I believe the problem is the informational interview.  Outplacement agencies and job clubs push “networking” and teach this technique.  It is stressed that you are seeking information, not a job.  For some of us that would be disingenuous because we are not seeking information, we are seeking a job.  Not all of us are going to do informational interviews in which we ask a contact to meet us for lunch or coffee.  Some of us are not at the place in our career where our contacts are free to meet for lunch or coffee. Networking is the big picture, and the informational interview is just one part of that picture.    Informational interviewing seems to work well when you want to learn

• about a type of career before you switch to it,
• about an industry,
• or about a particular company. 

But even if we don’t do informational interviewing, we all can network by choosing a method that works for our personality and needs.  For example, I have heard of those who have:

• Used a tag line under an e-mail signature about the type of job being sought. 
• Had an accidental interview on a plane when the person sitting next to her asked what type of work she did.  Her seat mate happened to be the CEO of a hospital.  (Thank goodness she had her Personal Commercial polished.)
• Contacted others through LinkedIn or from his contact list for information about a company.  “Who do you know at xyz company who can help me get my resume noticed?”
• Asked contacts for names of recruiters.  The recruiter pays more attention when you have been referred.  
• Attended meetings in their current or desired field.  (Bring  business cards and copies of the Networking Brief.)
• Asked family, friends and contacts to be their eyes and ears about openings in a desired field or at a desired company.
• E-mailed contacts to let them know with wording from the Personal Commercial what is being sought and how the contacts can help.  (You might attach your Networking Brief to the e-mail because it is specific about how you can be helped.)
• Asked contacts if  they know anyone in a desired firm who can let them know what it is like to work there.
• Done public speaking on an area of expertise.
• Volunteered in a field of interest.
• Gone to local job search groups and then had coffee or lunch to better get to know someone else in transition.  This person does not necessarily have to be in your field.  (Once when in transition I had coffee with a man who was interviewing to be COO of a company where I had applied to be the HR Manager.  If he had landed that position, I would have been a shoe-in.)

Please share with me your networking ideas and successes.

Some suggested books that have information on networking:

Change Your Career: Transitioning to the Nonprofit Sector  by Laura Gassner Otting 

In Transition:  From the Harvard Business School Club of New York’s Career Management Seminar by Mary Lindley Burton, Richard A. Wedemeyer

Rites of Passage at $100,000 to $1Million +:  Your Insider’s Lifetime Guide to Executive Job-Changing and Faster Career Progress in the 21^st Century, by John Lucht 

What Color is Your Parachute?  2010: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-changers by Richard N. Bolles.

QUOTE

 “…when it comes to finding out about new jobs…’weak ties’ are always more important than strong ties.  Your friends, after all, occupy the same world that you do. …Your acquaintances, on the other hand, by definition occupy a very different world than you.  They are much more likely to know something that you don’t.”  (Page 54, The Tipping Point: How Little things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell)

 PLEASE COMMENT

 Once again, I would appreciate any experiences, comments or questions that will help other readers.  I would particularly enjoy some humorous experiences and success stories.  Once a month, I will choose one commenter to contact for a free coaching session.

HOW TO REACH ME

jill@careercoachjill.com

www.careercoachjill.com for career coaching   

www.limitlesshorizon.com for personal life coaching

www.leadercoaching.org for leadership coaching

Thanks to tech guru David Behrens (http://neptunestudios.net), and editor M. C. Pastoret.

When you are networking or just out and about, you want to tell people what you are looking for in your next step.  Don’t expect them to take out a piece of paper and jot down salient points.  It is your job to let them know with your personal commercial and with your Networking Brief.  This leaves the guess work out of the game. 

A Networking Brief is a one page document.  It includes:

• your contact information,
• short summary (similar to your resume),
• several bullet points about why you are good,
• types of positions and industries you are interested in,
• contacts that would be helpful,
• and names of target companies if relevant.

 It does not include names of companies you have worked for or the names of your schools.  I would like you to use a filter when writing it.  That filter is:  does the recipient need this information to connect me with the people who can be most helpful to me?

Please use the links to see the two samples.   network_brief_bank  network brief Technical

QUOTE

 “You cannot get to the top by sitting on your bottom.”  Proverb

PLEASE COMMENT

Once again, I would appreciate any experiences, comments or questions that will help other readers.  I would particularly enjoy some humorous experiences and success stories.  Once a month, I will choose one commenter to contact for a free one half hour coaching session.

HOW TO REACH ME

jill@careercoachjill.com

www.careercoachjill.com for career coaching   

www.limitlesshorizon.com for personal life coaching

www.leadercoaching.org for leadership coaching

Thanks to tech guru David Behrens (http://neptunestudios.net), and editor M. C. Pastoret.

• You introduce yourself.  Hello, my name is….
• Tell the person who you are by function, not by title.  Perhaps use an adjective to describe yourself in this function.  For example, “I am a trend-setting web designer…”  So begin by using the words, I am…. 
• If relevant, say why you are no longer working for your prior firm or why you are thinking of leaving your current firm.  (You will be asked this at some point by friends or during an interview, so get comfortable with stating this.)  Make it brief and non-judgmental.  You might refer to my earlier blog on the Leaving Statement to see how this works
• Say something interesting about your experience or successes that will hook the listener.
• Say what you are looking for in a new job and how the listener can help.  This can include where you want to work.

Once you have written the words, it’s time to practice the commercial. Call your voice mail to record it and then play it back to see how it sounds to you.  Try it out on family members and friends and ask for feedback.  When you are happy with your personal commercial, practice it until you can give it gracefully whenever needed.  Practice in front of a mirror.  Record it without your notes and listen to how it sounds.  Re-record until you can deliver it smoothly.

 As a side note, you might find that you will also use portions of the personal commercial in e-mails to contacts to let them know how they can help you.

SOME NOTES:

1. Express your value.
2. Speak with confidence.  If you are sure of your value, your listener will believe in that value.
3. Make it short.  This is not a history of your life. 
4. Do not improvise. If you do, you will talk too much.
5. Be professional and upbeat.  Don’t let this be about the sadness of what you may have lost.
6. Once again: practice, practice, practice.

AN OFFER

I will help polish, at no charge, the personal commercials of the first three readers who contact me at jill@careercoachjill.com.  This would be for a session of no longer than 55 minutes.  To be considered, you must include in your e-mail a copy of your rough draft and your contact information.  

MY PERSONAL COMMERCIAL 

My personal commercial follows and I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you for help in achieving my goals:

Hello, my name is Jill MacFadyen.  I am a certified life coach who specializes in helping my clients find satisfying careers, jobs and lives.  My clients are given support in all aspects of career search from “what do I want to do when I grow up” to how to be successful in their next position.  One client even reported an improved golf game, a surprise.   I would appreciate your referring to me those who might be less than satisfied with their job, work or life.   

PLEASE COMMENT

 Once again, I would appreciate any experiences, comments or questions that will help other readers.  I would particularly enjoy some humorous experiences and success stories.  Once a month, I will choose one commenter to contact for a free coaching session.

HOW TO REACH ME

jill@careercoachjill.com

www.careercoachjill.com for career coaching   

www.limitlesshorizon.com for personal life coaching

www.leadercoaching.org for leadership coaching

QUOTE

“Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.”  Martha Graham

Thanks to tech guru David Behrens (http://neptunestudios.net), and editor M. C. Pastoret.

–Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I am reusing last week’s quote because it is so powerful and because it is also apt for this week’s topic about networking.  If one is committed to something—like finding a job—one tells others about it. 

To put it simply, networking works.  It doesn’t have to be complicated.  It can be conversational.  It doesn’t have to be scary.  It can run the gamut from telling the local butcher that you are looking for a job to conducting informational interviews and everything in between.  I think it is especially important after you have applied for a position you would really like.  Then certainly ask contacts if they know anyone at that firm who can help you.

The days when people were embarrassed about looking for work are long over.  I had one wonderful client who used as a tag line after her signature line on e-mails, “Looking for a Project Manager Position.”  That certainly is networking and you will have to decide if it works for you or not.

In next week’s post, I will outline the steps to writing a 30 second personal commercial—also referred to as an elevator speech—which is the first step.  For right now, I would like to give you two examples:

• Friend A told me of her dream job.  Shortly thereafter, I called Friend B about a different topic and Friend B mentioned that her firm had a need for skills that fit Friend A’s dream job and for help in finding a project management employee.  I called Friend C to  see if his wife might be interested in the project management position and he said that he was having trouble filling positions for his firm and he needed someone who would fit Friend A’s dream job skills.  So in two serendipitous phone calls, I had two possible leads for Friend A.
• A client in another state had been a bookkeeper for an automotive credit company for decades.  She is a quiet woman who didn’t think she would like to network.  However, we prepared her 30 second personal commercial and had her practice it until it just flowed.  She went to the local grocery store where the deli manager while slicing ham asked why she was there in the middle of the day.  She replied with her personal commercial which ended with the words, “at this point, my ideal job would be as a bookkeeper for a local car dealer within five miles of my home.”  He responded, “You want I should have the VP of Sales from the Caddie dealer down the street call you?”

You never know who knows the right contact.  So you help yourself by spreading the word.  However, “the word” has to be sincere, positive and upbeat. It cannot ramble.   If you are still feeling negative or down about your situation, go back and read some of the earlier posts.  

PLEASE COMMENT

Once again, I would appreciate any experiences, comments or questions that will help other readers.  I would particularly enjoy some humorous experiences and success stories.  Once a month, I will choose one commenter to contact for a free coaching session.

HOW TO REACH ME

jill@careercoachjill.com

www.careercoachjill.com for career coaching   

www.limitlesshorizon.com for personal life coaching

www.leadercoaching.org for leadership coaching

QUOTE

"... the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too."  Goethe

Thanks to tech guru David Behrens (http://neptunestudios.net), and editor M. C. Pastoret.