Need Some Help in Your Job Search? Try Asking

I just read not one, but two good blog pieces from last Friday about getting help from strangers. Otherwise known as “networking”, most of us know little about this seemingly vague black art. First, here is some great advice from Jason Alba, who regularly writes under his “Jibber Jobber, Career Management 2.0″ site. Jason regularly blogs on job change as well as offering a subscription-based career management tool to help job hunters better manage their career transition. If you’re not familiar with Jason, I invite you to check out his blog. He writes one of the best blogs on job search out there, and I don’t mean that self-important ivory tower “advice” stuff. Jason’s a guy that’s been there. Looking for a job in 2006 after having had a successful career in IT, he found that job search was not quite the snap he thought it would be. Long story short, Jason now writes and podcasts regularly about the job search process and has his fingers on the pulse, being acquainted with and interviewing some of the most knowledgeable folks in this field.

One of Jason’s long suits is networking (I know, I know), having just written, I’m on Facebook, Now What? Here’s the point: use people’s natural ability to want to help each other. For example, when people who may know you’re looking for a job ask how your search is going, your natural tendency is to say, “everything is going fine”. They say, “OK” and the conversation moves on. What if you actually ask for their help? Often feeling a lack of self-esteem, we don’t want to bother someone with our “problem”. This is a mistake. This is the perfect time to ask for help. The key is knowing specifically what help you could use. That, plus knowing how to ask, is critical.

With that said, let me point you to another post from last Friday, this from Pamela Slim in her “Escape From Cubicle Nation” blog. (I just realized that Pam is almost a “neighbor” of mine, living in Mesa, AZ.) Pam is an entrepreneur and writes about the job search process often. She has an excellent article about some specific “Do’s” and “Don’ts” regarding exactly how to phrase your questions in her aptly titled piece, “Help ME help YOU”.

Here’s the takeaway: networking can be one of those subjects many of us dread because it brings up visions of horrible meetups with large groups of people who seem like “lost balls in deep weeds”.

Forget all that.

Networking is just two people having a conversation where they each can help the other. In fact, these are likely to be people you already know. When I was unemployed, I felt like no one really wanted to hear about my problem and they probably wouldn’t be any help anyway. Big mistake, because, as Jason pointed out, people generally tend to want to help one another. So with this in mind, why not actually ask specific questions that they can help you with. Questions like, “I’d like help with_________. Is there anyone you might suggest?” Or, “I’d like to meet people who work at__________. ” Would you have any ideas?” Or, “I’d like to learn about____________. Is there anything you can suggest?”

From small questions spring a wealth of help. Won’t happen unless we get over ourselves and actually start to ask for some help.

Joe