Malcolm Gladwell & The Job Search

Pamela Slim had a nice post about Malcolm Gladwell’s work and his categorizing of three different types of people you might network with (quoted from her blog):
Connectors: “These people who link us up with the world, who bridge Omaha and Sharon, who introduce us to our social circles – these people on whom we rely [...]

tags: Career Discussions, Networking author: Jason Alba comments: No Comments

“Tell Me About Yourself…”

Have you ever heard this question?
It can come up in a number of different scenerios, and your response can be great or it can be the end of the relationship.
I don’t want a novel, I don’t want something irrelevant, I want something that draws me in.  I want something that is thoughtful and makes me [...]

tags: Career Discussions, Interviews, Networking author: Jason Alba comments: No Comments

Today: Call a Job Seeker

Whether you are in a job search or not, I invite you to call a job seeker.
That’s right… out of the blue, pick up the phone and have a real conversation.
You could say something like:
I was just thinking of you and wanted to see how your job search was going. Is there anything I [...]

tags: Career Discussions, Networking, job search author: Jason Alba comments: No Comments

“Can you help me?”… Um, no.

Can you help me?
Seriously, can you give me a hand?
Actually, what I really want is an introduction.
Any introduction will do.  Oh wait, how about an introduction to that really, really big company.
Please?
No?  WHY NOT????
I see this ALL THE TIME.  Here’s an example, from a LinkedIn Group:

I can’t help this person.
Even though I immediately thought about [...]

tags: Career Discussions, Networking, job search author: Jason Alba comments: No Comments

Move on from a bad relationship

I remember a few years ago I had a very sour experience with someone who thought I owed them a great deal of gratitude and credit.  The story is really twisted but I remember being on the phone listening to this person spew negative on me for about 15 minutes.
The spew was unfounded and I [...]

tags: Career Discussions, Career Education, Networking, job search author: Jason Alba comments: No Comments

Don’t Network “too much”

I read some great posts recently about networking “too much.” I thought it was a weird idea since job seekers are supposed to network a lot… that’s where the next job will likely come from, right?
The posts (I wish I could find them again) talked about two different aspects:

Doing the easy parts of networking [...]

tags: Career Discussions, Career Education, Fun With a Purpose, Networking author: Jason Alba comments: 1 Comment

Job Seekers: How Will You Be Remembered?

When I was a hiring manager at my last company I had a number of times when I was looking for talent.  One particular round of hiring stands out from all others.  I interviewed about 20 people.  This was a long time ago but I remember many of the people I interviewed.  They were MEMORABLE [...]

tags: Career Discussions, Career Education, Interviews, Networking author: Jason Alba comments: No Comments

Real Networking for Professionals in Transition

I am at conferences a lot. I speak on networking (amongst other things).
But when I am at the conference I am not particularly inclined to… network.  Sound weird?
Maybe its because I’m more of an online networker…. ?  Maybe I’m an introvert? Who knows why… but networking doesn’t necessarily come easy to me.
It doesn’t come easy [...]

tags: Networking, job search author: Jason Alba comments: No Comments

Job Seekers: Follow-up

Keith Ferrazzi (Never Eat Alone) wrote a post a while back telling us how to be better than 95% of our competition.  He simply said we just need to follow-up.
Today, Friday, figure out what leads you have out there, who you have contacted in the last 6 months, who who you should send a quick, [...]

tags: Career Discussions, Networking, job search author: Jason Alba comments: No Comments

Networking Sucks For A Reason

Check out Dan Schawbel’s short article titled Avoid networking with these bad business contacts.  Dan lists the following (read the article for his descriptions):

The user.
The pessimist.
The big talker.
The self-promoter.
The social climber.

I’m sure you can come up with your own list of types of people you can’t stand to network with.  If you hate “networking,” perhaps [...]

tags: Career Discussions, Career Education, Networking author: Jason Alba comments: No Comments