Link: The value of networking
Yahoo! Hotjobs had an article that was also printed in the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday about networking and how it helps during a job search. Building your own personal network of contacts can be absolutely invaluable to finding a job and getting hired slightly easier. As in some of our other posts, there are many things that having a strong network can do for you. The best things are:
- Get your resume in front of the hiring manager without having to go through a recruiter
- Get you recommended vs. the job description before you even apply
- Give you an inside track on what the interview will be like and to whom you will be talking
“Building up a network of references is really an important currency, but it’s just as important to stay in contact with them. You can’t not talk to someone for three years and then just call them up out of the blue asking for a job.”
It’s hard to just start telling people how to network right. You need to build relationships with your co-workers, peers and even people your associated with (I got a job offer from one of the guys I used to buy parts from when my startup was sinking). It needs emphasis that networking is a two-way street. You need to go out of your way to help others when you can. If you constantly abuse your “network”, they will cease to be your advocates. Silicon Valley is actually a relatively small place. It used to be you always had one or two degrees of separation from someone who worked at Lockheed Martin. Realize that typically, technical people stay in the same or relatively similar markets (in terms of products), you’ll run into people again and again. Burning bridges never helped someone get a job.