The process of networking involves both identifying your own networks as well as linking your networks to the networks of others. You expand your network by linking it to the networks of other individuals who also have job information and contacts. Through the process of networking, you ask people in your basic network for referrals to individuals in their networks. This approach will greatly enlarge your basic job search network.
Examples of networking abound within the job search. You are interested in learning about job opportunities with XYZ Company, but you don't know anyone who works there. You ask a friend if she knows anyone who works for XYZ Company. She, in turn, refers you to John Taylor who retired from XYZ Company two years ago. You call John Taylor and mention that your friend suggested that you give him a call because he was someone who might be able to provide you with information on XYZ Company. You meet with John Taylor and learn a great deal about the internal operations of the company. In addition, John Taylor provides you with the names of three individuals who presently work at XYZ Com-pany and who would be willing to talk to you about your job and career interests. You contact these individuals, conduct informational interviews with them, and begin gaining access to the hidden job market within the company. This process continues as you receive additional referrals to individuals within the company who know about job vacancies and who make hiring decisions.
Take another example to illustrate how this might work in the case of a long-distance job search. You may live in Indianapolis, Indiana and wish to relocate to Orlando. Florida. While you know a great deal about Florida and living in Orlando (cost of living, housing, community activities, recreational opportunities), you know little about job and career opportunities there. In need of conducting a long-distance job campaign, you wonder how you can find a job in Orlando while living in Indianapolis. You first begin by subscribing to the Orlando newspaper to survey the "Help Wanted" section of the classifieds and respond to job vacancy announcements mat seem appropriate to your skills, interests/ and experience. However/ after receiving no encouraging replies/ you decide if s time to begin conducting a long-distance networking campaign. You begin doing this by contacting your university alumni association at Ohio State University for names of alumni who now live in the Orlando area and who would be willing to talk to you about your job and career interests. They provide you with a list of six graduates whom you contact by letter and telephone. They indicate they will be happy to assist you with information/ advice, and referrals. Since these individuals have moved into prominent positions within the community, their information, advice, and referrals appear to be invaluable to your job search. After contacting these individuals and their referrals by letter and telephone, you decide it is now time to visit Orlando for 10 days to further expand your newly developed Orlando networks. During your 10-day visit, you further expand your network by meeting with 33 individuals who provide you with more information, advice, and referrals. During this time you also conduct two job interviews based on newly acquired referrals. The one interview results in a job offer, which you accept. You now return to Indianapolis to make arrangements for moving to Orlando within the next two months.
The role of professional associations in linking personnel from one organization to another challenge is a popular notions of loyalty to a single organization. Professional associations tend to emphasize professional competence and loyalty to one's profession. In such an organizational situation, job and career advancement takes place through the process of networking for jobs in different organizations which have similar professional positions. Loyalty to one's professional association often takes precedence over commitment to one's current job in any one particular organization.
At the organizational level, an individual's network therefore consists of much more than those individuals they interact with on a daily basis. Their organizational level of networks consists of "opportunity structures", such as professional associations, that enable them to link and expand their networks into other organizations with relative ease.
ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL NETWORKS
At the organizational level, networks consist of interacting positions, groups, offices, departments, and other organizational subdivisions and units that define both the formal and informal structure of an organization. Examples of typical elements defining an organization's network are supervisor, personnel office, planning unit, training, office, and commutes. These elements interact in defining the unique structure of most organizations. They also link one organization to another. They are a few of many contact points toward which individuals target their organizational networking activities. Organizational networks also include important professional associations that function both inside and outside organizations. Personnel officers or training personnel from thousands of different organizations, for example, may be members of one or two national personnel associations that publish newsletters and journals, hold local chapter meetings and annual conferences, and operate job placement activities. Many members of these associations use them as forums for making professional contacts, building networks, and changing jobs and careers when necessary. Such organizations become key mechanisms for linking, building, and expanding networks across organizations.
The role of professional associations in linking personnel from one organization to another challenge popular notions of loyalty to a single organization. Professional associations tend to emphasize professional competence and loyalty to one's profession. In such an organizational situation, job and career advancement takes place through the process of networking for jobs in different organizations which have similar professional positions. Loyalty to one's professional association often takes precedence over commitment to one's current job in any one particular organization.
At the organizational level, an individual's network therefore consists of much more than those individuals they interact with on a daily basis. Their organizational level of networks consists of "opportunity structures", such as professional associations, that enable them to link and expand their networks into other organizations with relative ease.
