How do I use personal connections for my job search?
How do I use personal connections for my job search?
How do I use personal connections for my job search?
Most student affairs professionals already know about networking. Specifically how networking in the field can help you move up, around, and take advantage of new opportunities as they arise. However, not many student affairs professionals pay attention to the kind of help that their personal network can provide in their career, their job search, and beyond.
This article will review each professional’s entire network as an “asset.” Many people think that they already know who is in their network. However, there are individuals who can provide you more help than others; and they probably aren’t the ones that you’re thinking of. How to curate your personal network will be provided along with tips for managing your connections. How to leverage your personal network will be covered in depth in addition to networking and job searching simultaneously.
Your network as an asset
The first thing that most student affairs professionals need to do is review their network and acknowledge it as an asset. Your network is an asset that you’ll never own. However, you can always use it to your advantage to help you in your career.
Often this means that professionals will do anything and everything in their power to grow their network with as many people as they can. Growing your network only for the sake of growing your network can be futile. It can also be tiring, disingenuous, and exhausting. Rather, think about your network as a collection of individuals who work synergistically with each other. They exist for you to help them as well as for them to help you.
This means that your network’s worth is based on both your professional and your personal contacts. Your personal contacts alone could represent a veritable goldmine of untapped potential when it comes to your job search. You may just not know it yet given how most people view their personal networks.
Your personal networks consist of those people that you know personally outside of work. Your personal network can also include those that you connect with, interact with, or speak to online. These communities of individuals all form your personal network: an asset which has great potential for influencing your career.
In all, your network often equals your net worth as a professional. It’s useful to be talented, educated, skilled, and resourceful. However none of those qualities will help you out if you can’t find opportunities and people to share them with. That’s when the power of leveraging your personal network comes into play.
“Who” is your network?
Your network consists of many people. The total number is more than you think when considering the entirety of your personal network. Most student affairs professionals are aware of their professional network which includes people who have they have worked with in the past as well as those who they’ve reported to.
However, you would be mistaken if you believed that your most powerful network contacts were the ones that you know personally. These are usually called first degree contacts. There is value in having first degree contacts. But in reality, it’s the second degree contacts (the people your first degree contacts know) who are often a source of untapped potential. Often these are the individuals who help you out the most during your search.
This facet of your network is understandably counterintuitive: why would these people (who you are not even directly connected to) provide you any insight in your job search? The reason is because these second degree contacts often are included and involved in circles that you don’t have a direct impact in. That means that they provide you with a vast secondary network of people who might not have even considered you for opportunities.
In other words looking for jobs within your first degree contacts can often be fruitless. This is because your primary contacts are often looking for the same work in the same field as you are. This happens because you’ve often worked with or for these individuals in the past. Comparatively, your second degree contacts, the people who are one step away from your first degree contacts, often don’t share the same network circles. Therefore your candidacy for those opportunities may not have been considered yet.
This is why the question “who else should I connect with?” should be included in any informational interview you do. By doing this you tap directly into the second degree contacts of your interviewee. This access can be powerful. Especially when considering how network contacts are used to access new opportunities for job seekers. Often times over half of job seekers discover new opportunities from contacts that they only see occasionally. That means that the effect of secondary contacts is much more impactful that those that you have direct access to.
The effect on your personal network here is that these weak ties in your circle of connections could play a key role towards getting your next job. Therefore, actively curating and developing this network will prove critical for you in the future.
Curating your personal network
Curating can often be a daunting aspect of networking during the student affairs job search. That’s because most individuals like to play the numbers game of being connected to as many people as possible in their network. This is made even easier with social networking sites like LinkedIn which make it very easy to find and connect with new professionals. However, the size of your network is not as important compared to how well you curate and support it.
Curation begins by connecting with others who you don’t know yet but want to know. Few people find it easy to make connections with strangers. This is why it’s important to be introduced to someone who you want to know through a mutual connection. Though most student affairs job seekers are often surprised at how open and helpful your new connection may be.
Once you’ve become successful at this connection and introduction, you may find yourself returning the favor when connecting with other individuals through a mutual contact. This process is made especially easier when using online communities and social media in order to connect with others who you may not have had the opportunity to meet in person.
Likewise, it’s also important to consider the people that you work with now as valuable contacts for network development and curation. They can often provide information that can help you make best use of your current role and prepare you for your next one.
Managing your connections
Having connections is good start of any career development or job search process. So is managing those contacts. Your network is like a community garden. You are incentivized to tend your garden because you can also harvest from it. However, since it’s a community garden you’ll never actually own it.
Likewise, your contacts also need tending and managing. Getting to know your contacts well and keeping in touch is a big part towards managing these relationships. No one wants to be the person that only gets contacted when something is needed. You can best serve your contacts by also letting them serve you.
This management often comes in the form of exchanges. Sometimes those exchanges are for professional information, insight, or other people in the field. Managing those exchanges helps you remain consistently useful to other people in your network. It also helps you create the image of someone who is knowledgeable and connected to others in the field.
These exchanges result in the growth and development of your own network. Being in regular touch with those who are most connected in your network ultimately helps you remain current and relevant in the field.
With a well developed, curated, and managed network you’ve effectively created your own collection of individuals you can turn to when you are looking for the next step in your career; a new opportunity; or new information or expertise when your job demands it.
Leveraging your personal network
Managing your network pays off best when you can use your contacts to land your next job. In fact, using your network as a way to find and refer to new positions and opportunities is one of the best ways to be considered for any new job.
These are excellent opportunities to not only source new leads on new positions but to also vet the institution, culture, and responsibilities there. Since you came across this new position through your own network you already have some insight on the type of opportunity you’ve been presented. This means that actively searching for new opportunities in a precise, targeted, and strategic fashion often leads to the best results.
Having a contact at an institution before you even apply for a role can be a lucrative one. They often have the influence to get your application to the hiring manager before it is selected by human resources or any other screening process. These inside contacts could be first degree connections, second degree connections, or more.
However, no matter where or how you make your contacts, their connections will continue to serve you throughout your career so long as you manage them correctly.
Networking and job searching
Networking while job searching can feel like you’re pulling double duty. However, using your network while you are looking for your next opportunity is one of the best ways to put your valuable asset to use.
One of the things to watch out for is to make sure that you don’t look to your first degree contacts for jobs. This is especially relevant if your other first degree contacts are also looking for work. This is because you all will be looking for the same job leads in the same group in your network.
Instead, make use of your first degree contacts for others in the field or relevant industries for who you should talk to and connect with. Make sure that you’re clear on what you are actually asking them for: their connections. Getting a job from this networking activity would be nice; but a long term approach would be growing your network to include new contacts who can help you out now AND in the future.
Using your network’s first, second, and third degree contacts is critical. That’s because most job posts are usually already filled (or at least a qualified candidate found) prior them being posted. This usually occurs through referrals from trusted sources.
Because of that, it’s often great experience to turn to your network first when job searching rather than to job postings directly. Your network can not only provide you qualified leads but also help you get past other applicants who may be using traditional job application portals.
This is why it’s important to know your network as well or better than they know you. That’s because their own professional background and expertise will help you find, apply, and secure jobs that make the best use of your background, knowledge, skills, and abilities. This means that there is a difference between getting a job and getting a great job. The difference is separated by how well you were vetted by your own network.
Takeaways
Remember that your network is an asset. It’s something that you are responsible for growing, curating and developing. You’ll never own it; but you can always turn to it when you need it. Your network is also larger than just your first degree contacts. You can consider your second and third degree contacts fair game as well. Managing those many connections can be daunting. That’s why it’s important to approach networking as a habit rather than a one and done activity. Making networking a habit is a great of leveraging your contacts when the time comes to help you with your job search.
I hope that you found this article useful! If you need some additional help on your student affairs job search, then check out the eBook The Student Affairs Job Search: A Comprehensive Guide available here.
Happy searching,
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Cite this Article
Eng, D. (2021, February 15). How do I use personal connections for my job search? Retrieved MONTH DATE, YEAR, from https://www.jobhakr.com/blog-1/2021/2/15/how-do-i-use-personal-connections-for-my-job-search
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