One day I was talking about networking with a fellow job seeker. John was an amazing networker and probably had “lunches” and “breakfasts” about 4 times a day. He didn’t eat much, but he was using his time effectively to get in front of a network contact, just him and them, with no interruptions.
During our conversation John and I both commented on how we LOVED the job search – it was FUN. I had gotten to the point where I almost dreaded the thought of having another cubicle-job again… secluded, doing work, etc.
Don’t get me wrong – my job search was a failure, and usually I was miserable. But something had clicked somewhere along the line and it changed. It happened after I understood what Keith Ferrazzi was talking about in Never Eat Alone. When I really started networking – for relationships, not numbers, I was much less miserable.
I went from a lonely, secluded and miserable in my job search to doing something I learned I really enjoyed. It wasn’t just meeting and talking with people, it was helping people.
If you are at the bottom of despair in your job search, let me suggest you get Ferrazzi’s book and figure out how to network.
If you are networking now, and you still feel like the job search is still lonely, let me suggest that perhaps you aren’t networking the right way.
