Nicole's Nuanced Networking Ideas

You just applied online to your dream job.  So now you wait to hear back from the recruiter or hiring manager, right?  Sorry, I'm afraid not.  This is because you have to be proactive prior to applying to the job. You need to set yourself up where you know some of the important hiring managers and recruiting professionals working on filling the job.  If you are unable to find out who exactly is responsible for the hiring, you need to find someone who works at the company you applied to.  This is when you use that thing Al Gore invented. There are so many places on the Internet to find the key stakeholders in hiring for your dream job. I'm not talking about cyber stalking people but just some reconnaissance so you make sure your application is seen.  

Here are the top 5 few places to find people who are hiring:

1. LinkedIn has replaced the bulging Rolodex of yesteryear.  The best feature of LinkedIn is the introduction function. Use it.  It's a handshake online and it's brilliant.
2. Google
3. Facebook
4. Twitter
5. A phone book.  Call into the company and ask who is in charge of the posting you see.  If you can't get through the receptionist, try a few days later or around 4 pm when people are in good moods because work is almost done for the day.

The saying, "It's not what you know, it's who you know" is significant.  It helps if you know the person's name who is hiring, but it's not mandatory.  You just need to know someone to help you get your foot in the door.  If your uncle works at MTV (an antiquated channel that used to play music videos) and you want to work in broadcasting, call your uncle.  Use nepotism if you have to.  Have you seen "Lost in Translation" written and directed by Sofia Coppola?  Do you think she was able to film that movie on her own? Probably not, after all, her dad directed "The Godfather".  She most likely asked him for some help and as smart and talented as she is, she used Francis Ford Coppola's connections and clout to get her movie done in one of the most expensive cities in the world.  She won an Oscar for her writing that screenplay. She deserves all the accolades and nothing is wrong for asking her dad for help.  Her dad is a producer on that film so that illustrates that a bit of nepotism never hurt anyone.

But, what if you don't have an uncle who works at MTV?  That's okay, use the following 5 places to get your foot in the door:

1. Alumni associations
2. Internships
3. Mentoring programs (mentormatchmaker.com and mentspot.com)
4. Your friends, their friends and their friends too
5. Sororities and Fraternities

Time to do some research before applying to your dream job.  If you haven't seen a phone book in awhile, you can call your phone company and they will send you one for your area.  They do still exist.  I just received one and used it as a place to perch my monitor.  So it is helpful in many ways.  Just don't forget using it to call into companies to find the people who can hire you. Then, once you get their names, you can send them invites to LinkedIn and Facebook and voila a new job is coming your way.