Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from our most recent session with Christine Dennison, The Job Search Coach.
This week, career coach Christine Dennison continued on the theme that was begun in last week’s coach call – networking to advance your career while you are still employed. Many executives feel that building their personal networks will raise concerns with their current employers. Some employers may raise an eyebrow, but networking in today’s online world is a natural thing. And that was Chris’s advice – keep it natural.
Make networking a natural or organic extension of your interests and activities. Base your networking on curiosity, education, mentoring, and learning more about the industry, whether it’s your industry or a new one. This works for you whether you are looking for a new opportunity or not.
You can also start making natural inroads into target companies through online commentary. Conduct online research to determine what’s happening at your target companies. Identify what sets them apart in their market. Identify the movers and shakers within the organization and start communicating with them in a natural way. Using this approach, you become familiar to others in a low-stress manner that forges strong connections for the future without shouting “Hire me!” As you build your network you can keep yourself open for opportunities that may arise, either for yourself or for another network connection.
As you start to build that organic network, opportunities will arise. You will start to look at openings that are worth pursuing. How many openings can you try to juggle at one time? That’s up to you. However, you want to make sure you give each opportunity proper consideration. You don’t want to shortchange yourself or your potential employer by not assessing the opportunity properly. Dig deep. Assess the cultural fit as well as the job fit. Is the position you are going after what you really want to do. If you can’t give yourself the time you need to get all the information required for a fair assessment, then you are stretched too thin.
Remember, each opportunity needs to be considered on its own merit. If it’s a fit, excellent! If it isn’t a fit, then don’t close the door. Keep your options open. That same company may have a new opening just down the road and you want to be remembered in a positive light. If the job isn’t right for you, then be polite but offer to help find another candidate from your network. Show you want to work with them. It’s good karma for you and for the corporate recruiter, which can only lead to good things.
And if you want to learn more about how to effectively network using LinkedIn, be sure to join us next week, November 15, when LinkedIn expert Jason Alba presents the webinar, LINKEDIN FOR EXECUTIVES: BEYOND THE BASICS, 2012 Edition.
