Professional and industry associations and societies are usually plentiful and very useful for job seekers. They can be the key to a shorter job search next time by expanding your personal network.
They can help you in more traditional situations when you add the association's name to your resume (in a professional or industry affiliations category, for example), and that name is used as a keyword by a recruiter searching through an applicant database on a Web search engine.
Alumni/ae Associations Don't forget your college alumni/ae association as a useful resource (your high school, too, if they have an alumni/ae network). You may be able to use the career center and also tap into the network represented by all the other people who attended the same school. It's also an opportunity to connect, maybe, with old friends.
If you don't know the URL for your college or university Web site, find it in the University of Texas directory of U.S. Higher Education, Maricopa Community College's Community College Web, or Chris Redmond's list of Canadian Universities. For a college or university outside of the U.S. and Canada, check out the Yahoo! Web site for that country. Associations can provide many resources that help you find the opportunities in the Hidden Job Market:
A. Association Web sites - check out the association Web site, if there is one. It can be a treasure trove of useful material: job listings, conferences, meeting and event calendars, member directories, news, emailed newsletters, etc.
B. Meetings/events - if it is a national organization with a local chapter, or a local organization, go to a couple of meetings (don't stop at just one meeting!) to see who is there and what they do.
C. Conferences/trade shows - check out the exhibitors to see who they are, what they do, what their new products and services might be, and, with luck, employment opportunities they may have.
D. Member directories - think of them as catalogs of potential employers and/or potential coworkers. They enable you to "shop" for your next employer.
Many associations make member directories available on their Web sites, although some may be restricted to "members only." It may be worth the investment in a membership to get access, depending on how useful the group is to you long term. Again, as with trade show programs, pay particular attention to those with the biggest ads.
Tip: Don't neglect the local Chamber of Commerce! Most communities have one, and they typically print a member directory as an aid to members doing business with other members. See if you can get a current copy. Or, see if it is available on the Chamber Web site. (Check this directory of Chamber of Commerce Web sites for Chambers in your area, just one of the great ideas in Barbara Ling's eBook Make Them Beg to Hire You.)
E. Committees - the best way to meet colleagues at other companies (where you may soon be working) is to join one of the association's committees. At a minimum, it will give you people with whom you can talk when you go to the next meeting. At best, it will give you visibility with everyone in the organization and the opportunity to demonstrate your expertise as well as establishing a good reputation.
F. Online discussion groups - there must be hundreds of thousands of email discussion groups, each based on a topic. Find a topic that interests you, and join the list. They can be an excellent source of information and also mis-information, so be cautious about believing everything you read.
If they allow members to post comments or questions, "lurk" for a while (just monitor the postings without participating) to see what the rules of conduct seem to be. When/if you decide to participate, be sure that your posting is relevant to the subject and well-written (good grammar and spelling).
Find searchable lists of groups to join at Google Groups (groups.google.com), Yahoo Groups, and Topica.com. As usual, be very careful of your privacy when you join any of these groups.
Use a throw-away e-mail address for participation (e.g. a Yahoo or HotMail account), protecting your privacy when you register for your account.
You'll have the greatest success with most groups, online and offline, by being a resource to others. If you pursue others for assistance but don't provide assistance (or provide poor assistance) in return, you don't present yourself as an ideal co-worker. Don't be afraid to ask for help, but be careful if that's all you do.
Whatever you do, don't send a "nastygram" to someone on the list! People have lost job opportunities because they have demonstrated an apparently nasty temper in an open discussion.
Tip: If you wouldn't be comfortable having your mother, grandmother, or BOSS read your message on the front page of the New York Times, don't hit the "send" button! These messages are very public!
G. The media and business press - great sources of information! Look for companies that are entering into new markets, announcing new products and services, hiring a new senior manager or CEO, and/or buying large ads or commercials. They may need more people, even if they haven't announced or advertised their expanding needs.
Most business publications research and collect information on businesses in their area which are frequently published in "lists" (e.g. every edition of the weekly Boston Business Journal contains a list of the top 25 somethings in the Boston area - top 25 law firms, top 25 hospitals, top 25 advertising agencies, etc.). These are collected in an annual book of lists which is very handy. Every year Fortune magazine does a list of the largest employers in the U.S. - the "Fortune 500." Every year, Forbes magazine does it's own list of the largest employers. Think of those lists as additional catalogs of potential employers.
Find local and national business press at Abyz News Links. Just pick the country and state or province. For media in the U.S. only, check here.
Tip: Many trade journals have classified ads, including employment opportunities, both in print and on their Web sites.
H. Join a job hunting support group, or create one of your own - members of these groups provide moral support and assistance to each other as well an extennsion of that critical personal network. Need a contact inside a specific company? Ask the members of your group if they know anyone there. Need another set of eyes to look at your resume? Ask the members of your group for help. Of course, you can also demonstrate your intelligence, professionalism, ethics, experience, etc. by helping members of the group in return.
It probably goes without saying, but don't be a "user." Look for ways you can help other members, and the help will come back to you. Support groups can be a win/win situation, and, sometimes, the critical link between you and the perfect job in the Hidden Job Market.
To create a support group of your own, check out the excellent advice in Through the Brick Wall: How to Job Hunt in a Tight Market by Kate Wendleton. And, Barbara Sher's Wishcraft: How to Get What You Really Want provides a how-to guide for creating your own "success team" - a small group of people who mentor (encourage and nag) each other to reach their individual goals - excellent for job searching or help reaching any other goal you have. Your success team is your own personal board of directors, and you are their's.
Ask the local state Employment Office for assistance in finding an existing support group, or check with local churches to see if they have any groups meeting in their facilities. The Wall Street Journal's Career Journal Web site has started a calendar of job seeker support group meetings, organized by state within the U.S. Check it out - Career Journal Calendar of Career Events.
Warning: don't spend all your job search time with your job search support group! Sometimes they can become an unproductive pity party. Have agendas, action items, and a focus on positive action to find a job.
I. Get in touch with former bosses, colleagues, and co-workers. Hopefully you've stayed in touch with them, anyway, but, even if you haven't stayed in touch, track them down and give them a call. We've spoken with many job seekers who got a job with a former boss who had also moved on to another job or who found out about a job from a former co-worker. It works!
J. Use a personal resume Web page - keep it up to date and available on the Web all the time. It will need to be "hosted" by a Web server computer so that it can be visible to search engines and recruiters.
You don't need a razzle dazzle display of your technical expertise. In fact, it might be more effective if it is simple so that the search engines can "digest" it. You do need to pay attention to keywords and other search engine "optimization" techniques. See our section the Internet Resume.
In this tough job market, recruiters are inundated with resumes for every job opening that is posted. Many, perhaps a majority, of those resumes are from "unqualified" applicants (i.e. their experience and education don't meet the minimum job requirements). This makes the recruiters' jobs more difficult - finding the "qualified" applicants in the blizzard of unqualified ones. Consequently, many recruiters are posting fewer jobs. They are spending their time, more effectively, by searching the Web for the resumes of people who are qualified for the job openings they do have.
A personal resume Web page will be there, waiting for a searching recruiter to find it.
Tip: You MUST protect your privacy! Keep detailed contact information (your name, home address, and phone number) off your personal resume Web page. If you have a job, your employer will not be pleased that you are job hunting and may fire you if they find your resume online. So, make your resume Web page a "cyber safe" one!
K. Teach a class - if there is community-based adult education provided somewhere in your area, see if you can teach something for them. Get a copy of their course catalog, and see what they are offering. Is there a subject you could teach that they don't offer but might want to offer? You may be able to offer a one- or two-session "workshop" or "seminar" if you have a topic that is interesting. Just be sure that it is a topic you know very well and one that demonstrates your knowledge and professionalism.
A local college or university may need an "adjunct" instructor for specific subjects, and may be open to someone "outside" the faculty providing the instruction. Don't expect to support yourself and your family on the money made from teaching these classes, but do expect to be paid something for your time and effort.
Focus on teaching a subject that demonstrates your professional knowledge and skill, and presents you in the best light as a valuable addition to a potential employer's staff.
L. Give a speech - associations and societies have meetings, and meetings usually need speakers. If you can talk knowledgeably about a topic of interest to the group, they may be interested in having you speak. You may only need a 30 or 45 minute talk, probably with a few minutes to answer audience questions. Just be sure that it is a subject you know very well. Groups like Toastmasters and National Speakers Association can provide you with information, guidance, and practice giving your speech.
Focus on speaking about a subject that demonstrates your professional knowledge and skill, and presents you in the best light as a valuable addition to a potential employer's staff.
M. Write an article - author ⇒ authority!
Not comfortable talking in front of a group? You can also establish your command of a topic by writing an article that appears in a publication read by your target employer (or employer group). Most professional and industry associations have newsletters and/or Web sites that need content, even some businesses (isn't there a small newsletter-type publication included with your phone bill?).Contact the editor or Webmaster to find out what they need.
An article doesn't need to be long. Just be sure that it is accurate, spelled correctly, and uses good grammar before you submit it. Best - have someone with good writing and spelling skills look at your article to be sure it makes sense before you submit it.
Focus on writing about a subject that demonstrates your professional knowledge and skill, and presents you in the best light as a valuable addition to a potential employer's staff.
N. Write a book! - author ⇒ authority!
Writing a book takes much more time than writing an aritcle, obviously, but the payoff can be bigger as well. Then, you can attach your resume to a copy of your book, and get much more attention!
If you want to write a book but don't have a publisher or agent beating down your door, consider self-publishing. It's a quicker way to get your book in print, too. MANY famous (and rich) authors started as self-published. The "guru" of self-publishing is Dan Poynter of ParaPublishing.com - check out his Web site, a gold mine of free and for-fee information for new authors.
O. Maintaining Your Network
Focus on making it grow - consciously try to meet new people, outside of your new employer's organization.
List everything you did and everyone you met (who learned your name) during your job search. Count up the number of names and determine how much larger you can make it in the next 12 months, be reasonably agressive (if you met 50 people, adding 5 people is only 10% growth, less than 1 new person every 2 months, which should be easily achievable). Don't make yourself crazy, but don't make it so easy that it doesn't get done.
Look at the number of things you did (meetings, articles, associations). Prioritize them according to how useful they were to your job search. Focus on the ones with the biggest payback to you. Discard the ones that were more effort than they were worth.
Make time for at least one "networking" phone call a week to someone you met in your hidden job market campaign (one of those people from your list above). Find out how they are doing and see if there is anything that you can do for them. Meet them for a cup of coffee or lunch or an association meeting. Share news and insight. Have fun!
Keep that personal resume Web site up to date, but indicate on it that you are not in the job market (see the bottom of the sample ASCII resume).
Stay in those professional/industry organizations! Use the priority list you developed (above) to determine the ones to keep active and the ones that go "on the back burner." Add the ones that you just plain enjoy.
Go to the conferences, workshops, seminars, and monthly meetings. Stay on the committees, if you can (at least one of them). You will continue your professional growth, and maintain those important connections. Some employers will pay for your membership, too. If not, and the meeting cost is high, pay for it yourself (as an investment in your career) if you can afford it. If you can't afford it, ask one of your colleagues if you can attend a meeting as their guest.
Continue writing, teaching, and speaking. You will be more successful professionally if you can write well and are comfortable speaking in front of groups. So, consider this professional growth as well as professional networking.
Continue to meet with members of your job hunt support group, probably less often. As they land their jobs, you will gain insight and connections into other organizations, expanding your network even more. When everyone has a job, continue meeting periodically (maybe monthly or quarterly), and have everyone bring a guest once in a while (quarterly?) so that the network continues to grow.
Picture yourself calling up your colleagues from an association's program committee the next time you launch a job search, and asking them if they know of any good job openings. Or, even better, picture yourself receiving a phone call from a member network asking you to accept a job at their company! It happens!!
