Looking For Work? Old-Fashioned Social Networking Tools Beat The New

Every career coach and counselor will tell you that if you’re unemployed the key to getting back in the workforce is networking. But that begs the question. How do you network well? And what tools are the best?

These days you hear a lot about the use of social networking in the career development field. For strictly professional use, LinkedIn is no. 1. The size of its network expands daily as the unemployment rate rises. People post their photo, credentials and testimonials on their profile and search for others with whom to make a connection.

With over 175 million users, Facebook is also a tool utilized by those searching for a job. It enables you to easily and quickly build a network of long lost high school and college friends, as well as current day friends and family members who you can then keep informed about your employment status. With one posted note, you can tell your entire network that you’re unemployed, what kind of work you’re looking for and where, and how they might be of help to you. With this action, you can create a team of people expanded out across your geographic area helping you track down good leads for an interview or job. It’s as valuable as your friends are dedicated to helping you.

But here’s my concern. As the obsession with the new fangled social networking grows–as well as with text messaging and twittering–the use of the old-fashioned social networking tools seems to wane. If you’re looking for a job, you can’t twitter your way there. Facebook and LinkedIn are good resources and I recommend their use, but they are no substitute for a good old-fashioned phone call.  

Email is impersonal. It is safe. It is one way communication; it is not a dialogue. It tells the other person little or nothing about you and fails to give you an opportunity to distinguish yourself. When you email someone, all they do is read one more email in perhaps hundreds they’ve received that day. They don’t hear your voice and tone as they read the words.

On the other hand, when you call them, you give yourself a viable opportunity to make a personal connection with them. When you call, the other person hears the passion, sincerity, and eagerness in your voice.  Maybe you make them laugh.  Maybe in the course of the call you discover a common interest you share. These few seconds or minutes are priceless when you’re trying to make connections that might result in gainful employment. These opportunities must not be passed off to email.

Suggested Action Items

(n.b. As you explore these suggestions, try to connect with people via phone and in person, rather than via email, etc.)

• Identify your current network; the friends, family, and others who you are prepared to tell of your unemployment and whose help you are willing to enlist in your effort to regain employment. 1. Explore how you can expand this network. 2. Share with each member of your network what you’re looking for, where, and specifically what help you’d like from them. (e.g. Generate testimonial for LinkedIn; arrange a meeting with someone they know; keep an eye out for a particular kind of position) Some individuals on your list will warrant receiving this information in person, others via phone, and, if the list is large, you may need to resort to email for some. (Where a member of your network is also, for example, a well known member of the community, you might seek to meet the person for a coffee to discuss your needs.) I recommend the list be tiered according to how likely the person is going to be willing and able to help you with your search.  
• Expand your network by increasing your visibility. See Been Laid Off? Rebound With Networking.
• Have fun! Find something you like to do and get out and do it with other people. Create opportunities for your “true self” to shine where others can see you, even if these aren’t professional settings. In this way, you will connect with people who will become new members of your network, even if they can’t attest to your work.