The apprehension is usually a combination of embarrassment and fear, the latter being both the fear of the unknown and the fear of rejection.
If you feel embarrassed about asking for help, reach for the other person's shoes once again. How would you feel if someone phoned you up to ask for your advice? Would you not want to give them all the help you could? And, what is more, would you not feel flattered at having been the person they chose to ask?
It is just as natural to experience fear of the unknown as it is to be embarrassed about requesting help. If you have not tried networking before, you probably do not know what to expect. That is why this article both explains the techniques involved and ensures that you prepare thoroughly before you make your first call.
Fear of rejection - while understandable - is, in this case, quite unjustified. If you were actually asking people for a job, you might well find that the door was being slammed in your face with depressing regularity. However, when you network properly you never ask for a job, only for address, assistance or contacts. Such requests are very rarely met with outright refusal.
In any case, we are not going to start you off with calls to total strangers. The first batch of calls you make will be to people you know quite well already.
Not Just for the Unemployed
Talking of people you know, an additional fear for those who are currently in employment will inevitably be the question of confidentiality. Because of this, a lot of executives who are in jobs at the moment assume that they cannot use networking. Nothing could be further from the truth. They may have to do one or two things a bit differently, but they can certainly network every bit as effectively.
The main difference is that while the unemployed people will ask for advice and contacts to help them in their job search, those in employment will ask for more general career advice, never openly admitting that they are actually looking for another job. They use lines like:
- 'I like this company a lot, but I'm a bit concerned about the career prospects'; or
- I'm not sure I'm really getting the experience I need to develop myself fully'; or
- 'Given the pace of change these days, I'm beginning to wonder if I've stayed too long in the same environment'.
But how, given the hours you work, do you ever find time for networking? In practice, nothing could be easier. You simply tack it on to all the activities you undertake as a normal part of your job. Chatting to the company's PR firm? Having lunch with a customer? Attending a conference? Visiting an exhibition? Just maneuver the conversation round to the subject of careers. The other person may be just as happy to do so as you. Networking works particularly well when it is based on 'You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.'
What is more, if enough opportunities are not falling into your lap, you can easily create them. Simply make calls and initiate conversations which are either genuinely or ostensibly about valid work matters, but which can, after a decent interval, be edged round to what you really want to talk about.
What? No Network?
By this point, those who are unemployed may well be getting jealous. Some may be feeling that they have all the time, but that they no longer have the contacts. The following is a typical case in point.
The outplacement candidate's face fell. 'But', he complained, 'I don't know anybody.'
'Here we go again', his counselor thought. What he said, however, was, 'You mentioned a few moments ago that you still go for a quick one before you catch the train home, even though you're working out your notice. Do you go to the pub alone?'
'Oh no. I go with some people from the office, and we usually get chatting to some of the other regulars.'
'And do you play any sports?'
'Well, only golf. I'm a member of the local club.'
'What about voluntary work?'
'Not really - not unless you count being a school governor.'
'I certainly do. I bet some of the other governors will be useful contacts. Any other activities - clubs, societies, what have you?'
'Well, I am a Freemason actually.'
A smile spread from one of the counselor's ears to the other. 'And you reckon you haven't got any contacts!'
The candidate looked back in surprise. Then he began smiling too.
Get the point? All right then, now get a piece of paper and start making your own list.
Listing Your Contacts
Use the following headings, listing the names of as many individuals under each as you possibly can. Do not limit yourself to the categories shown, they are just examples to get you going.
Family and friends
Immediate family
Other relatives
Neighbors
Friends
People you were at school or university with
People you have met on holiday
Family and friends of all of the above
Clubs and leisure activities
Sports clubs
Hobbies groups
Evening classes
Community groups
Church/other religious organizations
Political associations
Professional services
Bank manager
Financial adviser
Insurance broker
Stockbroker
Solicitor
Doctor Dentist
Business
Colleagues - past and present Bosses - ditto Staff-ditto Customers/clients Suppliers
Professional advisers Trade associations Chambers of commerce Professional societies Regulatory bodies Management consultants
Now take a couple of different colored text markers. In one color mark the people you know particularly well, the ones you are going to feel most comfortable speaking to initially, while you are getting used to the idea of networking and are still building up your confidence. Use the other color to mark the 'connectors'; those people (such as lawyers, bankers, account-ants in firms of auditors, management consultants) who deal regularly with a lot of other people in a wide range of organizations. They will be particularly productive network contacts.
Resist the temptation to pitch straight in with the people you have text marked in both colors. While they will naturally be the most useful of all, begin by practicing on some whom you marked only with the first pen, waiting until you have gained expertise and assurance before tackling your 'star contacts'.
In fact, you should never dive straight in, even with old friends with whom you feel completely comfortable. Before you make a single contact, there are several things you must think about. The first and most important of these is to be absolutely clear about what you want to achieve.
Spoilt for Choice
Although your ultimate objective is to get a new job, that is the one thing you do not ask your network contact for. While somewhere between 5 per cent and 10 per cent of the people you speak to may be in a position to put an opportunity your way, this means that 90 per cent to 95 per cent are not. Asking directly for a job will not only embarrass them, because they cannot help, but it will also damage your chances of receiving the valuable assistance they actually can provide you with. This could include:
- advice as to the career options open to you;
- ideas about new directions you could take which you may not even have considered;
- information about options you are thinking of pursuing, such as
- switching into a new role
- retraining
- moving to another part of the country
- having a spell overseas;
- advice on your CV;
- information about job openings;
- introductions to other people who can do any of the above;
- referrals to people who may have a job to offer you - or be in a position to create one for you.
However, if you are to develop not just suggestions, but also your network, there is one objective which should be mandatory for absolutely every contact you make.
The Numbers Game
The list you made of people with whom you might get in touch is not your network. It is just a starting point, a roll call of your initial contacts. An oft quoted maxim is that every time you speak to someone you ask them for the name of someone else you might contact. In this way the network perpetuates itself.
Although the principle of this is excellent, it needs a little refinement. If your network is to achieve its aim, which is to keep generating job opportunities until you find one that you want to accept, then you have got to keep it going. It must not be allowed to run down. On the contrary, you must work actively at expanding it.
Do some simple moths. If you started with just one contact who gave you the names of two more, each of whom gave you another two, how long would it take you to get to a thousand contacts? The answer is just ten steps. Now count up the number of people on your initial list and apply the same multiple - that is the power of networking!
Compare this with what would have happened if you had asked each person for just one name. Some would have been unable to think of anyone at all. Others might have suggested a person who had moved on and could not be contacted, or who proved to be a dud for some other reason. Then, of course, there would have been some which were duplicates. Imperceptibly at first, but with increasing momentum, your network would have begun to shrink rather than to grow.
It is for these reasons that you do not ask for just one name, nor even for only two - not, at any rate, if you want to achieve the multiplier effect outlined above. In order to end up with an average of two valid new contacts (i.e. after allowing for duplicates, duds and people who cannot or will not provide names) you need to ask for three or four. If you feel awkward or pushy about being as demanding as that, try - using your own words -one or other of the following approaches.
- Where the discussion has more than one objective, ask to be put in touch with one or two further people you can speak to about each of them, e.g. help with your CV, advice on a change of career direction, information about a business sector.
- Use flattery - but do not go over the top. For example, 'As a partner in a firm of auditors, you must know a lot of top people. I'd be really grateful if you could open a few doors for me. Even just three or four people I could get in touch with, using your name to open the door, would be an enormous help.'
- Be a giver as well as a taker. Explain to your contacts the networking multiplier principle you are operating. Quite apart from giving you full marks for ingenuity, they will have learned about a tool which they may either use themselves, immediately or at some future point in time, or which they can pass on to other people who come to them for advice.
No, that is not a spelling mistake. The use of the word, which refers to being separate and distinct, rather than 'discreet' with its connotations of circumspection and discretion, was quite deliberate. An important point to be made, in connection with the development of your network, is that networking is not something totally unconnected with the other approaches you are employing in your job search. Quite the opposite. You can both increase the effectiveness of other methods by allying them with networking, and also add new names to your network contact lists by using advertisements and other job sources as a door opener.
Headhunting is an obvious case in point. Headhunters make great use of their own contact network, the people they refer to as 'sources', i.e. not actual candidates for a job but people who might know others who could be right for the position in question. The more of these sources you know - and many of them will be the connectors you have on your own network list - the more likely it is that the headhunters will be dialing your number.
It works the other way round, too. Headhunters whom you network may not be able to put a job your way - we have already seen that each consultant handles only a dozen or so assignments a year - but they do know an awful lot of useful people and may well be happy to give you a few introductions.
The same principle works with advertised vacancies. The more people you network, and who therefore know what you are looking for, the more likely it is that one will spot an ad that you somehow missed. Then, once you do have an advertised position to apply for, you can try networking an introduction to either the ultimate decision maker or, failing that, to the recruiter. Even when you cannot find a door opener, a call to the individual who placed an advertisement may be used not only to check out your relevance to the post in question and, by creating a strong impression on the phone, to increase your chances of an interview, but also to initiate a new networking chain. Whether or not your application for the original position goes further, you can ask if there is anyone you can talk to about similar posts, or request the names of any other recruiters who might be able to help you. A busy recruiter will often give you a few names, if for no other reason than to get you off the phone.
Networking can also help with speculative applications. However industrious and diligent you are, you will never pick up on every single news item which might represent a valuable lead. However, with a small army of people keeping an eye open for you, you can greatly increase your chances. You can also use your network to help in researching 'cold call' targets and their business sectors, so that your letters and calls are more effective. Sometimes this results in finding someone who can open a door for you, so that what you expected to be a cold call actually becomes a networking approach, but this just proves how inextricably linked networking is to the other techniques in your job hunting tool kit.
It also goes to show how powerful networking is and how many benefits it has. Before moving on to the nuts and bolts of calls and meetings, ensure that you both appreciate the extent of these benefits, and take full advantage of them. Check out the following list.
- You are no longer competing with hundreds of other people for every job. Sometimes, if you hit that window of opportunity when a job is being discussed but no action has been taken to initiate recruitment, you could be the only candidate.
- Better still, you may even have a job created specifically for you.
- Instead of being arbitrarily ruled out because a recruiter has highlighted one item on a list of criteria which you do not match, what you are focusing attention on are the qualities and strengths which you actually do possess.
- Whereas applying to advertisements is a lonely business, networking provides social contact and stimulation, both of which are of immense value - far more than many people realize.
- Instead of having to go in cold, as a stranger, you always have, at the very least, a name to use to prize a door open for you. At best, the person providing the referral may have personally called or written to introduce or recommend you.
- Openings are often created for you to be flexible and opportunistic. For example, in a discussion which you set up to achieve one objective, such as obtaining information about a given company or industry, your contact may suddenly come up with the name of someone who actually has a vacancy in that field.
- Networking can be rewarding not just in terms of identifying job leads, but also in providing opportunities to put something back by helping others. What is more, network contacts often turn into long-term friends.
- Applying to advertisements is reactive. Networking is proactive.
- Above all, you are in control. You set your own pace and course of action. Being in control is not only less stressful than being at the mercy of others but also infinitely more productive.
