So back when I changed the name of this blog to "Back to work Dad" my desire was to include occasional job hunting tips in with the Dad stuff, turns out it was a little more occasional then I'd hoped. But here is new post on the subject.
Use your Network!
You are 54 times more like to get
hired through a referral. Think about that for a minute, I said times,
not percent, TIMES. It’s a really astonishing number really, and that
number is actually 3 years old, I would not be surprised in the least if
it has gone up in today’s economy. So how do you make that number work
to your advantage? Networking, it’s the key to your future. Whether you
are recently graduated, or a seasoned veteran; networking is how you are
going to get you next job.
Let me explain why this works.
First off, now more then ever employers are getting 100's of resume’s
for any given position (no matter what the level). The best and most
effective way to get noticed in that stack is if someone walks over to
the the hiring manager or HR person and says “Here, this person rocks,
you need to talk to them.” People like working with known entities, when
someone can speak on your behalf it takes a huge bit of guess work and
worry off the hiring person’s mind. Second, you are going to hear of
more opportunities through your network, and you can enlist your network
to keep an eye out for you in their respective companies, thus
increasing your chances of finding the perfect job for you.
So how does this work? Here are 5
easy steps to connect with your network:
- Make a list of everyone you know,
and where they work.
- If you aren’t on LinkedIn, sign
up. You can see my profile to get an idea of how it looks here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rogersadam,
or you can sign up for
ROCKharbors job hunting seminar on June 7th
for more details on how to use LinkedIn to it’s fullest.
- Join
user groups, you can find them on yahoo, google, and LinkedIn. Doing
this will allow you to connect with people with similar skill sets and a
lot of the time you will see jobs posted specifically for the skill
set of the group.
- Always
check your network first before applying for a job. Not only will you
find that you probably know someone who works there, but you may also
find you know someone who knows someone who works at the company you
are trying to get into.
- Don’t
be afraid to use your network and ask people for help. You’ve
connected with these people for a reason, because you trust them. They
want to help you out, trust me.
Those
are the basics, if you do these 5 things, you’ll be off to great start.
For more job hunting tips and support during your job search come and
check out ROCKharbor’s upcoming seminar “In the hunt: finding work in
today’s job market” on June 10th , you can sign
up on their website here.
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