Pay special attention to professional groups, though, because recruiters and prospective employers will start looking in these circles when they have a position to fill. If at all possible, make sure your name is associated with one or more active, powerful professional associations.
Another way to maintain a high profile is to get your name in print. Always list your name in directories when asked to do so. Give interviews to trade journals and business newspapers. When you are promoted or do something worth noting in your present job, send announcements to the local and trade press.
Make sure your name appears in newspaper columns and in industry newspapers and magazines. If possible, get a listing in the Who's Who book for your profession. The latter is not as hard to arrange as you might imagine. Getting in the Who's Who isn't so easy, but getting into one of the countless books organized by profession is relatively easy. Usually, in fact, the publisher comes to you once you have reached a certain level of achievement. If he doesn't, order the book one year and see if that doesn't bring a biography form and a request to list your name. Call up the publisher and ask if you can recommend some people. When they send you the form, recommend yourself. Or simply call up the publisher and ask what you have to do to be listed.
Get published, if it will help. In some professions, engineering, for example, you must publish. If yours is a profession where publishing provides recognition, then publish you must. But that's not the end of it. Once you are published, make sure that your article or book falls into the hands of those who might help you. Send a copy of your publication, along with a brief note, to anyone who might find it interesting-and to anyone who will find watching your career interesting, too.
The point of all this is to get yourself noticed by the people who can help you when it's time to job hunt. Getting noticed leads to being recommended. As one executive searcher noted, "People who just sit in an ivory tower and are not known to anyone don't get recommended for the big jobs. They may be the most brilliant and the most skilled people around, but if they aren't out there making themselves visible, people won't even think of them for the top slots. Lots of those people never make it to the very top jobs and don't really understand why."
When recruiters start a search, they often get on the phone to people in their network of professional associations, alumni groups, and trade associations and ask them for recommendations. They read corporate reports and "Who's Who" columns in financial newspapers. If your name keeps popping up over and over again, you begin to look like a good prospect.
When you start to job hunt actively, use your contacts. Some experts estimate that nine of every ten jobs are gotten through one sort of contact or another.
Most people don't realize how many contacts they have until they actually list them. It even helps to divide the master list into A, B, and C lists. A-list people are those who owe you a favor or have a serious personal interest in you. B-list contacts are good professional and social acquaintances who can be called upon to help. Contacts on the C-list are business acquaintances and casual professional contacts who can also help you. These can be almost anyone you have the nerve to approach.
Decide what kind of contacts you have. Regardless of whether someone is on your A, B, or C list, contacts usually fit one of three types. There are Matchmakers, Nervous Nellies, and Powerbrokers.
Matchmakers love making matches. They will always help you sell your skills, recommend you for a job, and tell you when there will be an opening. The only problem is that they aren't always discriminating. A matchmaker may love you (and his matchmaking prowess) so much that he'll oversell you to someone. He will make you sound so good that the person he is selling you to wonders why you have to look for a job. If you are as great as the matchmaker says, he'll think, and then you should already be a CEO. Matchmakers also may give you weak leads, false leads, or leads that are beneath you. Once in a while, though, a matchmaker hits the jackpot and puts you onto something really great, so keep him or her informed.
Nervous Nellies are the opposite of matchmakers. They are too cautious ever to give you or anyone a glowing recommendation. They don't know whether you're good unless they have worked with you, and even then they tend to be overcritical. A Nervous Nellie will never be aggressive on your behalf or mention a job opening to you before it is advertised.
If a Nervous Nellie ever does tell you about a job, your best bet is to take matters into your own hands. Ask him whom you should talk to and how you can get in touch with that person. Don't leave your fate in the hands of this insecure person. As for any real job leads, you can entirely discount Nervous Nellies. Well, almost entirely--after all, accidents do happen.
A Powerbroker is the very best kind of contact anyone can cultivate. A Powerbroker has real power and enjoys wielding it. Like most people, he feels especially good when he can wield it in someone else's behalf. Best of all, though, Powerbrokers have an innate sense about how well someone will perform on the job. They have an unerring eye for talent, and they firmly believe in their choices. Powerbrokers also like making deals and generally are good at it. A Powerbroker will recommend you for a job and present your case well. They will tell you about a job before it even exists. You do have to impress a Powerbroker and stay on their good side: they won't squander his power on someone unless they think that person is worth the effort.
Use your contacts as much as possible. Ideally, contacts should be cultivated long before you start to job hunt. Keeping in touch with them should be an ongoing process. Let your ex-bosses and ex-colleagues know what you're doing professionally. Keep in touch with professors and academic deans who might also have the power to help you. Use holiday cards, an occasional phone call, or the publication of an article or book as occasions to update these professional friends on your life. If you court your contacts properly, they will always be ready to help you.
The ultimate way to be sure that a contact will help you, of course, is to have helped him in the past. If someone owes you a favor, you're much more likely to get a favor back when you need it.
See the following articles for more information:
- How to Start on the Right Foot in Your New Job
- What Are the Sources to Find the Information You Need
- The Background of Application Process
- How to Network and Take an Information Interview
