Networking

As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, I attend a weekly networking meeting called NoCoNet, part of a larger organization called CollectiveNet which provides such meetings up and down the Colorado Front Range. Networking is considered one of the most important things you can do in your job search. When your at the entry level or in a new geographic region (I’m both), networking becomes both more important and more difficult.

It’s more important to network because you are new to the game and opportunities may not be as obvious as they are to others. Developing a strong local network in your industry will help identify opportunities that may not be listed, companies that you may not have considered or even known about, and possibly get your foot in the door. I’ve built my network up a great deal over the last year by attending NoCoNet. While its not industry specific (IT and engineering seem to be the dominant fields in the group), it has provided me with a couple of more industry-specific contacts. One was an employee at a company (Golder Associates) on my target list who works in a different division/office. The other is a local college professor who is affiliated with another company (Tetra Tech) on my list.

It’s more difficult to network because, well, you are new to the game and the players involved are not as obvious as they are. Since moving out to Colorado last year, the list of people I know breaks down roughly into three groups, people on the other side of the country, people my wife works with, and unemployed networkers at NoCoNet. Short of getting a job with my wife, none are extremely conducive to connecting to companies.

I have a high school buddy who works for Tetra Tech, but in their office outside Philadelphia. I’m interested in their offices in Northern Colorado. That makes him about as useful of a connection into the job I want as a sack of potatoes. That’s nothing against him; he’s a great person and a good friend. But he simply doesn’t know a soul in any Colorado offices of Tetra Tech.

Here are some tips for helping to build your network:

LinkedIn. At the very minimum, you need to have a completed profile (or as completed as you can get, recommendations account for 15% of your profile). Once then, connect with everyone you know who is on LinkedIn (you only get 3000 invitations lifetime, so don’t waste them on people who don’t have an account already and may never sign up). Connect with everyone else you can find, especially if they are in your industry. Connect with me: http://www.linkedin.com/in/edwardra3 I will accept if you tell me you follow this blog.

Join groups. Not only do groups connect you with new people, but they also have a Jobs board that companies can post to. While not every job board is active, companies will often post to these first. And recruiters have been complaining that that job searchers aren’t utilizing it enough.

Join the group LinkedHR, which is a group for Human Resources professionals. So what if your intended career path has nothing to do with HR. The hiring manager who is going to do your next job interview might, and the more information you can get on the company and the interviewer, the better.Search groups for anything related to your geographic region and industry, especially any groups related to your region AND industry (I am a member of the group Rocky Mountain Geoscientists).

Join those and then search for groups related to any hobbies you have. As I mentioned in my book review last week, hobbies can be an excellent place to meet people from a variety of backgrounds. (I recently read a story about a time traveler who found every type of tradesmen and professional he needed to industrialize 9th century Scotland at a historical re-enactment group.)

Once done with LinkedIn (actually you are never done with LinkedIn, you should be spending 15 minutes each day checking your groups, the job postings, and the Answers section – show off your knowledge!), go out into the real world and… join groups! Join hobby groups, volunteer, get out in front of real, live people. And make sure that they know you are looking for a job, and what companies you are interested in. Don’t ask them for a job; chances are that they don’t have any hiring power themselves.

Try Craigslist. There is a section called Strictly Platonic where people post looking for video gaming buddies, dance partners, people to go to the movies with, and possibly just about anything else. This could be an excellent place to new friends that you would have never discovered otherwise.

Coming next week, I will explain target lists.

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