Tuesday, October 10, 2006

What I Love About Searching for Work

Hey guys. Just wanted to chime in here and share about the one thing I really love about searching for work. That almost sounds oxymoronic to me because my nature is to want to get done with the job search as soon as possible.

But I love networking with other people, not only just for job searching but also for any type of connecting purpose. You never know who you'll be able to help and who can help you. If you know someone looking for a specific type of job or with a position to fill, you can help find that.

With that in mind, I'm open to connecting with you readers. I've been using LinkedIn, which in essence is a community for professionals to connect with each other, a sort of professional, albeit boring version of MySpace. I say that not to demean either site; each one serves its own purpose.

So, if you'd like to invite me to connect with you, feel free: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dajohnson

Update: Reader Jason noticed I'd omitted my e-mail address from this post. Good point. Here it is, disguised for the spam robots.

Dan's GTJ e-mail address at Gmail.com

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Agreed! Networking is so fun (when done right) that it doesn't seem like a job search at all. I think the key to networking is really doing it before you are in a job search and definitely continuing after you land your job!

BTW, what is your e-mail, to invite you in LinkedIn?

Anonymous said...

I have two questions related to your post.

1) Even though I am completey comfortable asking for ideas/help about a problem I'm working on at work "Has anyone else ever hit this error?". I simply can't bring myself to make me,myself or I the topic of the conversation, as in "I'm thinking of trying to start...." I am just completely uncomfortable with it. I can do it over the Internet, but not face to face with friends/relatives.

I'm not sure why I feel that way, but I think it's because with people I already know I'm worried that they will either feel obligated to ACT interested/enthusiastic OR that if they are in any way negative before I've gotten off the ground with my idea, that I won't have enough momentum to keep going.
Any suggestions?

My second question is, can you give me an example of why you like LinkedIn? I just wasn't inclined to type in a pile of info about myself unless I had a more specific example of how I might benefit.

Thanks in advance.

Anonymous said...

CCW - I'll take a stab at your 2 questions, which are great questions.

First question, to start your networking ditch the idea that networking is about going out and talking about yourself. You want to meet people, learn about them and see if there is anything you can do to help them. I've found this is, 99% of the time, hooking them up with others. You don't talk about you that entire time! Also, this is just the beginning of a relationship - you don't need to cover everything at the beginning. Usually they'll turn it around and ask you about yourself, but it is quite different when they as (than if you just start telling about yourself).

Second question, LinkedIn is a funny thing. When I first signed on earlier this year it was a LONELY PLACE because I didn't know anyone on it. However, I've learned a lot since then and I encourage people to begin their cyber-networking right now (before they need it). It is a great place to find and build relationships, but it DOES take a lot of work and a strategy. One of the best things about LinkedIn for job seekers is that I know a bunch of recruiters that use it to find candidates.

My 2 cents ;)