Just been laid off? Looking for a new position at your current employer? Want to change careers? Want to test the employment waters? Then professional networking, utilizing everyone you know and through them people you don’t know but who are in a position to help you with advice, support and maybe even that great new career, can be a very successful avenue for you to travel.

Goal Setting

First, it is important that you develop your goal and a plan that will get you there. Your goal should take into consideration your background, including experiences, accomplishments and education, your vision of where you want to be and a timetable, including hurdles that you will have to overcome to achieve your goal. This first step is critical in the job search process. It is important to remember the goal will be fluid, in that as more information is developed your hurdles and your final goal may change.

Second, while working on your goal setting, you also should be developing a response to that wonderful question "Tell me about yourself." This is sometimes called the "elevator speech" - it should contain your name and enough about what you do and who you serve that someone meeting you for the first time is intrigued enough to want to know more about you. If you’re "Who I am and what I do" speech is over 30-seconds you will lose the listener. Today is "sound bite" time and people don’t have the patience to hear stories. Try the following:

If you can make the first sentence meaty then people will not only want to know more about you but also want to help you (OR also be excited about helping you). Work on your "statement" until it rolls easily off your tongue. If they are very interested in you, try to set up a time and place to meet where the true give and take of a conversation can take place.

Personal Contacts

Personal Contacts means anyone who you are regularly in touch with - family, friends, co-workers, former co-workers, fellow church members, etc., etc. The list goes on and, given the opportunity, these people will want to help you. But they can’t if they don’t know what you do. Generally, your closest friends may only know that you work for XYZ Company and you are a salesperson or something in operations or have a big office and maybe a company car, etc. What your true responsibilities are and what your capabilities and accomplishments are they haven’t the foggiest idea. You need to prepare a short verbal bio, as above but a bit more complete, to verbally let them know who you really are, what you do and what you can accomplish.

Once you have developed your "Personal Contact Statement," practice it on a close family member or someone whom is willing to listen and give beneficial feedback. Voice taping, listening and correcting is good, now with Camcorders, you can tape yourself for self-correcting exercises. A professional public speaking coach costs, but could be worth the price to make sure your presentation comes across as you want it to be perceived.

With your goal in mind approach your personal contacts that are most likely to know someone at a particular company or industry you have selected to explore. Don’t just seek information but encourage conversations of real mutual benefit. For instance, the people that know more about what’s going on in most manufacturing industries are the vendors. If you know someone who is a key vendor to a particular industry go be that person’s best friend. If you find that your personal contracts do not know the right person or are not knowledgeable about a certain industry, see who they know who might be of help and gain an introduction to that individual.

Intelligence Gathering

The next phase of networking is intelligence gathering. You must mine your sources for introductions to hiring authorities or to individuals who can introduce you to the hiring authority in your chosen industry. At a minimum you want to work your way into the "grapevine," the informal and unofficial communication system in any company or industry. People in the "know," the insiders will know about the "hidden job market."

Including intelligence gathering to networking means your conversations must be of mutual benefit to both parties. Otherwise they won’t introduce you to the proper individual or group. Find out who the other person is and what their needs are. Can you fill them? Can you fill one of their needs? Try to help them and they will help you. Always be courteous ... a personalized thank you in writing goes a long way. Always follow-up and do what you promised.

Networking

Networking is considered the most effective method of generating employment opportunities and may be the only way into the "hidden job market." There are a lot of open positions out there that are being filled by word of mouth and not by recruiters or advertisements. Networking is not meeting with people you already know. It is talking with, face-to-face or via telephone, people you have been referred to. When first speaking with individuals that you have been referred to do not ask for a job. Your conversation should be directed towards gaining information about the industry, the company, etc. Do not lead with your resume. You do not want your new contact to be reading your resume while the clock ticks and you sit there in silence. Leave it behind as a snapshot of you and a reminder of your successful interview. Also, you want to guide the conversation and not have it guided by what is written on a piece of paper. In these meetings there must be a back and forth with both parties asking and answering questions. Keep the focus of your meeting on gathering information.

To help prepare for a networking meeting, prepare a script as follows:

A short paragraph introducing you and mentioning whom set up the meeting. Thank the other party for meeting with you. Indicate what information you would like him or her to provide and assure the other party that advice given will be appreciated.

Give:

1. A brief description of your specific objective.
2. A short overview of your recent employment.
3. Examples of one or two significant accomplishments.
4. A summary of your personal strengths.
5. A summary of your personal skills.

Questions you could ask:

1. Given my background, what advice would you give someone like myself?
2. Who would you suggest that I talk with?
3. May I use your name in contacting ____________?
4. Does your assistant have the addresses and phone number for ____________?

As you follow this script (or one like it) there are several points to keep in mind:

1. Make the person you are interviewing feel comfortable. He or she needs to know immediately that you are there for information, not a job.
2. You are in charge! It is your presentation. If you don’t tell him or her essential information about yourself, no one else will. If you don’t ask for what you want, you may not get it.
3. You are there to get information, as well as give it.
4. Do not give him or her your resume at the beginning of the meeting:

1. It turns control over to him or her by inviting him or her to choose discussion topics from the resume.
2. It puts him or her on the spot by implicitly asking for an evaluation of the resume content.
3. It signals that you are there under false pretenses ... that you are really there to be evaluated for employment, not just to get information, which was your stated reason.
4. Ask as you are leaving, if the person wants a copy of your resume. Have one ready if the answer is yes, but do not insist on leaving it if that answer if no.
5. Be alert if the person you’re interviewing attempts to take control of the interview. If this happens, it may be a signal that he or she has turned the conversation into an employment interview. If the other person chooses to make this change, it is to your advantage and let it happen.

Summary

In these days of terrorist threats, economic turmoil, questionable governance in the Boardrooms, reorganizations, bankruptcies, etc., good and talented people are let go. Most companies try to keep good employees but when they must let people go, sometimes all they have to let go are good people. Anyone who still believes that "only bad people lose their jobs" has not been reading the papers or watching the news these past few years.

In networking, as in all other phases of you job search project, you must be willing to accept that not everyone is going to help or hire you but you’ve got to be willing to professionally keep up the effort. Make a plan and work the plan. It will work. You will get interviews. You will get that great job again.