Knowing how to get inside contacts is important.
Do you feel there is a wall between you and the jobs you are seeking? You go to apply for a job on a company website and find that you have to complete an application. When you have completed the application and submitted your resume, you are not even sure that a human will ever see it. Are you sending your resume to countless companies? Are you getting no interviews and do not know why?
It is important to know how to get an inside contact, because people inside a company can get you a direct connection with the people who are hiring.
Suggestions for Finding inside Contacts
Identify a company where you want to work. Go through your contacts to see the people you may know at the company.
Review your contacts for people who might know someone at the hiring company. Begin to show an interest in those people.
As you are developing your files at this one company, ask the people helping you find contacts at that company whether they have contacts at other companies where you might find work.
Continue to search for places where you want to work. Don’t just focus on one company. As you develop your list of potential hiring companies, you will be able to make greater use of your contacts.
Building New Relationships
Offer to help people. Show an interest what they are doing. People are more willing try to help you when you have helped them. As you build new relationships, those people can introduce you to even more people. By meeting with people who work in jobs that interest you, you may also meet other people who share their interest and, therefore, meet people who share your interest. Networking is more than getting email addresses and phone numbers. It is making friends and developing relationships.
To make a friend, become a friend. Reach out your hand and introduce yourself to people. Smile and ask them small icebreaker questions. For example, it you are at a conference, ask the person how they are enjoying the conference. Ask them whether they find that this conference help them meet new contacts and strengthens their relationships with established connections.
If you want to work in a particular industry, go to where people in that interest work and meet. Do they attend conventions? Do they go to trade shows? Do they support a specific charity? Do they do volunteer work where you can get involved
Don’t forget LinkedIn, but don’t rely on it as your main source of inside contacts.
LinkedIn is not like Facebook. On Facebook, people connect with family and friends. On LinkedIn, people connect with a few friends, but LinkedIn is a business network where the relationships you have are less likely to become an inside contact. Getting connections through LinkedIn can help you expand your contact list quickly. Therefore, don’t forget LinkedIn, but understand its limitations.
