How can you best find a job and advance your career in today's job market? Is it proper to influence the hiring process by using "connections" to by-pass formal hiring procedures? When and how should one use others in gaining access to employers as well as getting ahead on the job? What is this thing called "networking" that everyone talks about when looking for jobs? Is it something I need to learn and use in my own job search?
These questions frequently confront individuals who are conducting a job search or attempting to advance their career within an organization. They are central concerns in the pages that follow. For these questions need to be addressed in practical how-to terms so that job seekers will have a better understanding of how to identify, build, and use their own networks for finding jobs and advancing their careers in the years ahead.
CONFUSED, ABUSED, AND MISUSED
There are few terms so confused/ abused, and misused as "networks" and "networking". The confusion, misuse, and abuse take place on both the conceptual and practical levels. The concepts are seldom clearly defined. Job seekers and career advancers, for example, are told they should use their "net-works" to get ahead, and the key to job search success is "net-working". Therefore, some of the so-called facts of job search life are that "You have to network' and "Networking is like key to uncovering job leads, getting job interviews, and being promoted on the job". The terms are used so freely that one assumes everyone should know what this is all about.
On a more practical level, job seekers are often told mat networking involves "contacting the people who have the power to hire" as if hiring officials have nothing better to do than to be pestered by job seekers who ostensibly only want "information and advice" rather than a "job interview and offer". Or they are told to join professional associations that will provide them with networking opportunities - as if other members of the organization have nothing better to do than to be bothered by "networkers" who have little interest in an organization other than to use it for getting job leads. Indeed, we know people who have dropped their membership in professional associations precisely because they have become popular centers for "networkers" who abuse the organization for their own employment gains. They become dens of name droppers and business card exchangers who want nothing more than to collect more names and referrals for building and using their own networks.
The basic problem with networks and networking lies with those who recommend the building and use of networks and networking. On the one hand, writers tell you networks and networking are important, but they never define these terms in practical how-to terms. At best they present vague examples of what networking involves or cases of successful networking. On the other hand, writers give some practical guidance that lead to the very abuses that give networking such a bad name - contact those who have the power to hire and join professional associations. They legitimize an assertive job seeker who attempts to acquire influence in the hiring process. As a result many career counselors are reluctant to recommend networking strategies or they criticize it as being overstated in importance.
Once we are conscious of our behavior, gradually we will become alert to our behavior early enough to alter it Given even more time of diligent awareness, the new behavior replaces the old one and eventually becomes as natural as the undesirable behavior once was. By incorporating the new behavior into your ongoing patterns of behavior/ you will learn to go beyond role playing that plagues much of the well-meaning advice on how to conduct an effective job search.
Finding an effective networking campaign that leads to getting a job that is right for you should be sufficient reason to motivate you to change some of your behaviors. If you think a behavior may be holding you back, try changing it now. The more time you give yourself, the more likely the change will become permanent and the less likely you will slip back into your former behavior.
THE MORE YOU EXPLORE
Networking is not something you can turn on and off. Ifs an on-going process that individuals can and do learn. Some people are excellent networkers who acquired the skill as part of their early childhood development. They easily make friends and acquaintances and surround themselves with many individuals who can assist them in different ways. Making the right moves, they easily advance their careers by going to the right schools, joining the right organizations, and knowing the right people who like and trust them. They are simply good at developing, using, and nurturing personal relationships to their benefit.
However, most people are less extroverted and concerned with developing and maintaining personal relationships than the example of the successful networker. They must work at identifying their network and learning how to build, expand, and use it for job and career success. If pointed in the right direction with a few basic networking skills, these individuals also can achieve greater job and career success. This is what this book is intended to do: provide you with basic networking skills so that you can further build and expand your networks in the coming years.
The pages that follow explore the networking process for the purpose of building and expanding networking skills for all types of individuals who are concerned about achieving greater job and career success. If you follow our advice and put a few of our tips into practice, you should indeed!
