So Many Friends Out of a Job!
A friend invited me to breakfast this coming Friday. He didn’t give me a reason, but I know why. He’s out of a job. Again. Again he wants some help, especially with introductions. I now get two or three calls a week from people looking for work, some, like this man, for the second time in about a year.
I feel honored by these calls. But a part of me also dreads them. I fear that what I can give will be too little, or seem so. I worry that I have gone to my network contacts so often, asking them to make time for another friend who is looking for work, that I risk wearing out my welcome. And I must engage in the unpleasant networking calculation of whether to spend a precious job hunt chit on this person or save it for another.
Still, now is the time to be there for people, and even more so for those who have been there for us in the past. When I can help someone, it is a pleasure. Better, it’s deeply rewarding. I must keep reminding myself that I can’t be expected to succeed at helping them all and that all I can do is my best, however feeble and disappointing that may be to some.
Identifying how you can help can be challenging. Here are some things you can do:
1> Introduce the jobseeker to a potential employer. This, of course, is what he most wants and in this environment the hardest to do. An introduction to a good information source, especially one with a lot of contacts comes in a close second. I try provide everyone who comes to me for help with a job hunt with a least one introduction.
2> Review a resume. I am always amazed at the number of resumes I see that mention responsibilities but leave out accomplishments. Equally surprising is the lack of customization to a specific opportunity.
3> Provide information. You may know things about a person, position, company, or industry that will help speed a job search.
4> Rehearse. You can help the jobseekers figure out what to say about aspects of their work history they find it awkward to explain or concerns about a new position they finds it awkward to ask.
5> Let them vent. You can be a safe place for them to vent their frustrations about what happened at a former employer or the situation they are in.
6> Encourage and support. You can call them from time to time to see how they are doing. I can assure you that almost no one else does.
If you are a networker, you are in the job hunt business for your contacts. Just as you are always looking for leads for your firm, you must always be looking for job openings for your out-of-work contacts. Especially now.
Do any of you readers have an example of a creative way you helped a network contact or that someone else helped you with a job search?
April 8th, 2009 at 10:59 PM
I feel like at this point waiting and doing nothing is the best way to look for a job. Right now you may get offered a mediocre job with low pay but in 4-6 months the jobless will be calling the shots. As fast as this thing took a dive, it could also pick up. My plan is to tough it out possibly through the summer and then go hard on networking.
Any thoughts?
April 9th, 2009 at 5:17 AM
John
Knowing nothing about your personal circumstance, it’s hard to know what to say. You know how fast you will be running through your asset base. While toughing it out is there something you can do to bring in some cash that you would like to do and may not be able to do later? To enhance your qualifications? I don’t know your field. There are a few jobs to be had in most fields.
Gook luck,
Ford Harding
April 9th, 2009 at 7:42 AM
Ford-
GREAT post! You might consider turning this one into an article.
For #1 below there are several jobs open currently posted in the Design and Construction Network (a LinkedIn group http://www.linkedin.com/groupInvitation?gid=926787). Just thought it might be a helpful link to pass along. It is a tough market.
Have a great morning!
Tim
April 9th, 2009 at 8:10 AM
Tim
I don’t know if John is in the design professions, but if not this will certainly be helpful to someone. Thanks.
Ford Harding
April 9th, 2009 at 8:30 AM
A reader submitted the following comment:
My husband has observed that he only hears from male former colleagues when they are out of work and need his help. But women colleagues, he noticed, are more apt to network in good times and bad. I wonder if this is the case with others.
What have others found?
April 9th, 2009 at 12:21 PM
Another friend and reader submitted the following comment:
I hope this note finds you well. I enjoyed your blog this morning. I too am finding many new friends reaching out as they discover themselves “in transitions.” It is satisfying to help but enlightening when they land somewhere and don’t return calls. I don’t like being selective about who to help, even if type and intensity of assistance differs from person to person. We all should “pay forward” the help each of us has received in the past. Yet one can get a bit cynical.
All of us who have helped others find a job can identify with this comment. This reader is a fine person and will help the next person who comes along. He is not a cynic by nature, but we can all understand his frustration. You can’t go all out for all people all of the time, even if you want to. And some of the help you provide will go unappreciated. When this happens, I remind myself that if helping someone and getting no thanks in return is the worst thing that happens today, it’s a pretty good day. That’s my cynicism countering thought.
Ford Harding
April 10th, 2009 at 10:04 AM
In years past, I’ve also suggested a recruiter or two to friends who call me looking for work. But this can sometimes hurt friends. Particularly if it’s a recruiter who gets paid only if they find the right candidate. So, now ABC company might have to pay an incremental fee to hire my friend. Yet the friend might not have the oppty if not for the recruiter…
April 10th, 2009 at 12:29 PM
Steve
Yes, it is important to distinguish between contingency fee recruiters, who only get paid if the candidate they submit gets hired, and retained fee recruiters who charge a percent of the expected first year’s compensation of the position whether or not the client hires anyone they present.
The latter tend to do searches for higher level positions. They are generally reluctant to spend time with job seekers, unless it is someone influential, because doing so uses up a lot of time they don’t get paid for.
Contingency fee recruiters are more open to meetings with job seekers, because they can get another resume out of it to pass to the client–but if the client hires the person, the recruiter will claim a fee. Some clients will decline to look at candidates coming from this source, because they don’t want to pay a fee.
The job seeker needs to know which kind of recruiter she is talking with. You will want to, too, in order to advise the job-seeker, and because your decisions about whether to refer the job-seeker and how to do it should be influenced by the needs and interests of the recruiter as much as by those of the job-seeker. For networking to work, the meeting has to have value for both parties.
The exception is when someone owes you a big chit, and agrees to the interview with the job seeker largely as a favor to you. Don’t burn those chits lightly!
Thanks for the comment.
Ford Harding
April 10th, 2009 at 6:24 PM
I lost my job during the dot com bust era (Sept, 2001). It took me three months to land into another job. I started a yahoo group at that time (2002) called “jobsfromfriends” and started circulating job requirements that I or other members come to know about in our firms. It has been 7 years since I started this group and the memberships rose from mere 10 to over 300 now.
I get emails once in a while from people who found their next jobs posted on the group. The point I am trying to make is, network as much as possible and let others know about your situation. If you are looking for a job or if you know of a job opportunity, send it to your contacts and request them to pass along. I agree with Ford that especially in these times is when we need to support each other in whatever capacity possible.
BTW, Great blog Ford! I totally enjoy reading your posts.
Good luck,
-Venkat
April 10th, 2009 at 8:11 PM
Venkat:
What a wonderful thing you have done! It makes a great story. Thanks for sharing it and thanks for the encouragement.
Ford Harding