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Career Networking for Outcomes – The Starter Kit
Who is this reference guide for?
This career-networking guide is most useful for professionals who are serious about making a career transition within the next four to five months. In particular, coaching clients who have implemented these ideas with the greatest success have fallen into the following
•Mid-level professionals who want a starting point that will help them launch networking conversations with senior-level professionals.
•Individuals who have been exclusively looking for the right opportunity on job boards and career websites with little success—and are willing to change their behavior.
•Anyone who wants to identify decision makers and influencers with greater precision than ever.
•Professionals who want to attract higher-earning opportunities—think salary jumps of 25%-plus.
•Employed job seekers with little leisure time who need to maximize limited after-hour efforts.
Introduction
In-person networking is being underutilized following the advent of job boards and career websites. What I am seeing as a career consultant is that in-person networking is not prioritized. Previous efforts had not been thought about strategically, leaving them fruitless. Folks were not talking to the right people, encouraging anyone to actually go out on a limb for them, or capturing key insights that could have helped them land higher-earning jobs. Based on these poor prior experiences, I conducted a recent survey where an astounding 54% of those surveyed are now “hesitant to network and utilize their connections.” Some feel as though they were asking for handouts, while others see it as a complete waste of time since there are plenty of job-search tools with direct feeds to hiring managers.
However, being referred into a company by a current employee via your network is the most promising and efficient way to land a job—if done correctly.
It’s most promising because employee referrals have the highest applicant-to-hire conversion rate—
but only 7% apply. This accounts for 40% of all hires.
Meanwhile, the same survey respondents concurred with this “I am fighting against time. My job search is taking longer than I expected.”
A job hunt conducted exclusively through career sites takes longer than one that optimizes networks. Did you know that you can find, land, and start collecting a check up to 26 days sooner if you were referred into a firm by a contact than if you applied via a career site?
As a result, if you want to land a plum role faster than your peers, you will have to stretch beyond your comfort level. It takes courage, which my clients bring to the table. Meanwhile, on my end, I empower them by helping them figure out who they should talk to, what to say, and when.
Do you want to know what to say?
Stop second guessing yourself—here are the 15 most successful scripts I have leveraged throughout my practice. I encourage you to use them, preferably on the phone or in person. Feel free to edit them to make them your own. For example, if you’d never use the word “garner,” don’t start now!
Praise!
"Industries are changing under our feet and so are the most effective ways to stay in the game. Anyone facing the prospect of a company or career change will be richly rewarded and encouraged by reading Melissa's recent blog post on effective networking to find the next opportunity; her advice is clear, actionable and confidence building." - J Wilson-former Vice President, Gymboree Corp.
“Melissa’s straight-up, pragmatic advice for networking is spot-on. Her scripts are powerful building blocks that helped me focus on making meaningful connections, and they literally saved me hours in my search.” - Kris Neely, Business Consultant
This career-networking guide is most useful for professionals who are serious about making a career transition within the next four to five months. In particular, coaching clients who have implemented these ideas with the greatest success have fallen into the following
•Mid-level professionals who want a starting point that will help them launch networking conversations with senior-level professionals.
•Individuals who have been exclusively looking for the right opportunity on job boards and career websites with little success—and are willing to change their behavior.
•Anyone who wants to identify decision makers and influencers with greater precision than ever.
•Professionals who want to attract higher-earning opportunities—think salary jumps of 25%-plus.
•Employed job seekers with little leisure time who need to maximize limited after-hour efforts.
Introduction
In-person networking is being underutilized following the advent of job boards and career websites. What I am seeing as a career consultant is that in-person networking is not prioritized. Previous efforts had not been thought about strategically, leaving them fruitless. Folks were not talking to the right people, encouraging anyone to actually go out on a limb for them, or capturing key insights that could have helped them land higher-earning jobs. Based on these poor prior experiences, I conducted a recent survey where an astounding 54% of those surveyed are now “hesitant to network and utilize their connections.” Some feel as though they were asking for handouts, while others see it as a complete waste of time since there are plenty of job-search tools with direct feeds to hiring managers.
However, being referred into a company by a current employee via your network is the most promising and efficient way to land a job—if done correctly.
It’s most promising because employee referrals have the highest applicant-to-hire conversion rate—
but only 7% apply. This accounts for 40% of all hires.
Meanwhile, the same survey respondents concurred with this “I am fighting against time. My job search is taking longer than I expected.”
A job hunt conducted exclusively through career sites takes longer than one that optimizes networks. Did you know that you can find, land, and start collecting a check up to 26 days sooner if you were referred into a firm by a contact than if you applied via a career site?
As a result, if you want to land a plum role faster than your peers, you will have to stretch beyond your comfort level. It takes courage, which my clients bring to the table. Meanwhile, on my end, I empower them by helping them figure out who they should talk to, what to say, and when.
Do you want to know what to say?
Stop second guessing yourself—here are the 15 most successful scripts I have leveraged throughout my practice. I encourage you to use them, preferably on the phone or in person. Feel free to edit them to make them your own. For example, if you’d never use the word “garner,” don’t start now!
Praise!
"Industries are changing under our feet and so are the most effective ways to stay in the game. Anyone facing the prospect of a company or career change will be richly rewarded and encouraged by reading Melissa's recent blog post on effective networking to find the next opportunity; her advice is clear, actionable and confidence building." - J Wilson-former Vice President, Gymboree Corp.
“Melissa’s straight-up, pragmatic advice for networking is spot-on. Her scripts are powerful building blocks that helped me focus on making meaningful connections, and they literally saved me hours in my search.” - Kris Neely, Business Consultant
32 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 11, 2015
1 person want to read
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