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The Battalion
Page 3 • Friday, April 23, 2004
The (real) Apprentice
vr graduates, old-fashioned networking is a crucial skill to finding a new job
By Erika D. Smith
KRT CAMPUS
In the same way an introductory e-mail will never replace a firm
indshake, blindly sending out resumes will never replace old-fash-
ned networking.
About 70 percent of all jobs are obtained through networking —
|e process of building relationships with others in a chosen field.
_ That’s an important statistic at a time when so many people are
looking for work. But even in fields that are booming, such as
corporate fraud investigation, networking is crucial.
| “Networking is pretty much the only way that you get referrals
id keep going,” said Stephen Nelder, president of the
ssociation of Certified Fraud Examiners’ local chapter. “It’s one
|f those things where you make your own luck.”
J Indeed, luck has little to do with landing a job. It’s about net-
' |;»orking. and that’s a skill — one that many people haven’t mas
tered yet.
Career counselor Carla Owens teaches Kent State University
jitudents and alumni the right way to network.
“We teach people to be assertive, not aggressive,” said the
S assistant director of Kent’s Career Services Center.
I And there is a difference. The trick, Owens said, is to phrase
■ questions in the third person.
For instance, instead of asking a colleague, “Can you get me a
b at your law firm?” you should say: “Do you know if there are
liy openings at your firm?” The latter question is more likely to
nt a networking contact at ease because he won’t feel any direct
obligation to you.
I That, in fact, is one of the cardinal rules of networking —
i don’t ask a contact for a job. Others include being honest, not
■king advantage of a contact, not claiming to know someone
w)u don't and always getting permission to use a contact’s
ftme.
I Networking doesn’t have to be hard. It doesn’t require
atiending fancy dinner parties to mingle. But it does require
spine initiative.
For students and out-of-work alumni just getting started,
wens recommends building a list of potential contacts. They can
be relatives, colleagues from an old job, professors, classmates,
iends, your dentist, or even your yoga partner.
■ Once you talk to each person and figure out if a networking
"Mlationship is appropriate, you can send them resumes and cover
.fitters. It’s also important to keep in touch as time passes,
ttl “You’re getting your name out there,” Owens said. “You’re
I [fixing, you’re mingling.”
1 Another way to feel out a list of contacts — as well as the direc-
■onof your own career— is to do an informational interview.
on in
Job hunters should call a con
tact already working in their
desired field and set up a time to
talk. Informational interviews are
not job interviews, and shouldn’t
be treated as such.
The goal is not to sell your
self. It is to learn as much as pos
sible about the contact’s job and
decide if the field is right for you.
Owens said she often rec
ommends informational inter
views for alumni who have lost
their jobs.
“A lot of them are taking this
time to refocus their careers,”
she said.
Just as many alumni are
renewing ties to professional
organizations. Some had let
their memberships lapse after
graduation and are joining again
to do some networking.
“Networking is essential in
my line of work,” said Nelder,
founder of Investigative and
Forensic Accounting Services
LLC.
Knowing that’s true for
many fields, Brian
McCullough, president of
Resumewriters.com, decided to
take networking one step fur
ther — to the Internet.
The company’s new site,
Wherearethejobs.com, is built
on the idea of using friends, and
friends of friends, to find a job.
It differs from the likes of Monster.com and
Careerbuilder.com because users do more than post their
resumes or send them to random employers.
Wherearethejobs.com users are required to post one job lead to
join the Web site. They also must build their own community of
job seekers by urging others to join for free.
“We would just hear constantly, 'I’ve posted my resume on
Monster like 300 times and I’ve heard nothing,”’ McCullough said.
What’s missing, he said, is the advantage of dropping a name.
Wherearethejobs.com lets people do that. It’s a cross between
Lindsay Semple • KRT CAMPUS
Don Snyder, a career specialist at The Career Services Center at Kent State University, helps Chris McDade
research potential marketing internships. The center helps students and alumni searching for jobs and internships.
Monster.com and Friendster.com.
The idea is that a friend of a friend’s brother will be the hiring
manager at a law firm and let you use his name. And with the
Internet, the scope of social networking can be much broader.
Right now, McCullough’s Web site covers all of North
America and has 10,000 users — nothing compared to
Monster’s 25 million and Careerbuilder’s 7 million.
Wherearethejobs.com only launched in mid-January, though, and
is still being developed.
“Most of the jobs are found through your friend’s brother’s
uncle,” he said. “We wanted to use that.”
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