Good morning everyone! Aren’t you excited that it’s already Thursday!? This morning is going to be a little bit of a rant/opinion post….
Today I want to write a post on networking. It’s something that, while in college my professors singled out as the number one BEST way to get a job in the “real world.” I actually completely agree – cold calling organizations or constantly sending your resume to an unknown “person” on the other end of an email in-box is not only frustrating, but often times not completely productive.
In college when I was looking for my first job I was told over and over and over again to try and “network” anywhere that I could. It was always suggested to students that they try and set up “informational interviews” even if there weren’t open positions at a certain company…in other words it was another way of saying, “please let me come into your office and ask you a bunch of questions about your job while showing enough interest and enthusiasm that you might actually consider me for an open position in the future.” I set up two informational interviews while I was looking for my first job and it turned out that I wasn’t interested in either of the “companies” that I was visiting. Oops! :)
Turns out I did end up getting my first “big girl” job through submitting my resume and cover letter online, but I knew that I was sending my materials to a direct email address (rather than some generic in-box) and I found the position through a website with a great reputation of filling jobs quickly. And of course you all know the general story of how I was connected with my current position – networking really. I started talking to a friend of my family’s one evening which led to conversation about companies I was interested in which led to her passing along my resume to someone at said company. Which eventually led to what I still consider an absolute miracle and I’m loving every minute!
I knew that once people started hearing about my current position I would start to get inquires about job openings and requests for me to pass along resumes or recommend people for internships. I’m not a stingy person and I am certainly willing to help people out, in fact I actually posted on my facebook after giving my two weeks notice at my last job that there was a position open and that I would pass along resumes for anyone looking for a position in DC. I ended up getting a few people who were interested and I kept my word and passed their resume’s on to my boss during my last week in the position.
One thing that I will note about the people who sent me their resumes is that they were people that I have talked to/been in contact within the last two years AT LEAST. EXCEPT for one of the resumes that I passed along – from a girl who I went to high school with, a girl that I haven’t talked to in legitimately 5 years – a girl who I’m not even friends with on facebook but who had a friend of her’s who is friends with me send me a message to get my email address (did that make sense!?). Her email to me was really nice and she genuinely sounded interested in my old position so I agreed to pass her information along. Not to mention I wanted to help my boss out by passing him as many good resumes as possible since he had been so great to me during my time at his firm. After I officially left my old company, my old boss contacted me telling me that he was going to have this particular girl in for an interview and when I didn’t hear from HER I decided that I would pop her an email to see “how the process” was going, even though I already knew. It’s been about a month now and I’ve heard nothing from that girl. Maybe it is unrealistic to expect anything from her, but I figured at least a “hey, thanks for passing along my resume and getting me to the top of the pile” might be nice especially for someone who has been unemployed since graduating well over a year ago. I tried to do my best at staying in touch with the woman who helped get me into the position including keeping her updated on my interview situation and I CONSTANTLY thanked her for her help telling her that I wouldn't have been able to get here without her -- which I probably wouldn't have.
So ye
ah, you could say I was a little bit bitter about the situation with the past high school acquaintance really, we weren't even good friends. I just thought it was incredibly rude. This brings me to my next and final point. I have been working here now for a month and a day (to be exact!) and I have already received three messages from people wanting to know whether or not I can pass along their resume to HR for specific positions listed on the organizations web site. One person that contacted me is a senior at my old university (one whom I’ve never met) and two messages/requests came from people in my high school class (who I haven’t talked to in again, literally 5 years). Again, I am all about helping people out (because that’s how I got to where I am today) and I have already sent a few emails back and forth with the girl from my university, but the two from my high school…I’m just not so sure about.
Networking is a great thing, but the key to networking (and don't get me wrong, I'm no master in this area) is that you keep in contact with the people that you meet so that in the future when there does come a position that you’re interested in you can feel comfortable contacting that person to ask questions or to even ask for a job recommendation. Believe me, I understand that times are tough and that the unemployment rate is not getting all that much better, but I just would NEVER feel right about sending someone a message about recommending me for a position who I haven’t talked to in, AT THE LEAST two years. For some reason it just feels weird to me – not only do I not know what kind of a person "you" are anymore, but you never took the time to talk to me or contact me before about anything...if you valued me as a "contact" why am I just hearing from you now?!…it just seems fake. Believe me, I want to help out others because someone helped me, but in this situation why do I feel better about helping out the girl that I don't know from my university over past high school acquaintances?! -- Anyone else with me on this or am I completely out of line and heartless?!
Today I want to write a post on networking. It’s something that, while in college my professors singled out as the number one BEST way to get a job in the “real world.” I actually completely agree – cold calling organizations or constantly sending your resume to an unknown “person” on the other end of an email in-box is not only frustrating, but often times not completely productive.
In college when I was looking for my first job I was told over and over and over again to try and “network” anywhere that I could. It was always suggested to students that they try and set up “informational interviews” even if there weren’t open positions at a certain company…in other words it was another way of saying, “please let me come into your office and ask you a bunch of questions about your job while showing enough interest and enthusiasm that you might actually consider me for an open position in the future.” I set up two informational interviews while I was looking for my first job and it turned out that I wasn’t interested in either of the “companies” that I was visiting. Oops! :)
Turns out I did end up getting my first “big girl” job through submitting my resume and cover letter online, but I knew that I was sending my materials to a direct email address (rather than some generic in-box) and I found the position through a website with a great reputation of filling jobs quickly. And of course you all know the general story of how I was connected with my current position – networking really. I started talking to a friend of my family’s one evening which led to conversation about companies I was interested in which led to her passing along my resume to someone at said company. Which eventually led to what I still consider an absolute miracle and I’m loving every minute!
I knew that once people started hearing about my current position I would start to get inquires about job openings and requests for me to pass along resumes or recommend people for internships. I’m not a stingy person and I am certainly willing to help people out, in fact I actually posted on my facebook after giving my two weeks notice at my last job that there was a position open and that I would pass along resumes for anyone looking for a position in DC. I ended up getting a few people who were interested and I kept my word and passed their resume’s on to my boss during my last week in the position.
One thing that I will note about the people who sent me their resumes is that they were people that I have talked to/been in contact within the last two years AT LEAST. EXCEPT for one of the resumes that I passed along – from a girl who I went to high school with, a girl that I haven’t talked to in legitimately 5 years – a girl who I’m not even friends with on facebook but who had a friend of her’s who is friends with me send me a message to get my email address (did that make sense!?). Her email to me was really nice and she genuinely sounded interested in my old position so I agreed to pass her information along. Not to mention I wanted to help my boss out by passing him as many good resumes as possible since he had been so great to me during my time at his firm. After I officially left my old company, my old boss contacted me telling me that he was going to have this particular girl in for an interview and when I didn’t hear from HER I decided that I would pop her an email to see “how the process” was going, even though I already knew. It’s been about a month now and I’ve heard nothing from that girl. Maybe it is unrealistic to expect anything from her, but I figured at least a “hey, thanks for passing along my resume and getting me to the top of the pile” might be nice especially for someone who has been unemployed since graduating well over a year ago. I tried to do my best at staying in touch with the woman who helped get me into the position including keeping her updated on my interview situation and I CONSTANTLY thanked her for her help telling her that I wouldn't have been able to get here without her -- which I probably wouldn't have.
So ye
ah, you could say I was a little bit bitter about the situation with the past high school acquaintance really, we weren't even good friends. I just thought it was incredibly rude. This brings me to my next and final point. I have been working here now for a month and a day (to be exact!) and I have already received three messages from people wanting to know whether or not I can pass along their resume to HR for specific positions listed on the organizations web site. One person that contacted me is a senior at my old university (one whom I’ve never met) and two messages/requests came from people in my high school class (who I haven’t talked to in again, literally 5 years). Again, I am all about helping people out (because that’s how I got to where I am today) and I have already sent a few emails back and forth with the girl from my university, but the two from my high school…I’m just not so sure about. Networking is a great thing, but the key to networking (and don't get me wrong, I'm no master in this area) is that you keep in contact with the people that you meet so that in the future when there does come a position that you’re interested in you can feel comfortable contacting that person to ask questions or to even ask for a job recommendation. Believe me, I understand that times are tough and that the unemployment rate is not getting all that much better, but I just would NEVER feel right about sending someone a message about recommending me for a position who I haven’t talked to in, AT THE LEAST two years. For some reason it just feels weird to me – not only do I not know what kind of a person "you" are anymore, but you never took the time to talk to me or contact me before about anything...if you valued me as a "contact" why am I just hearing from you now?!…it just seems fake. Believe me, I want to help out others because someone helped me, but in this situation why do I feel better about helping out the girl that I don't know from my university over past high school acquaintances?! -- Anyone else with me on this or am I completely out of line and heartless?!
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