. For each person you meet initially, shoot for referrals to at least two more individuals.

Purposeful networking principles can improve your job search results. First, recognize that the people you tell you are looking for a job are as important as what you tell them. Effective networking has two main components: clearly communicating your message to a hiring manager in simple but incontrovertible terms about what makes you unique, and communicating with those who will supply additional connections. Focus your efforts on those who will produce additional referrals and introductions to broaden your network. You want to be on the inside track, to be privy to restructurings and other events impacting organizations that generate the need for new resources (like yourself). Remember that to receive great leads, you need to establish a framework for collecting leads, and you also need to be willing to return the favor by sharing good leads or other information when it comes along.

If you strategically, purposefully and proactively focus your networking efforts on individuals who can offer you a job, or who are connected to people who can make you a job offer, then your job search is bound to progress toward a successful landing. Avoid wasting time haphazardly meeting, schmoozing and passing the time commiserating with people who can't further extend your network. Superior networkers don't connect randomly with a hit or miss attitude. They spend their time on networking activities where key contacts can be developed.

Focus your networking efforts geographically or by specialization to further improve your chances for establishing multiple and intersecting connections. A critical mass of individuals who know you and want to help will yield faster, better campaign results.

This article has been reprinted with permission from Debra Feldman. Copyright 2005 by Debra Feldman.

Debra Feldman, founder of JobWhiz, is a job search expert with more than 20 years of senior management consulting experience. She specializes in identifying unadvertised opportunities in the hidden job market. For more information and to contact her, visit www.JobWhiz.com.