Creating an action plan, your Personal Market Plan during career transition, will reap rewards during your implementation campaign.  Success in market plan implementation, your job search campaign,  takes the randomness out of job search.  Initial information networking or, exploration and getting the word out, can build your network, clarify your positioning and Career Objectives, and begin to identify appropriate leads without the risk of rejection.

A well conceived Personal Market Plan helps you to manage your time to get the best results for your efforts.  Networking through personal contacts is the first method/ pathway directed toward seeking your next right work... for the rest of your career.  In the marketing metaphor, these five methods would be your "distribution channels."

1. Networking through personal contacts

2. Conducting face-to-face informational meetings

3. Creatively contacting companies directly

4. The Internet, representing published openings

5. Third-party recruitment firms and individuals

Its important that you view networking is a two-way street—sometimes with you, the information seeker, being able to provide information to the same person from whom you are seeking it—and at other times being a source of information to other people. In order to get information from others, we must be a good source of information. All it takes is being willing to share information, ideas and resources. To put it another way, "What goes around, comes around."

With each networking contact who provides you with information and names of other contacts, your visibility and news of your availability grows. Networking succeeds for a number of reasons. First, most existing available jobs on any given day are not known to a public audience. Job openings or newly created positions still in the planning stages are known to individuals within an organization anywhere from several weeks to several months before they are advertised or made public to those on the outside.

Networking can bring you face-to-face with these "insiders" and with these unadvertised positions before anyone else learns of them. Second, many employers prefer to hire someone they know personally or hire someone who has been referred to them by a mutual acquaintance. Familiarity and referrals reduce much of the uncertainty involved in hiring a new employee.

HIGH TECH - HIGH TOUCH

What’s your objective for this meeting?

Prepare for your networking meetings by deciding on objectives in advance. By doing so, you create an agenda and will structure your meeting to maximize your time with each contact. You do not have to prematurely inquire about specific jobs.  For example, your objective may be to:

• Identify key players you want to meet (such as decision makers in your target companies)
• Obtain information about the growth or hiring trends of other companies in your industry
• Brainstorm names of other industry related companies
• Obtain at least three names of other professionals in your industry
• Ask contact to call ahead to a potential employer and introduce you and your skills
• Brainstorm about your career options
• Discuss how your skills may translate to a new but related industry
• Discover the company’s charter (and where potentially you may fit)
• Obtain feedback on your resume

Before the networking meeting, consider the questions you will want to ask your contact. Possible questions include:

• Would you look at my target list and tell me if you have any contacts in these companies?
• Can you name other companies that might be interested in someone with my background?
• Do you know the names of any good recruiters in my field?
• Do you have any ideas about industry associations, or strategies I may not have considered?
• Do you know the names of any industry specific websites I could investigate?
• Would you take a look at my resume and offer me any feedback?
• Are you aware of any companies in the area with openings in my field?
• Can you suggest what other positions might match my skills and background?
• What do you see as the future trends in this industry?
• What skills are employers looking for in this particular industry?
• Can you provide me with three to four names of other people who might be willing to speak with me?
• Who do you know who works in (fill in the appropriate field/industry/company)?

Be prepared to introduce yourself or describe yourself with a 30-second summary. (Statement is also useful at networking support meetings or in speaking with people informally about how they might help you.) This is one of the more used permutations of a "two-minute commercial."

HAPPY EXPLORATION !