Day 236- Transition - Networking Part IV

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After thinking about it for a while I think I have come up with a way to proceed with the networking series.  By looking at the actions that I consider networking I could then look at how I am doing these actions and what tools that I am using to accomplish these.  These allowed me to put together a structure to follow over the next few post.

To begin let’s review the definition for networking proposed in the last post:

 

The activities involved with accomplishing things through people and relating to others.  This includes building your social network, using tools like Internet social networking tools, building communities, and maintaining your network.

For the job hunting that I’m doing the purpose of networking is two fold.  First, the doing things through people is using my network to connect with those who have positions or information about positions.  To get good ideas from people about what I should be doing.

Day 228–Transition–Breaking the Code?

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It has been busy last few weeks.  I have wanted to continue on with my networking series of posts, but have not had the time to get back to it.  There are several reasons for this.  It is the beginning of the Holiday season so going through Thanksgiving took some time away from my normal activities.  I also pushed to get the remodel to the point that the sheet rocker can come in.  All the cabling and electrical work in the walls is complete.

But the larger reason is two fold.  The first is that I think companies are more interested in hiring people, maybe it is a end of the year push or a beginning of the year push, but it has seemed to change in the last couple of months.  Companies who are hunkering down to weather bad times, tend not to hire people like me that help with improving their efficiency and productivity.  They need people that can keep the factory up and running and not much else.  Now people are looking at capturing efficiencies so that they don’t overhire people and so that they can work on the backlog of improvements and changes that have piled up over the last couple years.

The second area that I think has changed is the way that I am applying for jobs.  I think I may have finally cracked the code on getting my resume to be seen by people.

Day 212–Transition–Networking Part III

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It’s a conspiracy of sorts.  I started the idea for this series of post on Networking; got into the middle of it and then got lost.   I had a plan, but I’ve been hesitating on moving forward.  Mainly, my plan bored me, so I’ve been waiting for something better to come along.
Sometimes networking sounds like a conspiracy of sorts.  Sometimes it seems so contrived and dishonest.   We all have seen those people that are overly self promoting; people the come on so strong you want to run and hide from them.   Now looking for work it seems that everyone is saying that I need to become this person.  That I need to be putting myself out there.  I think I have been guilty of this at certain times in my life, times that I look back on as a lesson in how not to be.
I’m a bit strange in that I like to  be in front of groups; I like facilitating groups.   This is more strange because I a somewhat introverted person.   Introversion doesn’t mean that I don’t like to be with people.  A great definition given to me a few years looks as introversion/extroversion from the perspective of energy:  an extrovert is a person that gains energy by being with more people and feels depleted when isolated and an introvert is a person who gains energy with fewer people around and expends energy when with larger groups.  Introversion and extroversion are the two ends of a continuum;  each of is unique in where we fall on the scale.  This changes depending on particular situations and can also go through major shifts through out your life.
As an example of particular situations making a difference, I become much more introverted in situations in which I’m unfamiliar.  Attending an Networking Event , at a place I have never been, filled with people that I don’t know is a recipe for me becoming a uncomfortable wall flower.   While if I was attending a family or a work pot luck you would find me in the thick of the party  talking to many people and catching up on the latest in their world and updating them on mine.  Both of these are examples of networking.  We all do networking, and I think for the most part many of have an edge where the networking becomes uncomfortable or unnatural for us.
Part of my hesitation in moving forward with this series was in being able to understand and articulate this discomfort. 
Another part that has been holding me up is in having a concept of the whole.  As a systems thinker,  I need to see the whole before I can understand the parts.  This is synthesis, it is the reverse of analysis.  In analysis you take something apart and examine each pieces in order to gain understanding.  In order to understand the whole I need some sort of definition which defines the scope of what networking is.  I ‘m sure it includes the new tools like LinkedIn and Facebook but these aren’t all of it. It must include these things called business mixers that have become popular of late.   What else should be included?
A friend sent me a note this week and it crystallized a few of the ideas that I was struggling with:

you've blogged a couple times about "networking". that word and that concept just bugs me. strikes me wrong.

Day 192 – Transition – Networking Part I

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Everywhere I turn for knowledge in this job search the term networking comes up and how important it is in today’s job search.  I think it always has been important but even more so today.
I’m thinking of doing a few blog entries on networking because this is such a big and seemingly amorphous topic that I hope that I can bring a little shape to the subject.
First, what has happened in the last few years that makes networking so important?
It has always been the case that knowing people helped in getting a job.  The son of the owner, a friend of a manager, or just friend putting in the word that you are a normal person and not some whacko off the street has always made a difference; maybe not if you are that whacko off the street, but otherwise it has.
But what they are talking about now is a change has taken place where knowing someone makes a crucial difference 30 % to 40% of the time.  The internet has made deep changes in how people look for a job and how companies screen and this has caused a overwhelming job for hiring managers. 

Day 170 – Transition- ProLango Resources

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After two of the three ProLango classes, I was sent out a list of resources that I thought I would share.  I haven’t made it through reading all of these so I have no idea how good they are.  I do know that I have enjoyed and felt enrich by all of the articles of Paul’s that I have read.

Class 1: Career Optimization Seminar:

• How a Black Mark Can Derail a Job Search - The Wall Street Journal
• How to stay off the recruiter "blacklist" - NWjobs (The Seattle Times)
• The rules for job hunting have changed - The News Tribune
• Why is it so hard to find a job today - ProLango Consulting
• They’re just not that into you - ProLango Consulting

Class 2: Resume Search Optimization

• New cyber-rules for resume writing - NWjobs (The Seattle Times)
• Resume Writing Basics - ProLango Consulting

Class 3 :

• Can’t find any resources for this one.

Here is a link to Paul’s other online articles:

• online column with NWjobs (The Seattle Times)

And this is an interview that Paul did for the Seattle Link Up group that organizes networking sessions each month.  The topic of the interview is how to get the most out of these networking events:

• http://bit.ly/tsnetwork

I hope you find these useful.

I haven’t had a quote for a while here’s today’s:

In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.

-- Eric Hoffer

Related articles

• Day 168 - Transition - Third ProLango class (other-dribblings.blogspot.com)
• Day 153 - Good Courses to Take (other-dribblings.blogspot.com)

• Day 157- Transition - Feelings just below the surface (other-dribblings.blogspot.com)

Day 153 – Good Courses to Take

This week I attended 2 of 3 workshops offered ProLango.  Paul Anderson, a Seattle Times columnist, one of two that writes the HireGround, does the presentation and is one of the principles of ProLango.   These free workshops are offered twice per month and are a feeder for the more advanced workshops that he charges for.
The three workshops are:

• Career Search Optimization: Today's Job Market Demystified
• Resume Search Optimization: Get Noticed!
• Advanced Interviewing: Secrets Behind Decision Making

Career Search Optimization is the one that I missed. 
Resume Search optimization deals with how companies process the 900+ applications they receive for each position advertised and how to get noticed in this crowd.  Little things like handing your resume to someone and having them read it for 7 seconds.  How far do they get.  This is an average amount of time a HR representative spends reading your resume.  Does this leave the person with the impression that you intended?  Does it convey the information need in order to insure that you move on to the next step in the getting the interview?
He talked about rewriting your resume for each and every job application.  First for the computer matching the key words found in the job requisition.  Second, for the HR person. And third, the most important the reading by the hiring manager. 
Of course, what you really want to be aiming at is circumventing this process by getting to the hiring manager first.  This is where the networking aspect comes in.
This workshop has me reevaluating my processes.  I have gotten away from doing the deep text analysis that I was doing early on, now I have started doing this again.  I have become more aggressive in rewriting my resume to fit the job.  And this has reinvigorated my actions.
The advance interviewing process touched on the normal things like getting prepared through research and dressing right though the biggest part of the message had to do more with the psychological parts of the interview like building rapport and behavior types.
Mirroring is a great  technique for quickly building rapport with others.   Paul indicated that paying attention to the style of person you are dealing with:

1. Visual – rapid speech and breathing, looks up.  Uses visual words like “I see what you mean.
2. Verbal – slower speech and breathing.  looks more straight out.  Uses verbal words like “I hear that”
3. Kinesthetic- Slow talker  and slowest breathing as they translate feelings/emotions into words.  Tends to look down.  Uses feeling words:  “I feel your pain.”

One way to mirror is to change your style to match the style of the interviewer.  What we didn’t get into, which Paul said is covered for an 1/2 hour in the advance classes is how to do this with an interview panel.
The next level of mirroring is where you copy the movements of the interviewer as best you can without appearing sarcastic.  These are techniques that Tony Robins talks about in his works like the book “Unlimited Power.”
I felt the two workshops that I attended were great and highly recommend that people go to these.  They have been working on my thinking and my approach all week.  I will have to struggle with whether to take the advance courses.  They are reasonably priced at $400 for 3 courses at 4 hour, but $400  is something that has to be deeply considered now.
My first step will be to attend the one that I missed, career search optimization.  Others that I talked to indicated that it was really good also.  Then I will try to implement as much as I can myself and then see the results I get.  Then I will consider whether it is worth it to spend the money.

True clarity can come only when someone is willing to notice: There is something I do not know, the knowing of which could change everything.
-- Werner Erhard