Networking will find you your next job

Nigel Frank are one of the larger CRM recruitment agencies in the Dynamics market place. They do a yearly survey and persuade people to fill in the survey by offering the winner a Surface or some other gadget.

I remember one of my previous employers saying customers only ever replied to questionnaires if there was a chance of winning a gadget.

The data is collected fro 17636 Dynamics Professionals in 130 countries, you can download the document here. The results are for the Microsoft Dynamics Industry so it could be different for your industry.

30 percent Dynamic workers are using personal contacts to find new roles, so this should be some incentive to get networking in person and in LinkedIn if you want to move jobs.

I was quite surprised that recruitment consultants only contributed 27 percent but this must be bumped up through people using Job Boards because these are usually recruitment consultants posting those positions.

LinkedIn I should think is responsible for people contacting companies directly and I should think this will grow in the future as will companies doing direct recruitment

The Importance of Networking

If you are one of those people who doesn't get networking or feels it's not worth the effort then consider the facts shown above. Personal contacts and Business networking were responsible for 49.6 percent of new jobs. Half the people moving jobs last year in the dynamics industry did so using their personal connections or through business networking.

The advantage of cultivating a network will allow potential jobs within your network of contacts may reach out to you and mention they have a new job coming up, allowing you to snap up the job before anyone else knows it is available.

Your network will give you the lead on jobs, you will also have a great reference because either they know you directly or one of your network has recommended you for the job.

If there are a number of candidates for a job but one of them has a personal reference (e.g. a contact in your network) from someone who already works at the company, this is a massive advantage because this is a reference from someone the company trusts.

Job Finding You

Recruitment consultants are great at using LinkedIn to find potential candidates and then bait the fishing line and drop it into the email/LinkedIn mailbox. I like the cheeky, do you know anyone who would be interested in this job...nudge nudge, I've looked at your profile and you would be a great match!

Recruitment agents are cheeky/clever, well the good ones are I suspect. If you want to be found then you need to have your profile up to date with the keywords in.

Finding the Job Yourself

The network should be your first method because you may find jobs which are not yet advertised, you will be saving the company recruitment fees and they can hire someone they already know.

There are jobs on LinkedIn, Rockstar365 (and other job sites) and you can search on the various job board sites or directly with the recruiters like Nigel Frank (who I mention just because it was their survey data which prompted the article).

Networking can be Motivating

Don't think of Networking as a choir or necessary evil. Networking can be enjoyable, interesting when connecting with new people, listening to their experiences and ideas. A great career motivator is meeting someone who's has been successful in your area of interest.

Creating connections on LinkedIn can be very beneficial, particularly with the articles people in your network are sharing, it's a great way to keep up to date and interact with your network. The sharing of articles also allows you to share your own content with your network and showcase your knowledge/skills in the community.

What does it mean

For all those people who don't understand the benefits of networking or think of networking as handing out business cards at conferences. The evidence in this survey is saying you have a 50 percent change of getting your next job through your personal or business contacts. Having a bigger network will increase your chances of finding a job within your network.

The results show it easier to connect to people in your industry with the internet and LinkedIn, being active and creating and sharing relevant content will increase your visibility/credibility to the people in your network. When a new opportunity arises your network will work effectively and bring new jobs to your attention (if you want that).

The take away point is - make sure you are networking with relevant people in your industry because they may have your dream job for you in the future.

Here are a few more interesting articles on the subject

NETWORKING BRILLIANTLY CAN HELP YOU FIND YOUR NEXT JOB

How to Network Your Way to Your New Job

robot picture Arielle Nadel