"It's using people."
"It's schmoozing at big events where I don't know anyone."
"It's begging for a job."
There are a lot of misconceptions about what networking is and how to do it effectively for finding work. Networking is definitely none of the above, and in many ways it is the opposite of the beliefs folks hold about it.
It's NOT using people.
In a nutshell, networking is building relationships. This is clear when you think about who makes up your network: (former) coworkers and associates (eg, a supplier), friends, family, dentist/doctor, neighbours, hockey teammates... the list goes on. They are your allies! If you're looking for work, they're the ones who can keep their ears and eyes open for you. They will want to help you! Wouldn't you want to help them if they were looking for work?
It's NOT schmoozing at big events.
There are large business events that bill themselves as networking opportunities, but they are not intended for the faint of heart. They require an exceptional degree of comfort talking to strangers, and making smalltalk. Not all of us are up for that, and it isn't true networking. It's more like an open forum for sales. No, true networking is building relationships with people, and maintaining them. Of course you'll ask how your neighbour's chronically ill mother is doing when you also mention that you are looking for work, and would they keep their ears open.
It's NOT begging for a job.
How is letting your collected support group (family, friends, [former] colleagues,e tc) know that you're seeking work begging for a job? You're asking them to keep their ears peeled! To understand that, you should understand that 70-80% of jobs - and generally the best ones - are not widely advertised. Many are never advertised at all. Why not? Well, if I owned a business, I would rather hire someone who came with a recommendation (someone who came to me through my network of contacts) than a total stranger (who answered a job ad). It's less risky for an employer.
So I hope that clears up some of the misconceptions I hear about networking. It's how, for hundreds of years, we used to find work!
I've got to say what you have said glimmers with truth. Networking has always been absolutely key with our business and because of it, we have never necessarily spent a dime on advertising.
ReplyDeleteEven if networking was using your influence with others to gain you a step up in the world, I would never classify that as a bad thing. Communities are built for reasons. The biggest reason, I believe, is that not every person can be good at everything and they can not possibly be connected with everyone. With the social structure we Canadians enjoy, it is impossible to get ahead without "using" someone with influences in the right places.
We have never gone to those schmooze-fests for anything more than free food and the odd alcoholic beverage and nothing has stemmed from them anyways. Mostly because the people that attend them gravitate towards people they already know as opposed to trying to meet new people. I mean it does take guts to meet new people. I sold Avon for a couple of months. My mentor told me just to approach people in the malls or in stores and offer to sell them Avon products. She even went as far as to try to sell product to employees of the bay while they were on shift. I found it extremely annoying and an invasion of people's privacy so I dropped that like it was hot.
As an employer, I know that I would definitely trust the word of a friend and would rather hire someone based on my friend's recommendation than scan through a pile of resumes on my desk and hope that the person writing the resume has not embellished on his/her skills. A lot of people in our industry have hired people who are supposedly experts with tools and can build good quality, solid products, only to have them cut off a finger or hit themselves in the head with a hammer and then watch the workers comp insurance rates climb.
On the whole, networking is a very necessary tool to everyone - not just job seekers or business owners. No matter who you are, everybody's got something that could benefit you.