By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
One of the criticisms companies receive is that they are focused on quarterly earnings. Few companies think strategically about their businesses and, as a result, so many look for short-term profitability to the detriment of long-term thinking and planning.
And how is that different than how you conduct yourself in your career? Seriously. What do you do to regularly plant seeds to harvest later on?
One of my guests on “Job Search Radio,” provided the statistic that 70% of all positions are filled as a result of networking and 70% of the 70% (49%) are filled as a result of introductions to people you did not know at the beginning of your search.
Yet most people lurch from job search to job search with little contact with their “network” and wonder why they don’t get results from it.
Thus, I thought I would offer a few points that don’t take much time that will help you draw attention to yourself and, thus, encourage people to contact you. I assume you know you should do great work.
- Stay in contact with people you worked with previously. One call or email per week will create a “touch” with them that allows them to remember you and your abilities (and vice versa). This reminds people of you are and that you are open to helping them.
- Have a keyword-rich LinkedIn profile. As I coach people, I am often amazed that many people have profiles that are little more than a list of employers and job titles and nothing more. Unless someone who is looking for someone from that firm or someone with that job title, no one will find you, let alone contact you.
- Put your email address in the summary area of your LinkedIn profile, even if you aren’t aggressively looking for a job (if you are actively looking, include your phone number, too). The person who gets ahead isn’t always the smartest or works the hardest (although those are great qualities to have). The person who gets ahead remains alert to opportunity . . . and most of the time they are external to your current organization. Make it easy for people to contact you by giving them the info instead of having them spend money to contact
- Get out of the house. Go to networking events and meet people and then stay in contact with them.
- Create a website and have it include your resume. There are recruiters who don’t want to represent active job seekers because they believe someone who is actively looking for work is less desirable a candidate than someone who is described as passive. Play into that.
- Log onto LinkedIn daily (on your commute or while “indisposed”) and respond to mail or messages. That person who reached out to you about a job two weeks ago who you haven’t responded to has moved onto someone else
- Treat LinkedIn like a portal to your professional life. Write articles. Record video. Share content that will be useful to others in your field. Share Powerpoints on Slideshare and then link them to your profile.
- Respond to people asking for advice or help. I understand that your time is valuable but it is part of planting seeds in the ground to give to others before asking for help in return. It doesn’t take a lot of time but can make a difference to someone else in their circumstances.
- Write recommendations for people on LinkedIn. Recommendations on LinkedIn are like references when you interview. “Skills and endorsements” are less desirable but become helpful when you have high numbers of endorsements. For example, I have been endorsed several hundred times for a number of skills that few people are endorsed that heavily for. That catches peoples’ eyes.
- Start your own networking group. It doesn’t take a lot to Google a meeting agenda and invite people to a venue to start networking. It can be a restaurant, church, synagogue, or mosque. You will be the center of attention as the organizer. Help others by holding space for them.
The old sales trainer, Zig Ziglar, put it well when he said, “You can get everything you want in life by helping other people get what they want.” The international business networking group, BNI, with more than 8000 chapters and more than 225000 members globally, shares the belief that “Givers gain.”
Give more. Get more. Start your efforts proactively so opportunities start coming to you instead of you chasing them.
© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC 2018, 2021
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS job search coaching and career advice globally because he makes job search and succeeding in your career easier.
You will find great info and job search coaching to help with your job search at JobSearch.Community
The Interview With a Former Boss
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter
Schedule a discovery call to speak with me about one-on-one or group coaching during your job search at www.TheBigGameHunter.us.
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He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2900 episodes over 13+ years.
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