1. Your Networks: Natural And Created
2. How To Design An Elevator Speech
3. Resume Redesign Guide
4. Change Your Career Now and Have a Better Future
5. How to Indentify and Describe Your Dream Career
6. Tips for Introverted Job Seekers
7. Informational Interviewing
8. The Buddy System Model

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YOUR NETWORKS: NATURAL AND CREATED

Michael C. Thomas, Ph.D.

CONTEXT: Every time someone reports that they have 'landed', I immediately attempt to contact them in order to capture the details of their 'story'. I want to hear the sequence of events and contacts that led to the specific job offer they received. What they tell me:

- very few offers came as a result of a post to an internet site such as Monster.com, a recruiter, a corporation website or someone they met at a 'networking event'.

- Over 90% of the offers come directly or indirectly from a friend or a friend of a friend --- members of the job seeker's 'natural' network.

Recent examples of these networks have included : A friend at a former job, a former boss, their realtor, an 'Indian Guides' acquaintance, an eBay seller, a brother-in-law, neighbor and a fellow church member. All of these are members of their natural network of friends. Building upon it is far more efficient and effective than artificial 'networking'.

YOUR NATURAL NETWORK: This group consists of friends and acquaintances you have before you begin a job search. These friends you know as a result of your ordinary life and the cumulative result of years of association and/or interaction. Many you may not have talked with in years. They are in your comfort zone. It is relatively easy for you to contact them and ask, "Do you have a friend in the X industry or business…"? Do you have a friend who might know someone in the X business.. ? and "Will you introduce me to him/her?" Friends do these things for their friends. A lady present in the audience of a group to whom I was speaking said, "I don't have any friends". I learned several weeks later from a friend that she and her husband listed 130 friends later that evening.

YOUR CREATED NETWORK: Those are friends and acquaintances you know after you started your job search. and they became friends of yours. These new friends are in your networks because their names were among the answer to your question, "Who do you know that"?

PLACES TO START: A work sheet to get you started. Using the following list, write the name of a friend to the right of the category. If you add new titles and categories, please send these to me so that I can expand this list.

FAMILY:

Parents
Spouse/partner
Children
Brothers & sisters
Grandparents
Aunts and uncles
Cousins
In-laws

NEIGHBORHOOD:

Proximity
Home Owners Associations
Informal parties
Waiters & Bar tenders

RECREATION: (Town, City, County, league teams, yours and your kids):

Gym & health clubs
Leisure and exercise partners
Professionals, physical trainers, coaches and other staff

EDUCATION:

School
College
Your child's teachers
PTA
Graduate/professional
Greek letter
Alumni association
Faculty (present and former professors)

RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS:

Volunteers
Professional staff (Pastor, Priest, Rabbi, DRE, etc.)

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS:

Civic (Rotarians, United Way, Political Party, Kiwanis, Lions, YM/WCA, etc.)

WORK RELATED:

Customers/clients
Fellow employees (from last five jobs)
Suppliers
Salespeople
Competitors

ASSOCIATIONS:

Professional
Trade
Chamber
Job Seekers Group
RTPseekers Yahoo! Group

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE PROVIDERS:

Attorneys
Physicians (general and specialty)
CPA
Dental (general and specialty)
Banker
Financial Advisor (s)
Realtor
Personal/Professional Coach
Insurance
CEO/ED of Associations
Therapists
Pastor/Priest/Rabbi
Barber/stylist
Seminar leaders
Consultants
'Leads' groups

HOME SERVICE PROVIDERS:

General
Carpenters
House painters
Plumbers
Electricians
Landscape
US Postal Service employees

DIRECTORIES:

Street address book
Email address book
Christmas card List
Membership list of your associations (trade and professional)

For more information, contact me at:

(919) 469-5775 www.lifecareerinstitute.com