Networking is the Key to Opportunity
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Posted By: Shauntae Jordan on November 17, 2011 Did opportunity knock at your door this morning? I am almost certain that it didn’t. Opportunity did not knock at my door this morning. Instead, I knocked on the door of opportunity! If you want to Make It Happen you no longer can wait on opportunity to find you. You must be willing to find opportunity. According to Merriam-Webster, one of the definitions of network is " the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions; specifically: the cultivation of PRODUCTIVE relationships for employment or business. These associations can be personal relationships with friends, family, and others you meet in an informal gathering. They can also be business relationships you develop with vendors, customers, supervisors, subordinates, and even competitors you encounter during the course of your career. Networking is not a let’s make a deal scenerio on television with big time executes of companies. Where the conclusion of the conversation is: I will have my people call your people. Networking is not about having over 10,000 Facebook friends. Networking is not a one-time incident, but rather a lifelong endeavor. Networking is developing genuine and mutually beneficial relationships. Networking is consistently cited as the Number ONE way to get a new job. According to CareerXRoad's 9th Annual Sources of Hire Study (Feb 2010, PDF) "referrals make up 26.7% of all external hires (new employees hired from outside the organization). The yield for referrals is one hire for every 15 referrals, making this category the most efficient source by far." (Since I know you will ask, "Hires attributed to Job Boards represent 13.2% of external hires.") Those who make the actual hiring decisions would much rather talk to someone who has been recommended by someone they already employs. This is your first reference check, which saves the hiring manager considerable effort sorting through all the resumes and phone calls an advertisement will generate. Here is the great news! Networking is not difficult or a chore. It can be enjoyable and rewarding part of your professional development. You probably don’t know how big your network is already. Have you heard the term six degrees of separation? According to Wikipedia Encyclopedia : Six degrees of separation (also referred to as the "Human Web") refers to the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, "a friend of a friend" statements can be made, on average, to connect any two people in six steps or fewer. For the sake of time I will like to help you develop a list of 3 degrees of seperation. The first degree of seperation are those persons you know personally. Examples: Parents, Siblings, Friends, Doctors, co-workers etc. The second degrees of separation are those persons that you slightly know. These people you may know by association. Your friend’s friend, parents, doctors, lawyers, clients etc. The third degrees of separation are those persons that you would love to get to know. For example you are on a business trip and need a lawyer in Germany. You call your friend who is in Iraq who knows a banker in China, the banker in China knows a lawyer in Germany. Allow networking to be the key to opportunity just in case the knocking doesn’t work. If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Shauntae Jordan
CEO, LIFE COACH, SPEAKER, AUTHOR, SMJ SPEAKS, LLC Winston-Salem State University class of 2002 Member Since May 2011 |
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