Career Marketplace Blog

In his article for Psychology Today, Ray Williams explains, Why Networking is the Essential Professional Skill.

Read an excerpt of Williams’ article. Read full article

Networking is increasingly being promoted as both a business and personal social skill. There’s no doubt that both the social media form of networking and personal face-to-face networking has become a fundamental part of the modern landscape.

Brian Uzzi and Shannon Dunlap, in their article entitled “How To Build Your Network,” in the Harvard Business Review, contend “Networks determine which ideas become breakthroughs, which new drugs are prescribed, which farmers cultivate pest-resistant crops and which R& D engineers make the most high-impact discoveries”. They cite the work of Randall Collins of the University of Pennsylvania who showed that breakthroughs from icons such as Freud, Picasso, Watson, Crick, and Pythagoras were the consequence of a particular type of personal network that promoted exceptional individual creativity.

“Networks deliver three unique advantages: private information, access to diverse skill sets, and power. Executives see these advantages at work every day, but might not pause to consider how their networks regulate them,” Uzzi and Dunlap argue. They show in their research how developing diverse, rather than “self-similar” network contacts through shared high-stakes activities builds a more powerful network.

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In this article from U.S. News & World Report, Miriam Salpeter shows you How to Look and Feel Your Best for Holiday Networking.

Read an excerpt from Salpeter’s article. Read Full Article

Some people believe this time of the year is not the ideal time to be in job search mode. Conventional wisdom suggests everyone is too busy delving into the holiday season to focus on identifying and securing new candidates. Whether or not you subscribe to the “holidays are slow for hiring” theory, there’s no doubt it is an opportune time to take advantage of networking. Parties and informal gatherings offer numerous chances to meet new people, and you may benefit from people feeling upbeat and generous at this time of the year.

It’s a good idea to prepare in advance so you will look and feel your best during this busy time of the year. Have you considered giving yourself the gift of an image update? Diana Jennings, president of California-based Brand You Image and a leader within the image profession works with professionals to teach them how to increase their visual influence. “By giving your image and the visual representation of your brand a boost, you’ll bring positive attention to yourself, while potentially making valuable contacts,” she says. Jennings reminds professionals not to lose sight of the fact that a networking event can actually be an informal interview.

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In her article for U.S. News & World Report, Lindsay Olson describes 8 Reasons to Continue Your Holiday Job Search.

Tips from this article include:

• Your competitor job seekers may not be looking
• Holiday networking opportunities are abound
• End-of-year budgets may provide hiring opportunities now rather than in January

In her article, What to Do When Networking Isn’t Working,  About.com Guide Alison Doyle explains how you can overcome a slow job search.

Read an excerpt from Doyle’s article below. Read Full Article

LiveCareer article, Students Need to be Prepared in Order to Land a Job Post-Graduation, college students are advised to start their job search preparation before graduation and get a jump on the job market.

Tips from this article include:

• Visit your college career center
• Build solid interviewing skills
• Network with alumni

WSJ article, Working the Recruiters, Dennis Nishi shows readers how a personal approach will help you stand out with recruiters.

Read an excerpt from Nishi’s article. Read full article

Laurie Ruettimann does not want to be sent flowers. Ever.

The human-resources professional from Raleigh, N.C., remembers getting an expensive bouquet while working as an in-house corporate recruiter years ago. The arrangement had been sent to her by a hopeful job hunter but the overture actually made her angry.

“Gift giving means that you’re somehow indebted, and when you force that on somebody it’s inappropriate, even offensive,” says Ms. Ruettimann. “I responded like I would with any other candidate. When we didn’t move forward with his résumé, I just sent him a note, automated through the system.”

n the current tight job market, cold calls and gimmicky gestures are the worst ways to approach recruiters—especially if your skills don’t exactly match the job. Instead, experts recommend old-fashioned networking as the best way to get onto a recruiter’s job-candidate list, but the effort requires more than just a LinkedIn invitation.

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In her blog for U.S. News & World Report, Miriam Salpeter counts down 5 Things You Need to Do do Get a Job.

Tips from this article include:

• Position yourself as an expert
• Communicate your value
• Optimize your resume

In her blog for U.S. News & World Report, Lindsay Olson counts down 6 Networking Tips for Your Job Search.

Read an excerpt from Olson’s article. Read Full Article

Networking with other professionals in your industry can be beneficial when you’re looking for work. You might meet the hiring manager for a company and hear about an unadvertised position, find a new consulting opportunity, or get some insight into the best way to apply for a position.

The biggest mistake people make in networking is focusing on what they want, rather than on connecting and listening to others. If you want your networking to be truly effective, the goal should be focused on helping others and making memorable connections.

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Forbes.com article, Get a Job Using the Hidden Job Market, Susan Adams explains how to connect with employers in your chosen industry.

Read an excerpt of Adams’ article.

The technology executive had been out of work for more than a year, but he didn’t tell any of his friends he was unemployed. Instead, he made up a story about how he was consulting on some confidential projects, the details of which he would reveal when it was time to go public. Meantime, he applied for dozens of posted job openings he saw online, with zero success. He also spent time golfing at the country club, where his locker was next to a CEO in his field. Still, he guarded his secret carefully, staying mum with his golf buddies about his job hunt. Finally, his distraught wife set up some sessions with Donald Asher, an executive career coach and author of 11 books, including Cracking the Hidden Job Market: How to Find Opportunity in any Economy. Asher, who splits his time between San Francisco and northern Nevada, convinced his new client to open up about his job hunt, and start talking to everyone he knew about how he was on the market. Sure enough, one of his golfing friends gave him a tip that led to a job at a startup. “He never ever would have gotten that job the way he was looking for work before,” writes Asher.

As I’ve written in earlier articles, despite the explosion of employment listings online, job seekers should spend no more than 20% of their time answering ads (some coaches recommend only 10%). Instead, says Asher, and a number of other coaches I’ve interviewed, the best way to find a job is through a combination of networking and direct contact. That way you tap into the so-called hidden job market. That is, you get to the head of the line of job candidates before a job is listed anywhere, and sometimes, before the hiring manager has even decided she is going to hire for a particular position.

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In this video from the WSJ.coml, Joe Light reports, Recruiters Troll Facebook for Candidates They Like.