THEBEGINNER

’S GUIDE TO JOB NETWORKING

“You cannot win if you do not play.”

Sending e-mails and letters to advertisements or just over-the-transom to companies is aroutine job hunting tactic. However, not all advertisements have real jobs attached to them, andyou are sending your cover letter and resume in with hundreds and hundreds of other people.While you should continue to do this, you are not covering all your bases when huntingfor a job. Remember, the name of the game is to improve your odds. You want to find a job

where you’re not necessarily competing along with tons of competitors sending in their resume

for the same position.

That’s where networking comes in.

Your job search is not completely effective unlessyou devote time to networking the right way.Put yourself in the shoes of somebody hiring for an open position: would you rather gothrough the pile of letters and resumes, or meet with people who were actually

referred

to you byfriends and/or associates?

It’s a no

-brainer.Another piece of advice: you are not married to your first job. You want to get out there

and learn what the best fit is for you. You may know it already, but it’s OK if you don’t.

something tugs at your heart and mind, then try it and see if it’s for you

.Here are the steps to get yourself out there networking to a real job:



SET UP A LINKEDIN ACCOUNT

(http://www.linkedin.com/

): Facebook is great forfriends and family

– it’s

very socially geared. However, Linked

In is where it’s happening

when it comes to jobs and careers. Fill in as much as possible that will sell you. Visit thissite for some advice on how to do this:

http://tinyurl.com/5thzkf .

Once you are set up,start connecting with as many people as possible, including friends, mentors, professors,and people you met on jobs and internships.

Everybody

is fair game

– don’t hesitate to

send them an invite. The other benefit is your LinkedIn profile will turn up higher onsearch engine rankings, like on Google.



MAKE A LIST OF PEOPLE YOU WANT TO SPEAK WITH:

Think aboutcompanies which interest you, in fields which catch your fancy. Go onto Google, look uptheir corporate sites and search for a couple of executives at these companies. Write themdown. Go to the web sites of publications which cover the fields you are interested in (i.e.

if you’re curious about advertising, go to

www.adage.comorwww.adweek.com

). Look for pieces of news that interest you and take note of the names of the people you readabout. Look them up too on Google. Do your professors know interesting people? Howabout people from the alumni office or college mentoring program? What do your

friends’ parents do? Add them to the list too.



ASK FOR INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEWS:

Employers will have their guard upfor job interviews and may not respond, turn you down, or refer you to HR, which nearlyall the time is as good as being nowhere. However, if you send an e-mail or letter askingfor 15 minutes

of their time to learn more about their profession and what they do, it’s far

less threatening.

Always put the person’s first name in the subject line of the e

-mail (i.e.Mr. Joe Smith: Informational interview request). People like to talk about what they do.

Drew Kerr212-849-8250