An Obsidian Potency PSA: Networking

This is a public service announcement brought to you in part...by Obsidian Potency."

As cliche as it sounds, one of the biggest lessons I've learned over the past year is the power of networking. 

When I returned to the U.S. in 2005 after a year working overseas, I really didn't have much of anything.  I had possessions stored at a family member's house, and I had some money.  That was it.  I spent the next 5 months looking for work and failing miserably.  I literally wasn't even SEEING jobs in my admittedly-small, niche chosen profession.  I'd look on all the big job boards, on HR job boards, and some small ones.  I'd look at placement agencies.  I'd look at temp agencies.   I'd look at federal government job listings.

I'd do this every day...and I'd barely encounter anyone who had even heard of my graduate degree.  I couldn't even seem to find many companies online that specialized in areas having to do with what I studied...yet the USA was supposed to be the biggest employer of people like me.  If I did run across a job that made sense, it would be way above my level.

When I finally did get a job offer, it was the only one on the table.  I thought there were so few jobs in my field for people at my level that I had to take it.  So I did -- even though it was technically above my level, and even though the environment was far different that what I'd just experienced overseas.  Even though the company's business focus was not on my field.  Not surprisingly, it didn't work.

So I came back again, and worked, and took classes and all that other good stuff.  But the job listing situation was still the same.   Almost nothing in my field.  Finally, at the writing job I had, I talked to a person in my field at the company I was working for.  He gave me the names of some trade organizations, and suggested that I attend all the events I could.  He said that was my best bet -- possibly my only bet -- to find the kind of position that I was looking for. 

He was right. 

In May, I attended the annual conference of the largest association of people with careers in my graduate field of study.  It was a ton of money to spend for someone whose company was not footing the bill.  It was far away.  It entailed a whole lot of preparation -- preparing to smile, preparing to tell a quick story and preparing to make conversation with a lot of strangers.  It was a lot of work, with no guarantees of anything besides maybe some good conversations.  I was skeptical, because when Id finished grad school this organization had about three job listings in its emplyoment section due to the horrible economy.  But off I went, because I felt like I had nothing to lose by trying (except savings).

It was worth every penny and every minute of my time. 

Turns out the trade organization had an employment center set up specifically for the event, where employers would see your resume and invite you to interview.  I got invitations.  When I got there, I ran into two of my grad school professors -- one of whom was the head of my grad department.  He gave me advice, took my e-mail address, and started sending me position listings.  I gave out a ton or resumes --  even to people who didn't seem to be hiring -- simply by telling my story and chatting with them.  I didn't have to ask them for a job -- in fact, doing so would have been a bad idea.  I just talked to them.  As many of you know, I'm good at that.

At one point, I went to an informational booth of an international research firm.  We chatted; turns out they used to have an office in Johannesburg.  I left after a nice enough conversation.  At the evening reception, as I sat eating by myself at a table, the guy I'd been talking to swung by...followed by the HR director of his company.  She said he had told her about our conversation, and she wanted to interview me...and would tomorrow be okay?  Keep in mind, this company didn't have any positions posted at the time. 

As it turns out, there were lots of companies hiring people at my level.  Companies whose main foci were areas of my field.  Almost none of these organizations were household names, which is why nobody I encountered in my everyday life had ever heard of them.  Yet almost all of them were large.   I hadn't even heard of most of them, even though I'd spent a year working in the field. 

I attended presentations, perused research and bought a couple of books.  Affter the conference, everything was different.  I was reminded of why I got inot this in the first place.  I was thinking the way I needed to be thinking again.   I regained the confidence that I'd made the right decision.  Most importantly, I had 4 interviews over the next month for positions in my field.  And recently, one of those interviews became a job offer.

I learned an invaluable lesson from my experience at the conference: it' s true what they say.  It really is all about networking.  It really is about meeting as many relevant people as possible, and making conversation with them.  It's about participating in relevant trade organizations and societies. 

Unless you are a health professional, an accountant, a lawyer, a technician, or at the director level and up, this is the only way for most of us to find work.  It's also a lot safer for both sides than just applying to random jobs at companies you know very little about because you have no contact on the inside to give you the scoop.  This is what the rest of us have to do.

If I'd known all this a year ago, I probably wouldn't have spent so long looking for work and struggling to find the right spot.  I could have attended the 2005 annual conference.  I would have had more face time with more key people.  Now I know exactly what I have to do if, god forbid, my latest job -- or any job in the future -- doesn't work out.  I know the methodology to use to find the next solid opportunity.

Better late than never.

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