Re: The Official Layoff Thread!!!
[quote=chunky;740612]Where I work. If someone is disscribed as good at Networking it means they are good at sucking up to the bosses. But the reality is doing a great job these days isn't enough to progress within the company. There's far to many people taking short cuts, so if you want to get anywhere you have to Network. Good luck in your job[/quote]
I'm sure there are more than enough cases where people suck up to bosses and get undeserved promotions. But it's not just that; the business world is fundamentally driven by human relationships. And so if you are in a professional business career path and you want to get ahead, you are best served by having a track record of great results [I]and [/I]by establishing a rapport with the right people who hold the keys to opportunities.
If there is a great job opportunity and there are two candidates who look about equally well qualified on paper, but one of them is a complete stranger to the hiring manager and the other has been recommended by the hiring manager's long-time friend and business colleague - and perhaps has even met the hiring manager before at a social event...who do you think is more likely to get the job offer?
[quote=maddlingo;769322]It's been 2 months now for me and starting to feel a little discouraged. Anyone have any advice.[/quote]
Are you in a particular career area?
My only general advice would be to focus less on job postings (although they are important, keep posting) and more time on the networking side - not just your friends and former colleagues, but any recruiters, pertinent industry people, any hiring managers, etc. - [I]regardless[/I] of whether or not you know they have a job opening. set up informational conversations with them - what do you do, what kinds of skills does this work area require, etc. Measure your success in the number of conversations hiring managers or people with hiring influence that you talk to in a week, not in the number of jobs you applied for online. The game is to get your name and story as far and wide as possible with the right people who can eventually help you find the opportunity - in other words, turn yourself into that person I mentioned above who gets the job.
It's hard work, but this is about a proactive job search, not just a reactive one - i.e., sitting at home and applying for jobs off of Monster.com. It's good to keep posting for every job you find, but recognize that it's a bit like playing the lottery and that the people who are passing you by are probably the ones who employed this strategy and got into the hiring manager's network before the job even officially posted.