Common Networking Blunders
That Can Sabotage a Job Hunt
By Joann S. Lublin
From The Wall Street Journal Online
An email that a veteran marketing executive recently blitzed to 12,000 contacts begins: "On Sept. 11, to my complete
and utter surprise, I was terminated..."
She identified her ex-employer and why the small market-research firm fired her. Copies of her message inadvertently
landed in her old boss's inbox, prompting the company to make her sign a separation agreement limiting how she spoke
about her departure, her attorney said.
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Faith-Based Networking
Can Enrich a Job Search
Making a Good Impression
When Networking Online
The otherwise effective technique could have been hassle-free. Broadcasting
bad news about your job is a bad idea. "I am a prolific networker,'' the
dismissed executive said in an interview. But in hindsight, she concedes, the
emotionally charged email "wasn't the most professional or politic way to do
it."
Everyone knows you must network to find work following a job loss. Too
often, however, unemployed people make networking missteps, prolonging a
job hunt.
A common flub involves name-dropping without knowing how a contact
feels about the person. A few weeks ago, an out-of-work executive phoned
recruiter Jane Howze for permission "to stop by your office and have you
look at my resume.'' He cited an unimpressive candidate whom she met once
in 2000 but never referred to an employer.
Four Tips for Better Networking
At Seasonal Gatherings
Ms. Howze, a managing director at the Alexander Group in Houston, refused to see the job seeker. "He was a little
presumptuous," she says.
Exaggerating your relationship with mutual acquaintances can set you back, too. Recruiter Fred Whelan conferred
with a financial-services marketing vice president soon after his layoff because he claimed to be a client's friend. But
when asked how he knew the client, "he awkwardly explained that they weren't really friends, he just knew of her,"
remembers Mr. Whelan, a partner at Whelan Stone in San Francisco. The recruiter cut short their session and ignored
the prospect's subsequent emails.
Mr. Whelan also gets peeved when jobless applicants he fruitlessly wooed while employed suddenly crave his
attention. That happened after a vice president for a videogame publisher lost his post last year. "He never
acknowledged that he had been unresponsive in the past and so I didn't meet with him," Mr. Whelan says. A smarter
strategy: Apologize for spurning recruiters' past feelers.
You also may sabotage an informational interview by ending up asking for a job. The question puts contacts in an
awkward spot, especially because "the majority of the time, the answer is no,'' notes Damian Birkel, founder of
Professionals in Transition, a support group.
A jobless broadcast-industry executive alienated former colleagues and acquaintances with opening remarks such as,
"I'm networking. Do you having anything I can look at in terms of a job?" He expressed zero interest in their careers.
"I don't really care about them. I just want a job," he told John McKee, a career coach and author in Thousand Oaks,
Calif. It took the executive 14 months to find work.
Networking "is supposed to be mutually beneficial," Mr. McKee says. Even initial emails should include an offer of
reciprocal help.
You might say, "If you need contact information in our industry, I'd be happy to pass along some names as well,"
suggests Steve Swanson, a managing partner for recruiters Princeton One in Princeton, N.J.
"Giving back is very important," concurs Kevin Gillespie, an unemployed sales and marketing manager from Old
Westbury, N.Y. Introductions that he arranged inside and outside the chemicals-and-plastics industry since his
September layoff have begun to bear fruit.
Experts recommend that you reiterate offers of assistance -- and alert individuals about any results from their suggested
leads.
Bothering contacts excessively also can weaken networking efforts. An unemployed former sales director at a
software business emailed Whelan Stone every month for a year. Each message contained the same subject line,
introduction and pitch. The firm replied only once. "This was incredibly annoying,'' Mr. Whelan complains.
A jobless ex-senior executive at a telecom concern wore out his welcome with many prior associates, sometimes
phoning several times a day, according to Mr. McKee. He reached out "again and again until they would no longer
even return his calls,'' the coach recollects.
Mr. McKee persuaded the executive instead to schedule his phone chats through emails that proposed dates and topics.
Acquaintances "appreciated his respect for their time,'' the coach reports. The man landed a job in August.
It isn't completely clear, however, whether casting a wide net hurts job hunts. Diane Darling, founder of Effective
Networking, a Boston consultancy, favors targeting close contacts.
The marketing manager who emailed 12,000 contacts disagrees. "I don't want to discourage people from doing this,"
she says.
A youth marketing agency expressed interest in hiring her immediately after receiving her Sept. 28 missive. She joins
the New York firm next month. When she sent out an email blast trumpeting her new job, she got hundreds of hearty
congratulations.
Email your comments to joann.lublin@wsj.com.
==========================================================================
Faith-Based Networking
By Sarah E. Needleman
Can Enrich a Job Search
When Amber Edwina Hampton began searching for her first post-college job last spring, she turned to a
higher power for help and says her prayers were quickly answered.
But Ms. Hampton, a recent convert to Islam, hadn't left everything in God's hands. She also took
advantage of her religious connections to network. Thus, a classmate at an Islamic school told Ms.
Hampton about a job opening at the NYU School of Medicine. The classmate, already an employee at
the medical school, also agreed to hand Ms. Hampton's resume to the hiring manager. Three weeks later,
the 24-year-old was hired as a program associate.
If you're searching for work, consider reaching out to fellow congregants, spiritual leaders and others in
your religious circle. These folks are often eager to help like-minded believers. What's more, many
nonsecular institutions provide free job-search resources that are available to anyone.
Successful networkers say they often secure leads from their faith-based connections by bringing up
their employment status in casual conversations about their lives. These conversations can take place
after services, at holiday parties or at other religious gatherings, they say.
Mary Stutts, an associate pastor at Revival Center Ministries in Vallejo, Calif., says she regularly
spreads the word about local job opportunities to worshippers before and after services. "In the last
month, I've given out four job referrals," she says. Ms. Stutts even announces job opportunities from the
pulpit when interesting ones open up locally. She learns of most openings from church members and
through her work outside the church as a business-relationship consultant, she says.
Some religious groups use email and online forums to share job leads, facilitate networking and channel
career advice. An example is the University of Washington's chapter of Hillel, a global foundation for
Jewish students. It puts out a weekly email newsletter featuring ads for jobs and networking events in
the Seattle area, says Josh Furman, a program coordinator for the group.
Alicia Post of New York says her rabbi regularly blasts emails about job opportunities in her area to
current and past members of his synagogue who sign up for them. This past summer, an email
describing an opening for an executive director at a Jewish nonprofit caught her eye. At the time, Ms.
Post was in her seventh year at a similar organization and was craving a new and more challenging role.
She expressed interest in the job to the rabbi, and he forwarded her resume to the nonprofit's chief
executive officer. The 29-year-old Ms. Post landed the job in July.
Between Jobs Ministry, a group launched 15 years ago by a pastor at Northwest Bible Church in Spring,
Texas, offers job-search assistance meetings weekly. The sessions are typically led by retired career
experts and professionals, says Ed Bacon, a director at the ministry and a retired finance executive. The
volunteers give talks on job-search topics, facilitate networking among members, critique resumes,
organize mock interviews and provide emotional and spiritual support, he says.
Church membership and religious devotion aren't required, but attendees can expect the group to recite a
Christian devotional during meetings, adds Mr. Bacon.
In 2006, Michael Schaffner joined the Between Jobs Ministry after being laid off from a position as
chief information officer at an oil-field equipment company. A member introduced him to an executive
recruiter who later got him an interview for a job as a director of information technology at a similar
employer.
Ahead of the meeting, Mr. Schaffner was put in touch with a past member of the ministry who worked
for the potential employer. This was helpful, he says, because he learned that the company uses Six
Sigma, a business methodology he was familiar with. As a result, he added more details about his Six
Sigma experience to his resume and listed it higher on the page. Mr. Schaffner, 57 years old, landed the
job in April.
While many job seekers may rely on prayer for support and success, career experts warn against
discussing faith when meeting with hiring managers or executive recruiters. "You don't want to turn it
into a religious conversation," says Kevin Zwetsch, a partner with the law firm Fowler White Boggs
Banker in Tampa, Fla. "You're veering off the path of what you're there for."
An exception might be if your involvement in religion can promote your candidacy, adds Mr. Zwetsch.
For example, if you mention that you are a deacon at a church during a job interview, "that demonstrates
leadership and community involvement," he says. But he warns that "if you go any further, employers
will get skittish," because recruiters are prohibited by law from asking candidates questions about their
religious beliefs unless they pertain to the job at hand. "[Religion] is one of those taboo topics," he says.
-- Ms. Needleman is associate editor of CareerJournal.com.
Email your comments to cjeditor@dowjones.com.
==========================================================================
Making a Good Impression
When Networking Online
By Marshall Loeb From MarketWatch
More and more people are turning to professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn, to reach out to
customers, exchange ideas with colleagues and form impressions of
potential hires.
When used correctly, online networking can enhance professional
relationships and broaden business horizons. But if you're not
careful, these sites can also leave co-workers and customers with a
negative impression of you.
If you regularly network with clients and colleagues online, make
sure you're portraying yourself in a positive light by heeding these
five suggestions from Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, assistant professor at
Harvard Business School:
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1. Keep your profile updated. Whether you're interviewing for a job or scheduling a face-to-face
meeting with a new client, it's important to update your publicly accessible online profiles.
Business associates may form the wrong impression if your work experience isn't current or you
haven't uploaded a new picture of yourself since college. Hint: Never post snapshots of that trip
to Vegas unless you're sure they're locked away from prying eyes.
2. Maintain ties with people at all levels. Some people make the mistake of padding their online
contact list with names guaranteed to impress, but don't neglect the people you actually work
with day-to-day. "If I'm the VP of sales and I'm not connected to anyone in the sales department
online that sends a horrendously bad message," says Piskorski. Your online presence should
reflect your ability to connect with the people you encounter in real life as well.
3. Watch the number of connections. If you have too many online contacts, people may wonder
whether you have time to get any work done. On the opposite end of the spectrum, having too
few may send the message that you're antisocial or difficult to get along with. "Numbers in
excess of 300 are beginning to look suspicious, depending on your industry," cautions Piskorski,
"But you should also be wary of letting your connections drop below 100."
4. Stay in contact with old colleagues. It's easy to lose track of them when you move on to a new
firm, but make the effort to reach out to past associates online. If your contact list doesn't include
any links with people from your last job, those browsing your profile may assume you left on
bad terms or failed to forge connections.
5. Get (and give) endorsements. You may think that requesting online endorsements is boastful or
just plain cheesy, but it's in your best interest to have a few. Many recruiters now provide hiring
managers with a potential employee's recommendations from LinkedIn and other professional
networking sites, according to Piskorski. If you don't have anyone singing your praises, it may
jeopardize your chances of landing the job. Hint: It's always a good idea to reciprocate after
getting a nice endorsement.
Email your comments to cjeditor@dowjones.com.
==========================================================================
Four Tips for Better Networking
At Seasonal Gatherings
By Marshall Loeb
From Marketwatch
Office parties and other social events during the holidays aren't just an ideal opportunity to load up on
free food. They can also be excellent opportunities for networking.
But networking during the holidays can be quite different from making contacts during the rest of the
year, says career coach Robin Ryan, author of "What to Do with the Rest of Your Life."
Networking at holiday events is more informal because people are primarily there to have fun. Don't
expect to land yourself a new job by the end of the year, Ryan says. Keep your advances light and
chatty. Ask, "Would it be okay if I called you after the first of the year?"
Some other ideas:




Get out there. For the currently unemployed, don't let embarrassment about not having a job
keep you from attending social events and networking. If people ask you what you do, simply
tell them you'll be making a career move in the new year.
Limit your drinking. Have at most one or two drinks over the course of an evening. "Alcohol
does not make you more social, and it can cost you a job," says Ryan. "People will think of you,
'Great for a party, but not great as an employee.'" New contacts aside, keep in mind that at office
parties your bosses will also be watching.
Dress appropriately. Remember that you're looking to advance your career, not to derail it.
Ladies, "don't pick the lowest cut, sexiest thing you own," advises Ryan. You want to come
across as professional, and sex-kitten apparel won't earn you brownie points with anyone.
Gentlemen, "don't be a slob." Pick slightly dressier attire than you would normally wear to work.
Mingle. Don't spend the entire party tracking down people you already know or people you want
to talk with. By excluding or snubbing people, you might miss out on fun - or some unexpected
networking connections.
Email your comments to cjeditor@dowjones.com.
WSJ Website http://online.wsj.com/public/page/news-career-jobs.html