by justinb
9. November 2009 15:05
Since the recession kicked into high gear, many job seekers still find themselves lost in the job networking shuffle without strong job leads on the horizon. So what's the problem? The contributing elements are two fold:
- Waiting until you're in trouble to start networking.
- Poor choice in selecting job networking contacts.
First off, you should know the golden rule, don't wait until you need help to go looking for it. Why? Quite simply - another golden rule "what can go wrong will go wrong." It's a little naive to think that your job situation is a priority to brand new business contacts. Now that doesn't go to say that you won't be one of the lucky ones to hit it off with a new business contact in a position of power to get your career back on track. It can happen and it does happen, but it isn't as frequent as you may think. As you know, people are prone to self interest, so the fact that you don't have a job has little to do with the "price of tea in China," as the saying goes. That of course means you are going to have to earn the right to call upon a networking colleague through solid relationship building - from scratch. Sorry, no one ever said tapping into the hidden job market was easy.
The other side of the coin is the job seeker that is a little more active in job networking activities and relationship building, but can't seem to convert any of that energy into a job referral or even a solid job lead. Why? Why else - your network of job contacts is weak, lacking either the right people in power positions or otherwise your network encompasses the wrong element. What is the wrong element? The wrong element is those who derive pleasure in other peoples hardships, since it brings them the courtship that they love.
Wake up - some people have serious ego issues and having a new found flock of job seekers feeds those ego issues. Thus, what incentive does that type of person have to help you with your job situation, knowing that you will be on your way and the courtship would end the moment they help you? Hopefully, i don't have to answer that question for you. Of course, that doesn't go to say that there is anything wrong with being humble and courting business contacts of good character. At the same time, if you are only one contributing to the relationship but can't pull from it, at some point, maybe that is a sign that you're "barking up the wrong tree."
So sure, there are only about 3 million jobs open for which about 15 million job seekers are competing, but that doesn't mean that you need to stay unemployed for extended periods of time. The key is to tap into the hidden job market via business contacts with power - the power brokers. If you keep the points mentioned here "top of mind," you can avoid getting lost in the networking shuffle with no job on the horizon. Get it - got it - Good. 
