Networking: Fat, Broke, and Unemployed is No Way To Go Through Life …
By Kevin Donlin | April 27th, 2009
Here’s a question I hear in one form or another almost every day: “I’ve been networking for months, but I haven’t found a job. How can I improve my networking efforts?”
Answer: I dislike the term networking because it’s freighted with unpleasant connotations for so many people who have had slow results — or no results — doing it.
Plus, “networking” is like “losing weight” or “saving money.”
Everybody knows how to do it. Everybody says they are doing it. But … so many people are overweight, cash-strapped, and jobless in America these days that maybe — just maybe — it would help to rethink the whole idea of networking to find a job.
So, here’s a thought experiment: Forget everything you know about networking. In fact, stop networking altogether for a week.
Instead, start helping other people get what they want. Give freely of your information, personal contacts, expertise, knowledge, time, etc.
Example: Pick 10 people you know who are connected to people you’d like to meet. Spend an afternoon researching the needs of these “top 10” contacts. You can even call them and ask, “What would help you do your job better?” Then make a plan to help those 10 people get what they want.
When you focus on helping others, your ego is removed from the equation, which makes you less self-conscious and more relaxed. That’s because, while not everyone can be a natural networker, everyone can help another person.
Done right, this is networking — helping other people so much that they’re happy to take your calls and send you job leads.
So, stop networking. Start helping other people get what they want. You will be networking, even though it may not feel like it. And you’ll be making giant strides toward your next job.
Note: This is exactly the kind of unconventional, realty-based advice you can get in our 10-week Guerrilla Job Search Bootcamp. If your job search is stalled, why not check it out? Registration ends at 5:00 p.m. Friday, May 1, 2009. Learn more here. (If that link is dead, it means we sold out early. Again.)
------------------------------
Spread the Word:
digg this
del.icio.us
Technorati
Blogmemes
Ask Jeeves
Furl
Reddit
Rojo
Simpy
Spurl
Socialize It
Earthlink
Google
Netscape
Windows Live
Yahoo
------------------------------
April 27th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
I agree but I don’t think I could go one week with out networking!! I also have changed my perspective to do the same thing. I am trying to cultivate leads for my friends. I have a friend who is trying to get a radiology internship so I am asking around to the people I know who work in hospitals to find out if they have a person who he can contact.