With Thanksgiving here and the December holidays soon upon us, many job hunters are finding that companies are delaying hiring until the new year.
There are a variety of reasons for this, from vacation schedules of people involved in the hiring process, budgets already being expended and an avoidance of adding any workforce expenses that can be delayed until the first quarter of the new year.
[See: Tips for Surviving a Career Transition.]
That doesn’t mean now is the time to slack off from your job search! This time of year is all about networking!
Whether it is parties and events with extended family to year-end work or professionally related holiday parties, now is the perfect opportunity to turn small talk into active networking that can, in turn, uncover career possibilities and the connections necessary to make them into actual opportunities for your professional advancement.
While everyone talks about networking, not everyone does such a good job of it. In a recent conversation, one job hunter complained to your author that his very large network is useless because no one has stepped up to help him. He spoke of an individual whom he knew to be “high up” at a prime target company who claimed that all he could do was pass his resume over to human resources, and nothing has happened since. But he hadn’t primed his contact to figure out who the hiring manager was and to contact that person on his behalf.
This job hunter told lots of people he was looking for work, but said no one was coming up with suggestions of jobs to which he should apply, or anything else of value. Rather than do the work of figuring out who could introduce him to hiring managers or other contacts, he unsuccessfully tried to shift the onus of his work to those who couldn’t possibly do that spade work for him.
The problem, of course, is that this individual was asking for help, but not networking. And he wasn’t doing the groundwork necessary to motivate people to help him or to enable them to do so effectively even if they were sympathetic to his cause.
[See: The 25 Highest-Paying Jobs That Don’t Require a College Degree.]
Networking is all about relationship-building. It is critical to remember that networking is all about mutuality. It is about learning about your networking partner and what they do, how they do it and ways you can help them in their endeavors. Networking is about building trust and paying it forward. When you get around to reaching out to networking partners for help, it should be in an already established relationship context.
People are, after all, typically inclined to do more for people they know well and trust than they are for perfect strangers who just come up to them demanding or expecting their assistance.
Now is the time to establish and build relationships. Actually, anytime you are with other people, either individually or within a group setting, is a perfect time to get to know them — or get to know them better. Family gatherings, office end-of-year or holiday parties and other social events are all opportunities for you to actively listen to others. And take the time to let conversations marinate over chitchat before you dive into substantive, heavy topics.
Don’t be stymied when you meet new people. It’s easy to be caught off guard when you rub shoulders with someone you haven’t met before and they say “What’s up?” or “How are you doing?” Don’t misinterpret casual greetings for more or less than the pleasantries that they are.
Come prepared to talk about easy, noncontroversial topics. Weather, sports, curious oddities that you saw online. You might talk about the greatness of your local sports icons, the tasty appetizer you have in your hand or how you both came to be standing together at the event you are attending. But by all means, stay away from topics like the current polarized political environment, regardless of how passionately you hold your views!
Be caring and curious, open and giving of yourself. Few are the people who don’t relish being asked about themselves, their families or their off-hours activities. Remember that networking is about the other person even more than it is about you and your needs.
When you ask open-ended questions that can’t be answered with “yes” or “no” you can extend your conversation and learn about things you have in common with another person. The more of those pieces of information you learn about and share, the greater the bond becomes between you and your networking partner.
[See: 8 Ways Millennials Can Build Leadership Skills.]
Remember that you need to earn the right to ask for help. What you can ask someone for is dependent on the nature of your relationship. And the deeper your relationship becomes with your networking partners, the more you are entitled to ask of them and expect that they will come to your aid.
Now, party on and build the relationships that will serve you well in the new year to come.
Happy hunting!
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5 Tips for Networking Success originally appeared on usnews.com
