Anyone who has entered the job market in the last 6 -10 months knows that the market and the job hunting process is vastly different then the last time they experienced it and unfortunately recruiters that many people have depended on in the past for advice are no more educated in the new methods and process of the job hunt than they are. It is not really the recruiters fault since in this new job market they are no longer one of the most important factors in the successful job search and they are not accustomed to teaching people to find a job without them. It is certainly not in their economic interest to do so. Since nobody understood the changes in the processes everybody entering the overcrowded candidate pool started looking using the same methods they have for years consequently almost overnight the average length of a job search grew from two months to 6+.

The old method was relatively simple and required no real skill. You wrote an average resume, posted it online, and contacted a couple recruiters and a few days a week you responded to job board and company website postings. If you had a decent track record, education and current skills you were working in less than two months. Eighteen months ago 80% of jobs were filled through these traditional methods and 20% were filled through networking. Today and for the foreseeable future the numbers are reversed. This year and next only 25% of job hunters will find work through recruiters, online resources and traditional applications. Seventy-five percent of jobs will be acquired through networking. Unfortunately most job hunters possibly including you are spending 75% or more of their time in efforts that yield the poorest results. If this is you than you must immediately refocus your efforts towards intense networking.

Networking is hard and takes a lot of time and work. With the exception of highly experienced sales people who are trained in and comfortable with cold calls and starting conversations with complete strangers nobody likes it. Unless you want to still be on the marked in another six months sending out hundreds of resumes and not even getting responses you need to learn to network. So how do you do it? Read a lot. Bookstores and the internet are full of easy to find resources. Use LinkedIn for all it is worth. It is the best professional networking tool available. Plenty of networking tips and instruction is available on the site. The LinkedIn group “Linked Strategies” has information and frequent webinars on the effective use of LinkedIn for the job seeker. I am biased but I really believe the most effective thing to do is hire a coach who knows networking, will teach you and help you manage the effort. Contrary to myth you do not need to spend thousands on a good coach. This is very important and I want to help so please feel free to send me questions and I will try to help. I can’t coach for free but if you have read my blog and many post you know I will try to help.