In my last Career Resumes post I talked about your job search competition: other job seekers. Last month on my JibberJobber blog I wrote about “that guy,” the guy who is there and needy when he is in transition, but he disappears after he lands a job.
In the comments, Marc Miller kind of defends them:
What I found is when people work for large companies like IBM and Dell (two major employers here) the environment is totally consuming. They put there heads down and work and work and work…
I agree. Work is all-consuming. I was consumed in all of my jobs. But I didn’t network because I didn’t get it, not because I was consumed.
Knowing what I know now, which is how important a real network is for my career, I would absolutely make time to network. Whether it is within a company or in the community or somewhere else, I would definitely make the time.
Not just because I don’t want to be “that guy,” but because I know that I need my network ready to help me, and between those times of need, I want to help them.
If you disappear between job searches it is only because you don’t understand what networking is, or how to network. If you did, you would make the time to do it.
