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Those in the business world may be familiar with LinkedIn, a networking site that allows “business” people to connect for the purpose of doing business together, trading stories of consultants, and finding employment (me, at the moment I am writing this). The information I have been finding in my quest to find work is telling me that LinkedIn is one of the primary methods for networking and uncovering the “secret” job market, those positions that are never posted, and apparently get filled just via this referral network.
As I listened to a recent webinar about using LinkedIn in this manner, many of the participants were unfamiliar with the service. The instructor took some time to explain that it is in the vein of social networking sites, like Facebook and MySpace, but has managed to stay rather serious. As I listened to her discussion of how large some people’s individual networks were, IT HIT ME!!! Let’s pull out the six degrees of separation theory!!!
I will not take space here to explain to those who are totally clueless, but do provide the ubiquitous Wikipedia link for you: CLICK HERE
I realized that I needed to expand my network in a big way!!! Here’s why…
I was sitting there with about 35 connections, since I saw no reason to actively pursue additional people to my network. Well, if one of my connections had 200 connections, and one of those had 200 different connections, I was sitting two steps away from 40,000 people who might know of a job opening that I could fit nicely into!!! Add another layer of 200, and BINGO!, I’m up to 8 million possibilities!!! I don’t even need another 200 connection layer before I, theoretically, have connected myself to EVERYONE on LinkedIn!!! AWESOME!!!! And I have one direct connection with over 400 connections, and another with over 500!!!! This is like taking candy from a baby!!!!
Wait, reality is setting in… I would need a few of those connections to really sell me to the next layer, and they need to do the same, for ME, and so on and so on… And we are in a major recession… Well, maybe the candy hugging baby is a big one!!!
In summary, I imported my email address list, and I am now at 77 connections!!! Which gives me twice the bandwidth on LinkedIn that I had before? Or is that 4 times the bandwidth? Or 8 times???
I’ll let you know how the job networking works out.
Until Next Time!
Julius
Friday, March 27, 2009
I'm Back!!!! With Career Hunting Advice...
Took some extended time off from my blogging activities here to work on myself. Check out my posts at http://www.transformation.com/NCDrJCN/blog/.
On to career hunting advice...
I was downsized for the third time on February 23, and have been given "outsourcing resources" to assist in my transition. This company has many webinars to teach us the skills needed to find a job in today's world. During several of these sessions, I have heard several "one company" folks talk about the uncertainty of today's job market, and how they haven't had to do this for 20+ years and never thought they would have to again.
In the spirit of The Wisdom of Age, I have captured some thoughts that were rambling throught my head during one of these exchanges, and thought rather than blurt them out and offend anyone, I would blurt them out here for a more controlled audience. Also, I find blogging things to be healing...
• Many of these folks want to know the "rules," the kind of rules that we learned when we were young and that told us how to do everything. Well, right now, there are no rules and there is no rule book! The things that worked in the past may not work now, and I am not convinced that strategies that may have not worked a year or two ago won’t work now. You need to try anything and everything!
• The reality of the 21st Century is that companies, particularly bigger companies, hire and downsize employees just like we trade stocks. There is very little emotion, just a commitment to the bottom line for the next quarter. It is ironic to me that the current financial mess has been created, to a large extent, by companies willingness to engage almost entirely in short-term thinking. After all, had the geniuses on Wall Street and all of the banks been looking forward a bit more they should have all realized that this thing was going to crash sooner or later…
• Companies that are on the ball, and companies that "get it," are hiring right now if they can. They know that there is an unprecedented glut of talent out there right now with free agent status. They can upgrade their work force and be ready for the other side of the mountain, whenever all of this stimulus finally kicks into high gear, or maybe just out of neutral!
• These companies want to know what you can do right out of the box. Degrees do not seem to matter for much outside of your starting title and pay grade. Show me the results!!
• My personal opinion is that there are opportunities galore in the chaos that currently exists. Many companies do not know what is coming, and can use the help of learned minds to help them sort through it all. After all, there have been downturns before, and everything has been OK when the line starts going up again!!!
Please share your thoughts in the comments section. I am curious to hear what you think, particularly if you are out there seeking something interesting to do with the rest of your life!!!
Until Next Time,
Julius
On to career hunting advice...
I was downsized for the third time on February 23, and have been given "outsourcing resources" to assist in my transition. This company has many webinars to teach us the skills needed to find a job in today's world. During several of these sessions, I have heard several "one company" folks talk about the uncertainty of today's job market, and how they haven't had to do this for 20+ years and never thought they would have to again.
In the spirit of The Wisdom of Age, I have captured some thoughts that were rambling throught my head during one of these exchanges, and thought rather than blurt them out and offend anyone, I would blurt them out here for a more controlled audience. Also, I find blogging things to be healing...
• Many of these folks want to know the "rules," the kind of rules that we learned when we were young and that told us how to do everything. Well, right now, there are no rules and there is no rule book! The things that worked in the past may not work now, and I am not convinced that strategies that may have not worked a year or two ago won’t work now. You need to try anything and everything!
• The reality of the 21st Century is that companies, particularly bigger companies, hire and downsize employees just like we trade stocks. There is very little emotion, just a commitment to the bottom line for the next quarter. It is ironic to me that the current financial mess has been created, to a large extent, by companies willingness to engage almost entirely in short-term thinking. After all, had the geniuses on Wall Street and all of the banks been looking forward a bit more they should have all realized that this thing was going to crash sooner or later…
• Companies that are on the ball, and companies that "get it," are hiring right now if they can. They know that there is an unprecedented glut of talent out there right now with free agent status. They can upgrade their work force and be ready for the other side of the mountain, whenever all of this stimulus finally kicks into high gear, or maybe just out of neutral!
• These companies want to know what you can do right out of the box. Degrees do not seem to matter for much outside of your starting title and pay grade. Show me the results!!
• My personal opinion is that there are opportunities galore in the chaos that currently exists. Many companies do not know what is coming, and can use the help of learned minds to help them sort through it all. After all, there have been downturns before, and everything has been OK when the line starts going up again!!!
Please share your thoughts in the comments section. I am curious to hear what you think, particularly if you are out there seeking something interesting to do with the rest of your life!!!
Until Next Time,
Julius
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