Career Tip 21: Be Present – Connect Face-to-Face
Connect Face-to-Face.
A client once told us:
“I now have the best job I ever had, one that is perfectly suited to me. Nothing was working until I took your suggestion and started making face-to-face meetings happen. Everyone is heralding the electronic age; however, in my case, going to see people was the critical difference. Tell others this is one of The Job Dog’s most important Tips.”
Another way to assess what this person is saying is to assign a point value to each of the four primary means of connecting with your network. You can think of these points as equivalent to productivity or impact.
- Social media or email = 10 points per contact
- U.S. mail = 100 points per contact
- Phone calls = 1,000 points per contact
- Face-to-face meetings = 1,000,000 points per contact
To clarify, social media and email are obviously valuable. Yet, in our experience, a letter or a phone call is even more likely to produce a job lead.
Let’s be very clear: I am not suggesting what is easiest. I am strongly encouraging you to consider the point scale above as you work your way through your job search activities.
The question you may want to post on your computer screen as you undertake your job search is, “Who can I go see?”
Recommended Reading & Listening
A must-read classic about establishing and maintaining successful relationships.
–The Job Dog
Checkpoint
Since email and social media are not the only productive communication strategies, the focus of this checkpoint is to begin connecting with as many networking contacts as you can without using email or social media. Try connecting via letter, by picking up the phone, or by arranging a face-to-face meeting.
At the end of a few weeks, evaluate your progress. Your goal is to use the approach that produces job leads, not simply whatever is easiest.
