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My Dh has been looking for a new job for months. He got one job offer and one job interview through people that he knows. He took the job offer because he needed something, but wants something better.
He says applying online is a waste of time because you need to know someone to get a job these days. Do you agree?
The answer is, "it depends." My brother got a job last month because he knew the right people. We are hiring two employees and they don't have any connections whatsoever with us or anyone who works for us, which is typical of most of the people we hire.
I have never gotten a job by "knowing someone." I started my present job in 2011 and didn't know anyone in the building. As far as online applications go, Careerbuilder, Monster, and any company site that uses the Taleo system is useless. Your best bet is to find the e-mail address of an HR person who works for the company and contact her. College career fairs are great too if you're looking for a professional job. You don't even have to be an alumni of that school. Just print up a bunch of resumes and start passing them out. Also, stop by some businesses in person and ask if they need any help. I got a couple of interviews that way when I was unemployed.
I got my current job by "knowing someone", and DH got his by knowing me. Three years ago, after I'd lost my legal secretarial job, a friend advised me to apply to our local school district (where she is employed) as a "substitute" to get my foot in the door. I originally applied for clerical work, but when they saw my side-line food experience on my application, they had me meet with the cafeteria director, and she hired me on the spot as a food prep/server (pending clearances, of course). Two years later, and I've been promoted to cook. On my nudging, DH applied as a substitute custodian, and has been hired, too, permanently full time (with good pay and benefits). Ten years ago, if you'd told us we'd BOTH be working for the school district our children graduated from, or that we'd even be in these occupations, I would have told you that you were nuts.
No. As a matter of fact, I thought I had a position in the bag. I had worked with the people for three years prior, working on similar projects that I'd be responsible for in the new position. I was friends with many of the people in the group, even had good rapport with the manager I'd report to. I was only away from the company for about a year, so my knowledge was still relatively applicable to their operations. I didn't get the job, it went to someone brand new to the company altogether. What a let down that was. Just goes to show you even when you know EVERYONE who matters, it still doesn't necessarily give you a leg up on the competition.
I think knowing the right people is 80-90% of finding a new job. I spend more than a decent amount of time getting to know different people in different companies/industries, and I am asked out of the blue if I want to interview about 3-4 times per year, and have been consistently for a few years now. Get to know people, and volunteer to help as many people as possible without asking for anything in return. Reciprocity between casual friends is a very powerful tool.
There is a very interesting article that was published a while ago on this. It is worth reading if you can find a copy. From an article on the paper:
"In 1973, a John Hopkins sociologist, Mark Granovetter, published a paper called “The Strength of Weak Ties” in the American Journal of Sociology. In this classic paper, Granovetter argues that innovation often travels most effectively via weak connections. You are likely to already be familiar with the work and ideas of your immediate colleagues and friends, for example. But a colleague that you communicate with only occasionally—say at an annual conference—is more likely to be a source of novel information. Moreover, that distant colleague is going to be more effective at spreading your novel ideas because your close colleagues and friends likely know many of the same people as you do, whereas the distant colleague likely has a very different group of people in his/her professional and social networks."
Every single job I have ever gotten was either through a recruiter or from me applying online. Seriously. Of course, knowing someone helps, but it's no guarantee to secured employment. Why not use an all of the above approach to a job search? I'm unemployed currently, but plan to find employment within a couple months via recruitment, LinkedIn or online applications. I'm optimistic about it. And just because you have a job offer from someone you know doesn't mean that it's the best job for you. It could be, but it doesn't mean that at all. Plus, by taking a job with a new professional network, you expand your network, so it's a good thing.
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