7 Easy Steps for Focusing Your Job Search and Expanding Your Network (part 2/2)

Since this subject is very comprehensive, I had to break it up into 2 parts. I hope you found the previous post useful in assisting you to understand why networking is important, summarizing the steps you need to perform to find and expand your networking using LinkedIn and starting a different approach to find your next job (tasks 1 to 4). If you haven’t already, please read the first post before reading this one, so that you can understand the context and the tasks that I am covering herein.

Below is my main job searching process, and will continue explaining steps 5 to 7.

5. Search for people who work in the same department you’re targeting – let’s pretend that you didn’t find an open position that matches your skills at AMDOCS. Since AMDOCS is in your list of targeted companies and you’re looking for a position in the Strategy department, this is how you should perform the search:

6. Look for people with ‘something in common’ that work for this company – tasks 5 and 6 are very similar, because this ‘something in common’ will be the icebreaker; the difference is what you’ll write when contacting the person. Here are some ideas on some elements that can help you find ‘something in common’ and select the person you’ll be contacting: shared connections, education, work experience for the same company (but maybe in a different country), spoken languages, groups in common, among others. Choose a person, read their profile and try to find similarities. Once you click on their profile, they will probably check you out as well (you know that LinkedIn shows who saw your profile, right?).

TIP 1: I found it more effective when I asked a shared connection to introduce me to the person of interest.

TIP 2: Don’t have any shared connections? Take a chance and add this person as your connection. But don’t forget to write a nice, personalized connection request! Don’t be afraid of receiving a “no”.

TIP 3: Another thing that helped me was to connect with fellow Olim from Brazil. For sure, you’ll know someone in common that can be a great excuse to connect. Here is how you can perform this search:

7. Contact this person – as I said before, it’s your showtime! Writing is much easier than talking, so enjoy the open gate that LinkedIn offers you and write. Be clear, short and respectful in your message. Ask for their advice – not for the job! Put yourself in their shoes and think: “would I answer to this person if I was him?”. If the answer is ‘no’, re-write. Here is an excellent guide on how to approach and start an effective conversation at LinkedIn.

TIP 4: I found a way to message people through LinkedIn, even if you’re not a 1^st connection to the person or have a Premium account – by using LinkedIn groups. Check out my screenshots, they’re self-explanatory.

As the saying goes “it’s not what you know; it’s WHO you know”. Start reaching out and having conversations with those in the companies you want to get into. Knock every (virtual) door. If a door doesn’t open, it was never meant to be. Shake off rejection and keep going. Execute tasks 2 to 7 as many times as needed, at least until you finish the initial list with all the companies you want to work for.

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I apologize for the long post, but LinkedIn is the main ally in my job hunt! Read this post carefully if you want your telephone to start ringing more often with interview invites! Mine is! And, most of the times, I have been invited for interviews without an ‘open position’ to fit in. Did you hear about creating your own position? So, this is the way I choose to go for! Not yet with my so expected ‘YES’, but I know that today I’m closer than yesterday.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post! I enjoyed sharing it with you! But I will enjoy it even more if you can comment and share if you think the tips presented here are useful!

There is still a lot to write about networking, but to change the subject a bit, my next post will share my experience with the chutzpa Israeli (as I told you, I inherited an Israeli family when I married an Israeli) and how it will help you find your next job in Israel. Don’t know what a chutzpa Israeli is? Follow me on Linkedin to get notified when I publish the next post.