life@work: Posts from July 2010

The Career Collective, a group of career coaches, resume writers and other job search professionals, are posting today about networking. Follow us on Twitter at our hashtag, #careercollective. See links to the other Career Collective posts below! (image by Ajda Gregorčič)

If the idea of networking makes you want to run for the hills, this post is for you.

There is no activity that inspires fear and loathing in a job search more than networking. First off, the word networking is loaded with cringe-worthy connotations, as in networking event, which makes many of us start sweating just imagining the elevator speeches and small talk.

Networking has gotten a really bad rap. And for really good reasons. It's done poorly a lot of the time. Many of us haven't seen it done well and so are hard-pressed to imagine it as anything other than a shallow, intimidating experience.

But just for a moment, try taking the word networking out of your vocabulary. Simply focus on what you're trying to accomplish with people during your job search. Here are a few ideas:

Ensure your contacts know what you're looking for so they can best help you
Meet people who know about jobs and organizations you're interested in
Help other people get what they are looking for, such as information or an introduction

You're just trying to build and maintain relationships with people, which puts you in the same boat as, oh, everyone else. Reaching out to people you know or don't know, asking questions, engaging in conversations, and sharing information are all activities that millions of employed and unemployed people are doing every single day.

Ultimately, you want opportunities to interview, followed by fabulous job offers. Those things come more quickly and easily to people who have some sort of prior (even very loose) connection to the people who are doing the interviewing and offering.

There are many different ways you can build and maintain relationships with people, and the great news is that you don't have to do all of them. Your key to success is understanding what you want to accomplish and choosing a way of accomplishing it that is both effective and doable for you.

You don't have to be president of your local professional association, compose many pithy tweets daily, have coffee with every employed former co-worker you've ever had in a month, cold call all the best firms in your field in your city, author a blog with a steadily increasing readership, have ten best Answers in LinkedIn, already know the key decision-makers at your dream company, and volunteer on several Boards.

Instead, think about what you want to make happen, figure out how that can happen most effectively, and tailor your strategy to your strengths.

For example, if you're in PR and want to transition into development work for nonprofits, you'll want to meet people who are doing that and find out about their career path and what requirements those organizations are looking for. You will probably want to volunteer for some projects so you can become known.

If you were laid off and want to stay in the same field, you'll want to stay in regular touch with as many former managers and peers as possible, so you can stay top of mind. You'll probably want to get to know certain recruiters, too.

If you create a plan of bite-size steps and focus on those, you'll get where you want to go. Don't spend time worrying why someone hasn't emailed you back, repeating to yourself 50 times how much you hate talking to people, telling yourself what a bad networker you are, and fearing the worst.

When you do accept one of those fabulous job offers you'll be getting, remember one thing: keep building and maintaining relationships with people! That way "networking" (or whatever better word you've got for it) won't feel so intimidating.

Be sure to read all of the other posts from the Career Collective this month on networking: