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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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 his article for lifehacker.com, Alan Henry introduces readers to a new professional network called Identified. Henry explains, “Identified Is a Professional Network Built on Facebook, Shows You How Your Facebook Profile Looks to Recruiters“.

Read an excerpt of Henry’s article below. Read full article

Finding a job is difficult, but Identified is a new service that wants to help you build a professional network on the back of the social network you likely already use: Facebook. The recently launched professional search service uses your Facebook information to build a professional profile for you, give you a numerical score (that can be improved by providing more data,) and connect you with businesses that your friends and personal network already work for.

There’s a lot to like about Identified: it uses your actual personal network to build a professional profile that’s indicative of the people you actually know. Sign in with Facebook, and the service pulls down your work history, your education, and the depth and breadth of your personal network to assign you a numerical score. You can improve that score by adding more information about yourself that will make you more attractive to recruiters and companies already using the service to find prospects or inviting your friends.

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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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