Published Thursday, July 17, 2008

Job seekers encouraged to be networking 24-7

The Times-Herald

If you're looking for a job, don't limit yourself to posting your resume on the Internet or answering classified ads, industry professionals advised people attending the Wednesday night Job Networking Seminar organized by the Newnan-Peachtree City Area Employer Committee.

What you should spend your time doing, they said, is networking.

"You should be networking 24-7, anywhere and everywhere, with every person you meet," advised Dave O'Farrell of O'Farrell Career Management.

That's because the vast majority of job opportunities aren't advertised, he said.

"It's the hidden job market," he said.

About 80 percent of jobs are found through networking, while events such as job fairs result in only 6 percent of hires.

That's why the organizers of Wednesday's event were extremely disappointed when about 40 of the registrants walked out when they discovered it wasn't a traditional job fair.

"They just don't get it," said Judith Carr, a member of the Employer Committee.

O'Farrell said that if you aren't willing to go outside of your comfort zone and network, your chances of landing a plum job are bleak.

More than 83 percent of the workers in the U.S. are employed by small or medium-sized companies, O'Farrell said. But the vast majority of advertised jobs are placed by the larger companies.

That means that there's a very large number of people competing for a handful of advertised positions, he explained. The "hidden job market" is a much better route to follow, he advised.

It's not that jobs aren't available, he said.

"Right now, there are 8.5 million jobs and 7.5 million job seekers," he said. The mismatch is due to the fact that "the skills aren't lined up," he said, and because most of the available jobs are not advertised.

"Your odds are much better if you go where no one else is looking," he said. "Target those small, service-providing companies and use networking as your main job search strategy."

Job seekers should also know exactly what kind of position they're looking for, O'Farrell said.

"You can't get there if you don't know where you're going," O'Farrell said.

He illustrated the point with a snatch of dialogue from Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland." When Alice comes to a fork in the road, she asks the Cheshire Cat, "Which should I take?"

"Where do you want to go?" the Cheshire Cat asks Alice.

"I don't know," she answers.

"Then it doesn't matter," is the Cheshire Cat's answer.

"Formulate a clear picture of your ideal job," said O'Farrell. "You should develop a Position Objective Statement."

When going to an interview, dress "elegant casual," he advised.

O'Farrell showed a picture of two men, side by side, and asked people which man probably earned the higher salary. A frumpily-dressed, bearded man rated about a $30,000 salary from those in attendance, while the sharply-dressed, well-groomed man probably earned about $70,000, they estimated.

O'Farrell then revealed that the two pictures were of the same man, taken on the same day. He just changed clothes, got a haircut, shaved his beard, smiled, and took his hands out of his pockets.

"And you just gave this man a $40,000 raise," said O'Farrell.

So much of success hinges upon surface appearances, he said. Prospective employers "are going to make up their minds about you very quickly," he said, "and they're just waiting for you to hang yourself."

Applicants usually do, he said.

Studies have shown that the impression people give to others during the first 15 seconds and the impression they give after 20 minutes is "rated the same," he said.

"So be very careful about that first impression you give," he said. "It only takes six-tenths of a second for someone to make up their mind about you."