The Power of Networking: The Power of Using Your Contacts to Advance Your Career

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under th...

Author: Hilton Catt | Patricia Scudamore

48 downloads 2259 Views 838KB Size Report

This content was uploaded by our users and we assume good faith they have the permission to share this book. If you own the copyright to this book and it is wrongfully on our website, we offer a simple DMCA procedure to remove your content from our site. Start by pressing the button below!

Report copyright / DMCA form

DOWNLOAD PDF

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the relevant copyright, designs and patents acts, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers.

The Power of

NETWORKING

This page intentionally blank

The Power of

NETWORKING Using your contacts to advance your career

Hilton Catt and Patricia Scudamore

KOGAN PAGE

First published in 1999 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address: Kogan Page Limited 120 Pentonville Road London N1 9JN © Hilton Catt and Patricia Scudamore, 1999 The right of Hilton Catt and Patricia Scudamore to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0 7494 2975 5

Typeset by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby Printed and bound by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

Contents

A few words at the start Five-minute quiz: test your networking skills

ix xiii

1

Exploring networks Professional networks Sources of professional networks The lifelong interview Measuring your network Small worlds Keeping your distance Your network superhighway Applying selectivity to networks Summary Questions and answers

1 2 3 5 7 8 9 11 12 16 17

2

Making your networks work for you Focusing on networking Approachability and availability Setting up your network control centre Availability aids Auditing your availability E-mail, voice mail and mobile phones

19 19 20 21 22 25 27 v

Contents

Limitations of availability aids Getting the two-way traffic moving Proactive and reactive networking Controlling networks Tapping into other people’s networks Summary Questions and answers

31 32 34 36 39 42 43

3

Beginning with networking Pre-employment networks Career choices Networking your way into your first job Nepotism The Trojan Horse technique Developing your first internal network Extending your network externally Using your networks to develop your skills Role models Career appraisal by networking Summary Questions and answers

47 47 48 50 50 52 54 57 60 61 62 63 64

4

Using your networks internally Deciding your aims Who to network with Using your external network to achieve internal career aims The power of shared experience Applying selectivity to internal networks Getting your aims across The importance of peers and subordinates Avoiding making enemies Leaving on good terms Summary Questions and answers

67 68 69

vi

72 73 74 75 77 80 83 84 85

Contents

5

6

Networking on the job market How jobseekers view the modern job market The increased demand for good career jobs The invisible job market Getting headhunted Networking and search Using proactive networking to get on executive search consultants’ lists Networking and approaches from companies Compensating for the small worlds Controlling the power of networking Tapping into your network as a source of opportunities Wrong ears Job creation Networking and interviews Dealing with enticement Using your networks to source information about prospective employers Networking in return Summary Questions and answers Networking with the competition How employers see it Contractual devices Going for jobs with competitors: the risk element Going for jobs with competitors: working your way round contractual restraints Where your family and friends get jobs with competitors How to deal with an unsolicited approach from a competitor ‘Fishing expeditions’ (competitors who try to pick your brains or who have no precise aims)

91 91 93 94 96 98 100 101 104 105 107 110 113 116 123 125 126 127 128 133 134 135 137 140 145 147 149 vii

Contents

7

8

Summary Questions and answers

150 151

Networking for the self-employed Networking aims of self-employed people Sources of work for the self-employed Outsourcing Overcoming being on your own Building up contacts Networking with other freelancers Formal partnerships based on networking relationships Networking for the portfolio worker Networking and the complementary workforce Networking complementary-sector work direct from companies Networking complementary-sector work from agencies and firms of consultants Summary Questions and answers

157 157 158 160 161 163 164

The perfect networker: a ten-point profile

179

Index

viii

166 167 168 169 170 171 173

181

A few words at

THE START Whether they would choose the term or not, everyone networks – so what we are looking at here is not some strange new technique but an everyday tool of life used by countless numbers of people. And there is proof that networking gets results: a survey of redundant executives published recently showed that over 40 per cent of them found new jobs through networking, compared with just a third who went along the traditional route of replying to job advertisements. Similarly with our own interview experience: ‘How did you get this job?’ is a standard question we put to candidates when going through their employment histories with them and in around 50 per cent of cases the answer involves networking in one form or another. Moving from firm A to firm B or back into employment after a period out of work are just two situations that lend themselves to networking, but there are plenty of others we can add to the list. For example:

ᔢ Making your start in life – tapping into people you know to help you decide on a career; getting yourself on to that vital first rung of the ladder.

ix

A Few Words at the Start

ᔢ Seeking promotion – using your networks within organ-

ᔢ

ᔢ ᔢ ᔢ

izations to pave your route to where you want to go and, at the same time, ensuring your career doesn’t become gridlocked. Keeping you in touch with the outside world – using your external networks as a source of information on what the market has to offer people with your skills; making sure you’re being paid the right rate for the job; making sure your skills are up to date and in line with what the market wants (ie your employability). When applying for jobs – using your networks to open doors for you. Again, when applying for jobs – using your networks to broaden your knowledge of prospective employers, thus helping you to avoid bad moves. For the self-employed – using your networks to source work. The same goes for people who rely on contracts or short-term assignments.

Given this dimension to networking, the surprise is that so little guidance has been made available on the subject outside the kind of ‘winning friends and influencing people’ literature we are all familiar with. We hope to plug that gap. At this point it is useful to bring in the idea of networking as a tool. On the one hand a tool can make the job easier; on the other it can prove lethal. So it is with networking. It can be a powerful provider of openings and opportunities or it can get you into worse trouble than you’ve ever been in before. Take the case of Neville. Neville was the commercial manager of a big firm of contract cleaners and, as such, it was part of his job to price work and submit tenders. One day Neville was approached by the managing director of a rival business (a person known to him through the trade) and invited for a drink after work. Driven partly by curiosity, Neville kept the x

A Few Words at the Start

appointment and found himself on the receiving end of a lot of ‘what if ’ questions. The impression coming across was that there could be a job offer somewhere in the pipeline, although nothing specific was mentioned. As the meeting closed, Neville was told not to breathe a word to anyone and to wait for further contact. The crunch came for Neville a few days later when his boss called him into the office and asked him what he was doing accepting hospitality from a competitor. Neville protested his innocence but, unluckily for him, all this happened at the same time that his firm lost two important contracts. The upshot for Neville was that he got the sack – an outcome he neither expected nor considered. His case is extreme, yes, but it illustrates a central axiom concerning the way things are today. Everything has an element of risk and with networking, like anything else, it pays to assess the risk and see both the top and bottom lines. Some risks you’ll be happy to run with, some you won’t. But don’t do as Neville did and proceed in ignorance. Know at all times where the risks are coming from. The real point here, though, is that there’s far more to networking than winning friends and influencing people. In fact, winning friends and influencing people is a very minor part of it. (Neville’s case is discussed in full in Chapter 6 where we look at the special problems of networking in tight-knit, competitive environments – environments that are so typical of the world we live in today.) The aim of this book is to get you to appreciate the power of networking and to turn you into an adept user of the networking tool. In particular we want to get you to see:

ᔢ That networking isn’t the preserve of social climbers or extrovert personality types. On the contrary, networking is for everyone – including you. xi

A Few Words at the Start

ᔢ The extent of the networks you’ve already got and how you can make use of them straight away.

ᔢ How you can extend and develop your networks quite easily.

ᔢ Where your effort will be best rewarded. ᔢ Where the dangers lurk – how to avoid becoming a ᔢ ᔢ ᔢ

ᔢ

Neville. How networking can open doors for you – doors that otherwise would be hard for you to open or would simply remain shut. Why networking is so effective in modern job market conditions. Why, if you want to get on in today’s world, it is something you can’t afford to ignore. The importance of controlling networks – when to say yes and when to say no; in fact, how to make your networks work in the way you want them to work and how not to allow them to put you in tight corners. How having effective networks can help you with your career in all sorts of other ways.

Most of all, however, we want to get you to see your networks as your friends in need – friends you can turn to when everything else in your life seems to be going wrong, when, for example, your job turns sour or, worse still, when you have the bad luck to be made redundant. At times like this your networks will be there, waiting to help you.

xii

Five-minute quiz:

TEST YOUR NETWORKING SKILLS How good are you at networking? Here’s a chance to test your skills. For each question, put a ring round the answer that most closely approximates the answer you would give. See how you rate at the end.

Question 1 A firm where a friend works is advertising a good job. Your friend is someone whose judgement and reliability you don’t entirely trust. Do you: A Write off for the job and say nothing to your friend? B Write off and ask your friend to put in a good word for you? C Get some low-down on the job from your friend then, on the basis of what you hear, decide whether you’re going to apply or not? D Get your friend to hand-deliver your letter of application for you? E Give the job a miss because you feel it would be bad on principle to work in the same firm as a friend? xiii

Five-minute Quiz

Question 2 Like Neville, you receive an unsolicited approach from a competitor (to meet with them for a drink after work). You know it will be risky for you if you are seen in the company of these people. Do you: A Go, but suggest a meeting place of your choosing? B Tell your boss and agree with him or her what you should do? C Go, then tell your boss afterwards? D Decline the invitation? E Tell your boss but keep the appointment irrespective of what he or she has to say?

Question 3 You‘ve never taken any interest in golf but you find out that your new chief executive is addicted to the game. Do you: A Start taking lessons? B Do nothing and carry on as before? C Take this as a signal that non-golfers like you won’t have much in the way of promotion prospects in the future and start shopping round for a new job? D Buy a book on golf so at least you’ll be able to join in conversations? E See if the new boss has got any outside interests other than golf?

Question 4 You get a telephone call from someone you worked with in a previous job. This person is out of work, quite desperate and asking you if you can put a word in for them with the firm you are working with now. The problem for you is that you know your ex-colleague to be unreliable. Do you:

xiv

Five-minute Quiz

A Decline (say you can’t help)? B Say you’ll speak to your firm but do nothing? C Speak to your firm but tell them all you know about your ex-colleague’s shortcomings? D Speak to your firm but hold back any information which might be detrimental to your ex-colleague’s chances? E Say you don’t want to be involved but give your excolleague the name of the best person in your firm to speak to?

Question 5 Your spouse is offered a good job with one of your firm’s chief competitors. Do you: A Keep it quiet? B Keep it quiet and start looking for another job? C Persuade your spouse to decline the offer? D Tell your boss? E Wait and tell your boss when your spouse has started in the job?

Question 6 A well-placed contact who works in the head office of your firm tells you in strictest confidence that your division is about to be sold off with mass redundancies the likely outcome. Do you: A Do nothing? B Confront your boss immediately? C Tell colleagues you work with what you have heard? D Start looking for another job? E A combination of C and D?

xv

Five-minute Quiz

Question 7 An ex-colleague who now has her own business offers you an excellent job (£10k on your salary and a top-of-the-range car). The trouble is, you are not sure if you can trust this person. Familywise you’re not in a position to be taking too many risks but at the same time you don’t want to see a golden opportunity such as this slip through your hands. Do you: A Decline the offer? B Accept (take the risk)? C Ask for a two-year rolling contract. Decline if the answer is no? D Tell your boss and see if your firm will make you a counter offer to stay with them? E Ask for equity in the business as part of the deal?

Question 8 The recruitment consultants who helped you to find your present position are now asking you for business. You have got nothing against these people but do you: A Give them the business they’re after? B Feel it’s a bit of cheek and say no? C Find ways of not taking the phone calls so you don’t have to say yes or no? D Invent a reason for saying no (eg say you don’t have the authority to make purchasing decisions)? E Say no but go a step further and have no further dealings with these people?

Question 9 You work in research and you are keen to join the leading research company in your field. You find out that a contact of yours is on good terms with the directors of this company. Do you: xvi

Five-minute Quiz

A Ignore your contact and send the company a copy of your CV? B Ask your contact to do the soundings for you? C Ask your contact to make the introductions and you do the soundings yourself? D Send your CV but mention your contact’s name in an accompanying letter? E Wait till you next see the company advertising vacancies?

Question 10 You are a manager in a company and your cousin is pressing you to find him a job. You don’t want to fall out with your cousin but you know his work record isn’t very good. Do you: A Employ him and hope you can get him to mend his ways? B Employ him on the strict understanding that he will have to go the minute he steps out of line? C Say no? D As C but try to get him to see the potential difficulties? E Tell him the company has a policy of not employing relations (ie a white lie)?

xvii

Five-minute Quiz

The answers we are looking for are: 1

A

2

B

3

B

4

A (B is acceptable if you find A difficult)

5

B or C

6

D

7

A

8

A

9

C

10 D Now read the book and find out why.

xviii

one

Exploring

NETWORKS So what are these magic networks everyone seems to be talking about? What do they consist of and how do you acquire them? Networks are built around people, people you know – and this brings us to the very first point about networks: they’re individual. Each and every one of us has networks that are different from anyone else’s. Your networks are unique to you and they are your property, meaning it falls on to you to look after them and treat them for what they are: one of your most important assets. This individuality of networks has another facet too: their dynamics – the way in which they grow and contract, the way in which some parts are active while others go dormant – reflect what you as a person happen to be doing with your life at any one point. In periods of intense job searching, for example, your professional network will be pumping furiously and extending further and further afield. At quieter moments it will be consolidating itself and shedding excess weight. Our networks also reflect the orbits we move in. This is why most of us have two main networks: our home and family network and our job or professional network. Some of us have other networks in addition to these. For example, 1

The Power of Networking

if we have a hobby or play a sport, we will have a network associated with that hobby or sport. To a great extent we compartmentalize our lives into domestic, work and leisure activities, but networks needn’t exist in isolation of one another. Someone in your tennis club could be someone known to you professionally or you could work in the same firm as your brother-in-law and so on. Your networks can have points at which they interconnect. An important point to note here is that any network needs a thread of common interest or shared experience – a bonding agent to hold it together – and that, when this bonding agent disappears, the network falls apart. An example is people who retire and decide they want no further contact with their trade or profession. Such people soon find they lose touch with their former colleagues. The bonding agent has been removed.

Professional networks Since this is a book about using your contacts to advance your career, the network we are going to be concentrating on most, though not exclusively, is your job or professional network. Not exclusively because, as we have seen, networks can and do interconnect. In counselling people who don’t seem to be having much joy on the job market, the question, ‘How are you getting on with your professional networking?’ is frequently greeted with blank stares. Even when we’ve got over the semantics (explained what professional networking means) the blank stares persist. ‘This isn’t for us’, they protest, meaning they don’t see themselves as having strong interpersonal skills, and immediately the barriers come up. The barriers, in this case, are dangerous. They can be the cause of feeling excluded, inadequate and a failure. Worse still, they can turn you 2

Exploring Networks

into the kind of person who sees in the success of others only the ability to pull strings. ‘It’s who you know, not what you know’, the little catchphrase we’re all familiar with, exemplifies this view of life and from now on we want you to deliver yourself a sharp mental rap on the knuckles every time you hear yourself coming out with any sentiments like this. No one, and no one personality type, holds the exclusive rights to professional networking, and this is something we need to make clear from the start. In fact, if it helps to make you feel any happier, some of the worst cases we have come across of people getting into serious trouble with their professional networking involve individuals who would regard themselves as ‘good at mixing’.

Sources of professional networks Central to what we have to say about professional networks is that there is no great mystique attached to them. Far from it: a professional network is a natural and unavoidable outcome of being in a career. It is entirely organic and should be viewed as such. Building your professional network begins a lot earlier than you may suppose. Members of your family, who also form part of your professional network, will most probably have been known to you from childhood. The same goes for old school friends. However, in recent years there has been a tendency towards more and more vocational education, meaning it is increasingly the case that people who have been at college together end up in similar types of jobs or careers. Keeping an open line to old college friends can therefore be the foundation of a good professional network (the almost legendary networking that goes on between people who have done MBAs at leading business schools is worth noting here). 3

The Power of Networking

For most of us, though, the real impetus to our professional network building comes when we start work. Immediately we are thrust into contact with other people and these are people with whom we have common interests and shared experiences. The bonding agent is there, and what we will be referring to as your internal network is about to develop. As the years go by a number of things can happen:

ᔢ Colleagues you work with can be promoted, which means your internal network now has upward shoots.

ᔢ Colleagues can leave, which means your network grows external tentacles (into other organizations or firms).

ᔢ You can be promoted, which means you start to share experiences with a different set of peers and, as a consequence, the range of your network extends. ᔢ You can leave, which means you start to build a new internal network in your new firm and your old, internal, network now becomes external. The list doesn’t end there. Professional networks grow in all sorts of other ways too that form part of normal day-to-day life. Here are just a few examples:

ᔢ From time to time you may have to work with temps, freelancers, people on short-term contracts or people who split their time between different kinds of work (portfolio workers). Because of what they do these people often have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the big, wide outside world and are very useful contacts to have. ᔢ Turning the tables; at certain stages in your career you may yourself be in the position of being someone who does assignment or short-term work or divides their time between a number of employers. Your network will grow rapidly as a result. ᔢ You may go on external training courses where you will meet other people from other firms doing the same kind 4

Exploring Networks

of job as you. The criteria of common interest and shared experience are met. ᔢ You may join a professional institution or special interest group associated with your work. Here again you will meet other people from other firms with whom you have common interests and shared experiences. ᔢ You may apply for jobs from time to time. This will not only give you contacts with decision makers in other firms but also with really useful people to know like recruitment and selection consultants (more on this later in the book). ᔢ Your job may involve you in external contacts, eg with customers and suppliers. Even more interesting, in this context, is that the contact may be with competitors via trade associations or other mutual interest groups. This is where you will get to meet your opposite numbers. Sources of professional networks are therefore very diverse and a snapshot of your network at any one time will reveal a surprisingly wide mix of people.

The lifelong interview The power of networking, the fact that it can open doors for you that would otherwise remain closed, invites the charge that it’s a cheat’s way in – a method of short-cutting the system or bypassing it altogether and therefore something we should be deprecating because it flies in the face of accepted notions of fair play and careers being open to talent. ‘It’s who you know, not what you know’ dates from an age when the social circles you moved in or the old school tie you happened to wear had arguably more to do with your chances of getting a job, or your prospects generally, than your track record and performance. Not that the old 5

The Power of Networking

boy network is completely dead, but the world has changed, thankfully, and successful networking today is a process in which your track record and performance have a very real part to play. The key to understanding this is to look at the long periods of time over which networks are evolved and contrast these with the brief glimpses we get of people over the course of, say, two interviews (the average for getting most jobs). If you’re smart enough you can pull the wool over someone’s eyes in a couple of 45–60-minute sessions, you can even fluff your way through the selection tests, but you won’t do the same with someone who’s known you for the last ten years. The point here is simply this: being able to network successfully means giving your day-to-day dealings with people special priority. In your work and in the way you conduct yourself you need to be tuned into the idea of always putting yourself across in the best possible light – and, make no bones about it, this kind of consistency and application is hard. It means for example:

ᔢ you don’t have off days; ᔢ you have to be 100 per cent reliable – you get back to ᔢ ᔢ ᔢ ᔢ ᔢ

6

people when you say you will and you complete your work to targets; your appearance is always up to scratch; you don’t run down your colleagues – if you have any opinions on the people you work with, you keep them to yourself; you get on with the job; you never whinge and whine; you don’t take time off unless it’s absolutely necessary. If you are absent, you are meticulous about keeping everyone informed; the kind of gloss you may have previously saved up for job interviews has to become the image you project every day of your life.

Exploring Networks

Just to make doubly sure you’ve got the message about the lifelong interview and its ramifications, put yourself in the shoes of Mr X. He and you worked in the same office for a number of years but, some time ago, Mr X moved on and now he’s the chief executive of another firm. Mr X is casting round for someone with exactly your skills and experience to bring into a top position But whether he contacts you or not will depend entirely on what he recalls from the time the two of you worked together. If, for any reason, the recollection isn’t favourable then Mr X won’t be bothering to pick up the phone. Not only will it be a question of not wanting the pain of you working for him, but he will also be concerned about the harm his association with you could do to his own reputation. ‘It’s who you know, not what you know’ is part of the past. These days it might be truer to say, ‘It’s who you know and what they know of you.’

Measuring your network Because of the way they are sourced and their individuality, the size and mix of professional networks can vary enormously. Usually these variations reflect differences in people’s careers; to illustrate this point, let’s look at the cases of John and Jennie, both design engineers in their mid-thirties. John has been with the same firm since he left college. Jennie, on the other hand, has moved around and she has worked freelance and on short-term contracts, some of which have taken her overseas. Needless to say, Jennie’s professional network is far more extensive than John’s – and it contains a wider mix of people. The mistake, though, is to start applying value judgements to this difference, to see Jennie as ‘better off ’ and, 7

The Power of Networking

conversely, to see John’s position as intrinsically bad and a matter for concern. On the contrary, if we look at John’s career a little more closely, we will see he is the one who has enjoyed greater job stability and better overall earnings. Some of Jennie’s job moves have been forced on her by redundancies (or their imminence) and the periods she has spent in short-term work have often been because there has been no alternative – other than going on the dole. So to suggest to John that he needs to follow in Jennie’s footsteps just to give his professional network greater dimensions would seem silly and pointless to him. He is right, of course. It is interesting to note, however, that the people who don’t use professional networks very effectively are not just the Johns of this world. There are plenty of Jennies among them too – people who’ve been around and struck up the contacts but, for a variety of reasons, don’t do anything with them, even when the chips are down and they need to start pulling out all the stops to head off some crisis in their careers. What this demonstrates is that it’s not the size of your professional network that matters so much as how you manage it and make it respond to your needs. Also, size and manageability can come into conflict. By definition a big network is harder to control than a small one and the importance of keeping control of professional networks is a subject we will be touching on time and time again. Loss of control is usually where the trouble starts.

Small worlds This is one of the drawbacks to networking. Because networks are built around the people you know, and because the number of people you know is always finite, your networking will only ever access small worlds. Even if you’re a 8

Exploring Networks

Jennie you won’t, in global terms, form networking relationships with that many people, so you will always be operating in a fairly tight circle and this can give you two difficulties:

ᔢ You won’t ever break out of the circle. For instance if you’re looking for another job and your network only extends to a particular industry or geographical area, you won’t ever break out of that industry or geographical area – at least not by networking alone. ᔢ The messages you’re transmitting can sometimes reach the wrong ears. The first of these difficulties can be overcome by doing as most people do when they are job seeking – running networking in parallel with other ways of sourcing jobs (eg scanning the ads in the newspapers). But the second difficulty, the wrong ears picking up what you don’t want them to hear, can be rather harder to deal with. The boss finding out that you’re applying for another job will probably put a strain on the relationship between the two of you. Furthermore, as we saw at the beginning of the book in the case of Neville, the boss finding out you’re applying for a job with a competitor can get you into really serious trouble. Because of these small worlds, the need to have your professional network firmly under control shifts from the desirable to the essential end of the scale. The practicalities of controlling your professional network are dealt with in Chapter 2. The special problems you will face if you are networking in a tightly competitive industry or profession are the subject of Chapter 6.

Keeping your distance How close do you need to get to people on your professional network? For example, does your relationship need a 9

The Power of Networking

social dimension to help you cement the bond? For the answers to these questions let’s take a look at a case study. Case study No. 1: Marcus and Jeremy Marcus is a partner in a small firm of chartered accountants. The firm is growing and the question of taking on another partner has arisen. At the last partners’ meeting it was agreed that Marcus should have the job of finding someone suitable. One name that came to Marcus’s mind immediately was that of Jeremy. Marcus and Jeremy served articles together and they still meet from time to time – either for a drink or a round of golf. What is of special interest about Jeremy is that he has had a lot of experience in insolvency and this is an area of business into which Marcus and his partners are keen to expand. Jeremy recently took a job in industry, which turned out to be a disaster for him, and Marcus is certain that he would jump at any chance to move back into the profession – particularly if a partnership was offered to him. The problem Marcus is having, however, is that Jeremy has confided he is going through a rough patch in his marriage and, from a past experience, Marcus knows that Jeremy on a downer can be bad news. Though the experience in question was many years ago, Marcus feels that, with the appointment of a new partner, he must play safe. Reluctantly, therefore, he decides to give Jeremy a miss.

Playing safe is probably the best course of action as far as Marcus is concerned but, from Jeremy’s point of view, confiding in Marcus clearly cost him the job – a job he could do and a job he needed. The interesting point, though, is that if Jeremy had not been on such close personal terms with Marcus, the problem with his marriage would not have been disclosed and the job would probably have been his. OK, we can speculate on what might have happened to Jeremy if he’d got the job and then gone on a downer but the object of this case study is to show how getting too close to people in a network relationship doesn’t always pay. We forget about 10

Exploring Networks

our lifelong interview and we give out rather more about ourselves than is really desirable, including some of our bad points. What we’re also seeing here is the way firms don’t take risks with people – particularly candidates for top jobs – and how one perceived flaw in someone’s character can completely finish their chances. We all have flaws, of course. Among your best friends will be some people whom you have met through the course of your work and there is nothing wrong with this. But, as a general rule, you will find it easier to control the messages you give out about yourself if you keep your network contacts at a respectable arm’s length (yes, that key networking word control cropping up again!). And if there is a further warning, it is that trying to engage work colleagues you have little in common with on a social level is the stuff of potential disaster. Remember that you don’t have to search for bonding agents with your professional network. The common interest and shared experience are provided by your work. Remember, too, that familiarity can frequently be the cause of contempt – and there, sadly, hangs many a tale!

Your network superhighway An important observation to make about networking is that the person you are making contact with is not some standalone quantity: he or she has a network too – and what in fact is happening is that your network is locking into their network, rather like a gear wheel engaging. So what you’ll have now is two networks in synchrony – your primary network and your secondary network – and, in theory at least, you can go on adding networks in this way ad infinitum. However, the reality is that, once network contacts start getting more than one step removed, the control you need to have over them becomes harder to achieve. 11

The Power of Networking

This brings us to another important point about networks – they’re a two-way highway. The person you’re networking will, from time to time, want to network you back and this is where you see the common interest arising. ‘I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine’ is the way some observers would put it, though networking in real life rarely presents itself in such an overtly mercenary form. When we come to look at making your network work for you (see Chapter 2) we will be paying a lot of attention to this two-way traffic and its encouragement. But for now, just appreciate that stimulating the traffic flow in one direction will inevitably stimulate the traffic coming back. Be prepared for it, that’s all. Be prepared to handle it. Don’t, whatever you do, try to shut it down and be unhelpful to people who are trying to network you, because that’s the way your network will dry up.

Applying selectivity to networks This is a difficult one. As we have seen, a professional network (having one) is a natural consequence of being in a career. The people who figure on your network are therefore a mix of people you’ve worked with, superiors, subordinates, peers and other people you’ve had contact with in the course of your work and work-related activities. People, however, come in all shapes and sizes and this means that not everyone you meet in your working life is going to come up to scratch as far as being a good network contact is concerned.

12

Exploring Networks

Case study No. 2: Sally Ann and Jen Sally Ann is in retail management. She has recently joined a big group of stores where she works in a head-office-support role. One day Sally Ann gets a phone call from Jen, someone she worked with in the past. Jen wants a job with Sally Ann’s firm and the purpose of her call is to see if Sally Ann will put in a good word for her. Sally Ann feels her defences rising automatically. Jen, she recalls, was not a very reliable sort and, in some situations, prone to be a mischief-maker. Selfish though it seems, the last thing Sally Ann wants to do is risk tarnishing her reputation with her new employer by having any kind of association with Jen – let alone putting in a good word for her! Feeling the need to buy herself a bit of time, and thinking quickly on her feet, Sally Ann tells Jen that she is in a rush and can’t talk now but that she’ll get back to her in 24 hours. As a parting shot, Jen tells Sally Ann that she has been out of work for three months and that she is now getting quite desperate. Putting the phone down Sally Ann feels a pang of conscience. Is she being too harsh on Jen? Maybe Jen wasn’t that bad, or maybe she’s changed in the last few years. Maybe she could put in a word for Jen without voicing too many opinions. If she did, it would avoid the difficulty of having to tell Jen she can’t help. Jen, being Jen, would be bound to ask why.

The first thing to say about this case study is that Sally Ann’s reading of the situation is spot-on. If Jen lands a job with Sally Ann’s firm and she is true to form (unreliable and makes mischief) then the reflection will be on Sally Ann. She is the person who ‘introduced’ Jen, the person who knew her and who should therefore have had some insight into her character. Even if Sally Ann is careful not to voice opinions about Jen this will probably be forgotten at the day of reckoning. What will definitely stick in the memory, though, is that Sally Ann was the conduit through which Jen came. The blame will attach to her and the inference will be that either Sally Ann withheld the truth about Jen or she is a poor judge of character. Whichever view prevails, it won’t do Sally Ann a lot of good with her new employer. 13

The Power of Networking

Some schools of thought on the subject of networking will tell you there’s no such thing as a bad contact. We differ, and the reason why is because of this two-way traffic on the great networking superhighway. What you do in the way of networking one way is what you are inviting the other person to do in the way of networking in return – and if you are not happy to associate yourself with this person then you are making a rod for your own back. The governing rule, therefore, for applying selectivity to your network is never to network with anyone who doesn’t pass your selection test. Your selection test in this case is the lifelong interview, except this time it’s you who’s sitting in the interviewer’s seat. And don’t forget that this is your network, you’re the sole proprietor, and you need to set the standards for who measures up and who doesn’t. In doing this:

ᔢ Be firm. Don’t fudge. Don’t do what Sally Ann is being tempted to do and give people the benefit of the doubt, either because you feel sorry for them or because your experience of them dates from a long way back. Take a leaf out of Marcus’s book and view one bad experience as being enough. ᔢ Be positive. If you’re in doubt about anyone then take no chances. Remember it’s your reputation you’re putting on the line so don’t hesitate. Strike them off. ᔢ Be flexible. People change, sometimes for the worse. If someone on your network lets you down then stand by to give him or her the push. As far as your network is concerned there’s no such thing as life membership. With the sole proprietorship of your network comes the responsibility and the right to hire and fire. And, while you’re taking this in, reflect on two further points: it’s far easier to drop someone who isn’t a bosom friend (a benefit of keeping your distance); a big network is no good if it’s a 14

Exploring Networks

bad network (size on its own has no virtue). We say this to calm any misgivings you may have about severing too many ties. From the point of view of control (making your network do what you want it to do) a compact network made up of people you can have 100 per cent confidence in is ideal. Achieving selectivity by not networking people you wouldn’t want networking you back is fine, but this doesn’t deal with Sally Ann’s problem. Jen, you remember, phoned her out of the blue. It was a no-choice situation – the invitation to network came on the inbound lane of a superhighway that Sally Ann didn’t even know she’d got. So what’s the answer here? This is a case for no half-measures. Sally-Ann needs to get hands-off as quickly as she can and, if at the same time she can send out a signal to Jen that any future overtures won’t be welcome either, then so much the better. Being open and frank with Jen, telling her in no uncertain terms why putting in a good word for her is too much to ask, will clearly have the desired effect. The situation will be dealt with and, unless Jen is particularly thick-skinned, she’s not going to come back. But the problem for Sally Ann is that, like most of us, she may not find it easy to engage in this level of frankness, especially with someone she knows. This is why, in a real situation, it is far more likely that the person on the receiving end of an unwelcome piece of networking will resort to excuses and half-truths (’There aren’t any good vacancies at the moment’ or ‘I’d like to help but I’m not going to be in the office for the next three weeks’ and so on). Have we got any quarrel with excuses and half-truths? Not really; if they get you off the hook and if they mean you won’t be compromising yourself then that’s all that really matters. But if there is a snag it’s that the Jen in your life will probably be back and you will have to go on making excuses. Sooner or later, though, even the most persistent types 15

The Power of Networking

get fed up. As we noted earlier, without encouragement and two-way traffic, networks have a natural tendency to wither and die. In this instance (applying selectivity), wither and die is precisely the outcome you would be looking for.

Summary What we have sought to do in this first chapter is to steer you away from thinking of professional networking as pressing your credentials on an ever-extending number of people. Left unchecked, this kind of activity will achieve little and will only serve to send you crazy – so don’t do it. What matters about networks is not their size, but how you use them:

ᔢ How you select the people you are going to network with. ᔢ How you come across to these people. ᔢ How you control the messages you are sending out to them. ᔢ How you respond to the messages they are sending to you (the two-way traffic and how to deal with it). Master these skills and you will become a very good networker indeed. You will be able to use your networking:

ᔢ to give your career the kick-start it could need at the ᔢ ᔢ ᔢ ᔢ

beginning; to put you in the fast lane for promotion; to get you out of poorly paid, dead-end jobs; to access the elusive, invisible market where most of the best jobs are and, as a consequence, to move you into the top league; to make you into a survivor and keep you out of trouble in a world that changes faster than you think.

This is the power of networking. 16

Exploring Networks

Questions and answers Keeping your distance from family and friends Q I have my own small business and I am being networked by a close family friend who wants me to find a job for him (he knows I have a vacancy). Though we get on well together socially, I have reservations about this person’s work ethics and I can foresee a situation where, if he came to work for me, we would soon come to blows. What’s the answer to this? A The answer is to stand by to lose your friend – though this is going to depend a lot on him. The situation you’ve got is one where a connection is being made between your home and family network and your professional network and you are quite right to anticipate problems. You can apply selectivity to your professional network but you don’t have the same luxury with your family and friends. What should you do? Be frank. Tell your friend you don’t want to be his boss and explain why. In this way at least you’re giving your friendship a chance. If your friend is big enough he’ll see the sense in what you’re saying. If he isn’t then he may or may not get over it. On the other hand, if you give way (give him a job) then your friendship doesn’t seem to have much prospect for survival.

Network contacts looking for pay-backs Q A contact (a supplier who was instrumental in helping me find my present position and to whom I was extremely grateful at the time) is now pushing me for more and more orders. Though he has never actually said as much, the impression is certainly there that he views the extra business as his due for services rendered. I don’t feel very comfortable with this and I want to know what I should do. On 17

The Power of Networking

the one hand I recognize that mutual interest is a necessary part of networking but, on the other hand, I don‘t see that this should mean me having to deliver an ever on-going pay-back. A Though as a general rule of networking you should be prepared to help those who help you there is a thin line of good conduct, and it sounds like your contact has stepped over it. The fact that you don’t feel comfortable is the telling factor. You should never do anything you don’t feel comfortable with and we imagine that your firm, in common with most, will have pretty stringent rules when it comes to purchasing. Not to put too fine a point on it, showing preference to a supplier is something you may have to account for at some stage in the future. What should you do? Keep your contact at an arm’s length, that’s for certain, and treat him like any other supplier. As far as your network is concerned it could be that he has just put himself forward for de-selection. That is, of course, a decision for you.

18

two

Making your

NETWORKS WORK FOR YOU Given the ownership of your very own professional network, how do you actually go about getting it up and running in an effective fashion? What steps do you need to take to ensure it brings you in a good return?

Focusing on networking The commonest cause for networks not performing well is sheer neglect. Their proprietors spend too little time on their maintenance and, as a result, they rust up and then fall apart. Networks are not just something you pick up when you have a need for them and put down when the need is no longer there. If you proceed in this way, you will find you are constantly in the difficult position of having to make cold starts. The name of the contact you used to have in ABC Industries has slipped your memory; Jo who worked for DEF & Associates has moved on (no one can recall

19

The Power of Networking

where); Tim’s number is no longer in the phone book, and you’re worried about ringing Charlie simply because it’s been such a long time since the two of you last spoke. The point is simply this: networks don’t respond to the stopstart treatment; they don’t endure big long hiatuses. They need continuity instead and, to achieve this, you must have part of your brain focused on networking all the time.

Approachability and availability These are the two key elements of good networking. Approachability means not putting off the people you want to network with by being stand-offish or difficult to talk to. Networks, remember, thrive on two-way traffic so, when someone rings you to pick your brains or ask a favour, you must be welcoming and helpful to them, at all times. This kind of evenness, however, is not always easy to achieve and one of the big problems we all have today is the sheer pace at which we live our lives. Being short or less helpful than we can be because one of our network contacts happens to catch us at a bad moment transmits an immediate signal which the other person will be quick to pick up. Part and parcel of being approachable, therefore, is always to have the time of day for people you want to have a networking relationship with. Give their calls special priority and, if you are busy, explain what the problem is and say you’ll get back to them. Most importantly, keep to your promises. People on your network must always feel that they are part of a privileged circle and it is up to you to create this impression. Availability means being easy to contact and not, unintentionally, putting up barriers in front of people you want to be on networking terms with – barriers in the shape of phones that aren’t answered or e-mails that aren’t returned. 20

Making Your Networks Work

Anyone who has read any of our books will know just how much emphasis we put on availability and nowhere is its importance greater than with networking. Put it this way – if someone wants to network with you, the first task they’ve got is to get hold of you. Providing the wherewithal and making it easy for them is up to you. Note: just as approachability and availability facilitate networking, their absence generates precisely the opposite effect. As we saw in the case of Sally Ann and Jen (Case study No. 2 on page 13), there will be occasions when the invitation to network comes from someone you would prefer to keep at arm’s length, and this is where turning the tables (ie being unapproachable and unavailable) will have the desired effect. If you persist, saying you are unable to help and being hard to contact, it will eventually put off unwelcome intruders on to your network.

Setting up your network control centre Like any budding enterprise, your network will benefit from a little well-thought-out planning and investment at the start-up stage. Essentially you need some space. The space could be a quiet corner of your house or the spare room or, if you are lucky, you could already have an area set aside for use as an office. Quiet is important because your space is going to become your network control centre, the very hub of your operation, and you need somewhere where you can make and take telephone calls free from distractions and background noise. Remember, your lifelong interview is at stake here so the last thing you want is to have to carry on conversations with important contacts over a barrage from the television or hi-fi or the noise of small children yelling in the background. 21

The Power of Networking

A phone is, of course, an essential networking tool, though whether this is an extension of the house phone or a separate line is a decision you will have to take (see what we have to say about problems with telephones under ‘Auditing your availability’ on pages 25 to 27). If you can combine your phone with a fax and answering machine then so much the better. Ownership of a PC opens up all sorts of possibilities for the networker – notably the possibility of being able to send and receive e-mails and, with modern word processing software and a good-quality printer, the capacity to produce attractive stationery and mailers (more on this shortly).

Availability aids Availability must never be taken for granted. On the contrary, it is something you need to be striving for all the time. People you work with (your internal network) should present you with few problems on the availability front. If you want to speak to them, or if they want to speak to you, the normal working day should provide plenty of opportunities. Availability tends to become an issue with external networking where:

ᔢ the people you are networking with are not people you see every day; ᔢ reliance is placed on being able to make contact with you by telephone; ᔢ the subject matter may be confidential, meaning the person calling you may not want to speak to you when you are at work. From this it follows that people you are seeking to network with need to know your home, office and mobile telephone numbers, fax numbers and (if you have them) e-mail addresses. 22

Making Your Networks Work

How do they get this information? The answer is from you, because this is your network, remember, and you are responsible for the effectiveness of its communications. With a PC and a good-quality printer, almost everyone today has the capacity to produce a really presentable set of personal stationery. This set would include letterheads, compliments slips and business cards. On each of these you can advertise your availability, ie the various numbers you can be contacted on, making sure you identify which one is which by putting ‘home’, ‘office’, or ‘mobile’ in brackets after each number. The fact that all these points of contact are listed in one place is important. It means that the people you want to network with won’t have to go fishing through telephone directories if they want to ring you at home. It also means you won’t be giving yourself an availability problem if, for reasons of privacy, you decide to go ex-directory. What about records? Somewhere accessible, and in one place, you need to have the names, addresses and telephone numbers of all your network contacts. Most people tend to keep such information in their diaries or in a book of telephone numbers. Either is fine provided the diary or the book is small enough to keep with you all the time. With the highly mobile lives we all lead, and the possibility of the 24hour-contact that availability opens up, you don’t want to be caught out without a vital telephone number to hand. A tip here. With small portable items comes the possibility of losing them. With anything as valuable as your list of network contacts, the result will be catastrophic. It will take you a long time to put your list back together again and, with ex-directory telephone numbers and people who have moved jobs, you may lose contact with some individuals altogether. The message? Keep a back-up record; for example a small book of phone numbers you can take with you everywhere and a card system with the same information in 23

The Power of Networking

it that stays in a safe place (in your network control centre). For PC owners there is of course the option of storing your back-up records electronically on disk. If you do this, it gives you the further option of using your mailmerge facility to send out mini-mailshots to people on your network. Why should you want to send out mailshots? For a start, you will need to advise everyone if your address changes or if you move companies or if, for any reason, you should get a new telephone number. Occasional mailshots have another function: they act as a reminder to everyone that you are still there, still as approachable and available as ever and still just as keen to network with them. This having your face in the frame is known as visibility and you will see as you move through the book that visibility is an important part of networking. For example, visibility is what you may have to focus on if you find your networks are starting to dry up. What if you don’t own a PC or if your computer literacy doesn’t stretch to word processing? These days most good high street print shops will do you a set of stationery at a reasonable price. Just make sure to say exactly what you want and don’t let them sell you any of their more fanciful ideas. Your letterheads can be used for any correspondence you have with your network contacts (eg mailshots) and your compliments slips can accompany any other items you send through the post. Your cards are to keep with you at all times so that you can give one to any interesting contacts you happen to meet. The invitation to network is there and with your card the person has all the information he or she needs to get hold of you. There is a further point to having a nice set of personal stationery: it feeds out a message about you as someone who is organized and disciplined and this will do you a power of good with your lifelong interview. 24

Making Your Networks Work

Auditing your availability This is back to never taking your availability for granted. Auditing it from time to time is designed to expose the flaws. Case study No. 3: Keith and Elaine Keith has recently been appointed overseas sales manager of a large company in the chemicals industry and one of his first tasks is bringing some fresh blood into the field-sales team. An ideal candidate from Keith’s point of view would be Elaine. Keith worked with Elaine in his last company and he knows her to be bright, energetic and keen to get into a job that would involve world-wide travel. The problem Keith is having, however, is that he can’t make contact with Elaine. Knowing she is rarely in the office, and not wanting to give rise to any suspicions by leaving a message with one of her colleagues, he has been trying to ring her at home. The number, however, is permanently engaged.

Like most unavailability, the reason for Elaine’s is pretty basic. When she is at home she has taken to spending the evenings surfing the Internet, meaning her phone line is blocked to incoming calls for long periods. (To illustrate just how basic it can get, we had an instance a few years ago of a job candidate who rendered himself unavailable because his dog was in the habit of pulling the phone plug out of its socket!) Loss of availability is serious because there is a limit to the amount of time and effort people will be prepared to put into trying to network with you. If your phone line is always engaged, or if no one ever answers, sooner or later these people will give up. The incoming lines on your networking superhighway will be empty and, as we saw in Chapter 1, without this two-way traffic your network won’t function. 25

The Power of Networking

The way to check out your availability is by auditing it and you do this by putting yourself in the position of someone trying to make contact with you. First of all, how available are you at work:

ᔢ Is it easy for you to take incoming calls? ᔢ Are you out of the office a lot? If so, is there someone reliable to take messages for you? ᔢ How good are you at returning your calls? Alternatively, if someone tried to contact you at home in the evenings or at weekends:

ᔢ How often would you be in? ᔢ Do you have an answering machine or a paging service to take your calls when you are out?

ᔢ How long do you spend chatting on the phone? How hard are you making it for people who are trying to get through? ᔢ Are there any other reasons why your phone might be engaged for long periods, eg Internet access or someone using the line to send and receive long faxes? An availability audit along these lines is designed to throw up some points for action, like:

ᔢ If getting hold of you at work is difficult, would it not be better to encourage your network contacts to ring you at home? ᔢ If your phone at home is in fairly constant use, should you be giving some thought to installing a second line (with rules about who can use it)? An alternative here is to get your phone company to equip you with a ‘call-waiting’ bleep so you know when someone is trying to get through. ᔢ If you are out a lot in the evenings and weekends, and if there is no one else to take your calls, you need to investigate whether it would be worth your while investing in an answering machine or, better still, a paging service. 26

Making Your Networks Work

Work out your own solutions to availability difficulties (this is part of the fun) and seek to be always striving to perfect the art. Advances in the range of services that telephone companies offer facilitate good networking, although to what extent you buy in to these services is going to depend on your need. Beware of going into overkill. For example, don’t start forking out for lots of add-ons, like message taking facilities or diversions on to second lines, if your life follows fairly predictable at-home-and-at-work routines or if the usage of your phone line is only light. Note: focusing on your availability is important for other reasons too. For example, if you are applying for a job, a prospective employer may try to ring you at home in the evening to fix up an interview. If time and time again the number is engaged, or if no one answers, this person, at some stage, will give up. The penalty for you is that you miss out on the chance of an interview (the employer will move on to someone who is more available).

E-mail, voice mail and mobile phones On the face of it, all of these should serve to enhance your availability and they will, provided you use them correctly.

E-mail and voice mail With e-mail and voice mail (telephone answering) you need to be disciplined about reading or listening to your messages and to do this as soon as you get back to base. You need to make it a rule, too, that you never leave messages undealt with for more than 24 hours. A person e-mailing you or leaving a message on your answering machine will expect an early response, and if he or she doesn’t get it the reflection will be on you (a bad point in your lifelong interview). Do be 27

The Power of Networking

careful about this. If, for any reason, you find that several days go by before you can respond to a message, or if someone asks you to call before a certain time and you are unable to meet the deadline, be ready with your apologies and explanations. Don’t, as many people do, let the incident go by without comment. The other person will naturally read into it that there was no good reason why you failed to get back to them promptly and, as a result, they will either view you as unsatisfactory and disorganized or, worse still, feel that you attach insufficient importance to your relationship with them. Whichever the case, it won’t do your networking a lot of good. Case study No. 4: Karen and Nigel Due to cutbacks, Nigel lost his job in the investment bank where he was working and ended up doing short-term contracts for an agency where the pay was a pittance compared with the excellent salary he was previously earning. Though Nigel has consistently been applying for jobs ever since the day he received notice of his redundancy, he has had no joy at all and this is what decided him to try his hand at tapping into his networks. One of Nigel’s contacts is Karen, who did her Masters degree in Business Administration with Nigel. They both graduated at the same time. Karen got a job with a firm of management consultants and, in the two years since finishing at business school, she has made excellent progress in her career. When Nigel came on the phone to her, Karen said she was truly sorry to hear of his misfortunes and promised to do what she could to help. This, she said, would include having a word with Helen, one of the senior partners in her firm. After listening to Karen, Helen was at first reluctant to do anything, then, because of her high regard for Karen and because Karen gave Nigel such a glowing endorsement, she finally agreed to meet him. Could he make Thursday? Karen told Helen she would check with Nigel that evening and get back to her in the morning. Karen rang Nigel as soon as she got home from work and she was greeted by his friendly voice on the answering machine saying that he was out and inviting her to leave a message. This she

28

Making Your Networks Work

did, asking him to phone her as soon as he got in and, so that she would be there to receive his call, she cancelled her plans for the evening. Karen sat and waited. Finally 9 o’clock came round with still no word from Nigel, so Karen decided to ring him again. Again, she was greeted by his voice on the answering machine and again she left a message to make contact immediately, this time emphasising the urgency. Next morning, Karen bumped into Helen in the corridor. Had she heard from her friend? Helen wanted to know. Karen explained the problem and said she would be trying to make contact with Nigel again that evening. This she did but only to find that the answering machine was still on. She tried again at hourly intervals up till midnight when she finally gave up and went to bed. Karen felt decidedly sheepish about having to tell Helen the following day that she had still not been able to get hold of Nigel and, although Helen didn’t say anything, Karen could tell she was displeased. Karen spent two more evenings trying to get hold of Nigel till in the end she concluded that for some unknown reason he had disappeared off the face of the earth. Feeling by now deeply embarrassed, Karen reported back to Helen and when Helen said she felt they had given Nigel enough chances, Karen had to agree with her. When Karen’s phone rang on Saturday morning, she was amazed to hear Nigel’s voice at the end of the line saying that he was returning the messages she had left on his answering machine. Hardly believing her ears, Karen immediately demanded to know what the devil he had been playing at all week and explained the difficult position he had put her in. Nigel sounded surprised. He had been working away, he said, a short-term contract the agency had dropped on him without warning, and he hadn’t got back to the flat until the early hours of the morning. He had rung Karen just as soon as he possibly could.

What this case study illustrates is how a gadget designed to enhance availability, like an answering machine, can sometimes turn round and floor you. Karen did her best for Nigel and, even though he had plausible reasons for not getting back to her sooner, she would have to have the qualities of a saint not to feel let down by him. More to the point, she put herself into an awkward position with one of her principals, 29

The Power of Networking

meaning, from her point of view, that she may have done damage to her reputation by being seen to be associated with someone who is unreliable. The likely upshot? Karen won’t be quite so keen to network with Nigel in future. In fact, she might be viewing Nigel rather like Sally Ann viewed Jen back in Case study No. 2 (page 13) (as someone she would prefer to keep at arm’s length). The expectation with any kind of message-taking facility (the same goes for e-mail) is that the message will reach the intended ear fairly swiftly and, if a response is sought, the response will come back fairly swiftly too. When it doesn’t, the blame is usually put at the door of the owner of the messagetaking facility. He or she will be presumed to be behaving unsatisfactorily and, in this context, it is interesting to reflect that poor Nigel might have done better without his answering machine. If the phone had merely rung out, Karen would have been alerted to the fact that he wasn’t at home. It might even have prompted her to seek other ways of contacting him. The lesson here is that if you do work away a lot or if, for any reason, you are not able to check your telephone or email messages regularly then you must either have some means of accessing them remotely or your network contacts must have some other way of reaching you.

Mobile phones For a lot of people, mobile phones figure prominently in their availability. The advantages with mobile phones are that you can have them with you all the time (so the problem of not being there to take your calls doesn’t arise) and they give you one-phone-number contactability. On the face of it, mobile phones are the perfect answer to availability, but there are snags, notably:

ᔢ if you are based in or regularly travel through areas where signal strength is poor; 30

Making Your Networks Work

ᔢ if your work takes you into places where mobile phones need to be switched off (eg places where they could interfere with sensitive equipment); ᔢ if your mobile phone is in fairly constant use (eg you use it to transmit data from a laptop PC). In all of these cases, the availability your mobile phone was intended to give you is effectively wiped out and you achieve nothing except to frustrate callers trying to get through to you.

Limitations of availability aids So what useful lessons can we learn from this quick overview of availability aids and their limitations? Chiefly this: there is no product or service that will give you perfect all-round availability, hence our comment earlier – availability is something you need to be constantly striving to perfect. So, in particular:

ᔢ Look to your lifestyle, your patterns of activity, and design your availability solutions accordingly. For example, someone who is in the office from 9 to 5 and stays at home most evenings can probably function effectively as a networker using just a home and work telephone number whereas someone who is involved in extensive business travel may have to look to a more sophisticated set-up, taking in mobile phones and/or telephone answering services. ᔢ Avoid reliance on one point of contact (this was an aspect of the problem Nigel gave to Karen). Instead, give the people you want to network with a number of different ways of getting hold of you, eg office, home and mobile telephone numbers. If one doesn’t work they will have some alternatives to fall back on. 31

The Power of Networking

ᔢ Don’t give your contacts the facility to send or leave messages – not unless you are able to check these messages regularly. Don’t start broadcasting e-mail addresses or fax numbers if there is a chance something sent to you is going to lie round unread for days on end.

Getting the two-way traffic moving Both availability and its counterpart approachability are there to ensure that the in-bound traffic on your great networking superhighway keeps flowing for, without the inbound traffic, there will be nothing going back the other way. Let’s use another case study to explore this point a little further. Case study No. 5: Jill and Joanna Jill works freelance as a Web-site designer and she wants some help with marketing her services to small- and medium-sized firms within a 50-mile radius of where she lives. One of Jill’s contacts is Joanna, who works for a well-known training organization, and Jill knows that Joanna has access to hundreds of leads in the kind of companies she is targeting. She decides, therefore, to phone Joanna at home one evening. Joanna is just about to sit down to watch a programme on television when Jill calls and her annoyance is evident straight away from the tone in her voice. The fact that Jill is asking her to provide a list of sales leads only serves to irritate Joanna even more and, though the information Jill needs would be quite easy to compile, Joanna still says she can’t help. She uses the excuse that she no longer has access to the database on which mailing information is stored.

The effect of this conversation with Joanna will be to deter Jill from networking with her in future and, as we saw in the case of Sally Ann and Jen (see page 13), this is fine if

32

Making Your Networks Work

deterrence is what is sought – ie if Joanna wants to distance herself from Jill because she has reservations about her. Where it won’t be fine, of course, is if Joanna ever has the need to network Jill back. If she does, she shouldn’t be too surprised if she gets a return dose of the cold-shoulder treatment. What this illustrates is that:

ᔢ Approachability isn’t always easy to attain. Where it comes into conflict with other routines the equanimity that it calls for may need a bit of effort to coax up. ᔢ Lack of approachability negates the networking process – and quite quickly in fact. ᔢ Being approachable includes not bristling up when people ask you for your help even where you feel that what you are being asked to provide is a bit of a cheek. ᔢ Part and parcel of good networking is always being welcoming and prepared to put yourself out. As a general rule, and as far as people on your network are concerned, nothing should be too much too ask. Note: cases of overstepping the mark can arise and the question at the end of Chapter 1, under the heading ‘Network contacts looking for pay-backs’, deals with this point (see page 17). Where people start to abuse the privileges that being on your network bestows on them you will have to decide whether to continue their membership or not. Networking has a natural tendency to gather momentum, meaning the more you network someone, the more they network you back. This is the observation we made in Chapter 1 when we looked at the mix of incoming and outgoing traffic on your networking superhighway, which is simply this: if you want to stimulate your networking what you need to do is get the traffic moving.

33

The Power of Networking

Proactive and reactive networking Proactive networking is where you provide the stimulus – the invitation to network comes from you and it is usually generated by a need you have. In other words, this is the outbound carriageway on your great networking superhighway. Reactive networking is the incoming traffic that we have been dealing with up to now – the traffic you will be using your approachability and availability to receive in the proper fashion. This traffic will be generated by the needs of others – and they will see you as being able to satisfy those needs. However, the fact that you are approachable and available will be half the battle in determining whether you are networked or not. This to-ing and fro-ing, this swinging from proactive to reactive is what gives any network its lifeblood and a sign that a network is in a good state of health is when a lot of this kind of activity is going on. A tip here: if you find the lines to one of your network contacts seem to be drying up, if you haven’t spoken to or seen someone for a while or if there is someone new you would like to initiate a networking relationship with, then invent a pretext for phoning them. This could be to ask them the phone number of a mutual acquaintance or to pass on some useful information to them. The subject doesn’t matter because what you will be seeking to achieve with this bit of proactive networking is to send out a signal saying, loud and clear, ‘I’m here, I’m approachable and available and you can network with me whenever you like’. You’ve sent the scouts off down your outbound carriageway and soon, hopefully, something will be coming back. This is the technique of making yourself visible. Note: networking relationships often dry up because they fall into disuse. However, there is an important distinction to make between people you lose touch with because the 34

Making Your Networks Work

direction they choose takes them out of your professional orbit and people who, for no particular reason, you find you haven’t spoken to for a long time. Regarding this second group of people, you may find that a barrier has appeared and you feel awkward or guilty about making contact with them again. The longer this situation goes on, the harder it becomes to break the ice. The distinction here is that in the first set of circumstances (people you no longer have a thread of common interest or shared experience with), the drying up of your professional networking relationship with them is a perfectly natural consequence. Attempting to resist this would be pointless. O.K., there will be some people (retirees are a good example) who will qualify for transfer on to your personal network (they may already be there). However, as a general rule, you should be encouraging the organic nature of your professional network, shedding the dead cells from time to time and making space for new ones to grow. Our tip (to try to breathe some fresh life into networking relationships that have gone off the boil) really relates to the second category (people you still have the link of common interest and shared experience with but who you have become separated from by the passage of time). Back to Joanna and Jill. The moral to their story is that Joanna handled her reactive networking badly and, as a consequence, she should expect no favours when the tables are turned (when she needs to try out her proactive networking skills on Jill). But the main point is that a good networking relationship is based on this switching from the reactive to the proactive and back again. Put into plain English, the lesson is that you should never expect someone to do something for you unless you are prepared to do exactly the same for him or her in return. In other words, if you do someone a good turn they will find it hard to say no to you when you ask the same of them. 35

The Power of Networking

Controlling networks Controlling networks is an essential part of making them work for you and we have made several references to this already. A network that is out of control will do you no good at all. Let’s use another case study to demonstrate what the problems are.

Case study No. 6: Tarsem and Bill Tarsem and Bill are both mechanical engineers and they know one another because they both trained in the same large company. Bill has since moved on and he now works for a small up-and-coming firm of consulting engineers where he earns good money. The subject of salary comes up one evening when Tarsem and Bill meet up for a drink. Tarsem has just been told about the rise he will be getting at the end of the year and he is disappointed to say the least. He tells Bill that he is thinking about looking for another job. Next day, Bill mentions Tarsem to his boss. His boss, being keen to acquire more bright young engineering talent, asks Bill to get Tarsem to come in for an interview. This Bill does by ringing Tarsem at work. Tarsem is taken slightly off balance by Bill’s call. His remarks in the pub the night before were only half-serious yet, at the same time, he feels appreciative to Bill for putting out the feelers on his behalf and acting so quickly. For this reason he agrees to the interview with Bill’s boss and a time is fixed. The day of the interview comes round and Tarsem turns up at Bill’s firm in his best suit. The interview itself goes well and at the end of it Bill’s boss offers Tarsem a job, quoting a salary considerably higher than the one he will be earning with his present company even after the addition of his increment at the end of the year. What is bothering Tarsem, however, is the conditions that go with the job. For a start he will be expected to travel extensively and to work away – a condition that, while being all right for Bill who is single and with no attachments, would present problems to Tarsem who is a family man. Also, it is the practice for Bill’s firm to start all new people on a six-month fixed-term contract. Again, this isn’t to Tarsem’s liking because, with his commitments, he needs to have reasonable job security.

36

Making Your Networks Work

Tarsem sees immediately that he is in a tricky position. If he says no to Bill’s boss he could be causing problems for Bill, who has put in a good word for him and told his boss that he (Tarsem) is looking for more money. Bill’s boss has come good with the money and he is unaware of Tarsem’s reservations about travel and working away, so it is on the cards that Bill’s boss is going to feel put out and that his time has been wasted if Tarsem turns his offer down. And if anyone is likely to catch it in the neck it is going to be Bill.

The case of Tarsem and Bill demonstrates the sheer power of networking. Yes, it does open doors, but it’s no good when the doors aren’t the doors you want to go through. Worse still is where the force generated by the power of networking pulls you through a wrong door; where, as in Tarsem’s case, it is difficult to go in any direction other than the one dictated by the force. The lesson here is that the messages you feed out to network contacts need to be carefully controlled. In particular, they need to be complete messages, so that the person on the receiving end knows exactly where you are coming from and what you are seeking to achieve. In Tarsem’s case, griping into his beer about pay sent Bill off with only half a message – and the difficulties arose from there. But hang on, we can hear you saying, isn’t this being a bit unfair on poor old Tarsem? Bill rather took it upon himself to speak to his boss, so what chance did Tarsem have to restrain him? Surely Bill is to blame for creating the difficult situation Tarsem found himself in? Although it is perfectly true that Bill acted without reference, what we must also concede is that he acted in what he took to be Tarsem’s best interests. This is precisely what people who know you well, and whose lifelong experience of you has been good, will be inclined to do. They will do their best to help you – most probably

37

The Power of Networking

because you have been quick to help them in the past (your reactive networking has been up to your usual excellent standard). What this points to is the following:

ᔢ Don’t leave voids for your network contacts and don’t use them as sounding boards for your gripes and groans. ᔢ Instead, and before you speak to any of your contacts, set yourself an aim: ask yourself what you are trying to achieve and how networking can help you. ᔢ Explain to your contacts exactly what you want them to do for you and don’t leave any leeway for guesswork or improvisation. ᔢ Set the parameters: tell your contacts how far you want them to go and at what point you want them to stop and report back. Controlling networks in this way will help you to avoid getting into no-win situations like the one Tarsem found himself in. Bear in mind also that you are always your own best spokesperson so, if anything needs saying or explaining to anyone, the words will be better coming from you. Network contacts may be great at opening doors, but there is a point at which they step aside. For example, if the aim of networking is to get a job, your contacts may be able to introduce you to the right people and put in the right word for you but, beyond this point, any explanations of items, such as your career aspirations or how you see yourself qualifying for the job, should come direct from your mouth. Again, this defining of where you detach yourself from the support of your network and go into independent flight is all part of keeping control. There will be more to say on keeping control in Chapter 5 where we will be looking in greater detail at using networking to access jobs. 38

Making Your Networks Work

Tapping into other people’s networks The tantalizing prospect that is sometimes dangled in front of aspiring young networkers is that no one in the world is more than six phone calls away. It is hard to say exactly how helpful this is, but it serves at least to re-introduce the subject of secondary networking that we touched on briefly in Chapter 1. The point, you remember, is that everyone has a network and anyone you network with is going to have a network that is different to yours. O.K., if you have travelled on similar paths in life, some of the people on your network will be on the other person’s network too, but some won’t be. This second category will include people you don’t know at all and people you do know but, for some reason, you don’t network with. If you know someone but you don’t network with them there is usually a good reason – like you find them difficult to deal with or they are not the kind of people you want to associate yourself with. Equally, they may feel the same way about you, so attempts to network with them in the past may have foundered because they have given you the cold shoulder. The bottom line is that if networking with someone direct hasn’t worked, you won’t do any better by trying to network with him or her by proxy (by secondary networking). The focus of secondary networking is on the people you don’t know. This brings us back to our very first principle of networking: networks are built around people you know. You select the people you are going to network with and you do this on the basis of your experience of them. If you have no experience of them then how do you know whether they are going to be suitable people to network with or not? For example, let’s say you are trying to get a top job with 39

The Power of Networking

Company X. You don’t know anyone in Company X but one of your contacts does. You speak to your contact and they in turn speak to the person in Company X and ask them to put the feelers out for you. What will be fine for you is if your contact’s contact is held in high regard by Company X. If so, your association with this person will add weight to your approach. But if, on the other hand, your contact’s contact is viewed in a totally different light (as a mischief-maker, perhaps, or as a poor performer) your approach will be damned from the start. In effect, what you are relying on with secondary networking is your contact’s judgement of people and that the selection criteria they apply to the people they network with are up to the same standards as your own. Furthermore, what you are experiencing with this networking by proxy is an abandonment of control – with all the accompanying dangers. Controlling the messages you are feeding out, for example, will be that much harder to achieve if the messages have to go through (and come back via) an intermediary. Though you may have a high opinion of the intermediary in question, you are leaving a lot to his or her communication skills. More difficult still will be where the messages have to go through a chain of intermediaries – where you are trying to tap into networks two or more steps removed from you. Is this a warning to avoid secondary networking altogether? The warning is that, as far as contacts of contacts are concerned, you will do far better with them if you bring them under your direct control. This means:

ᔢ Sound out your contacts from time to time (see who they know and network with). ᔢ Satisfy yourself that the test of common interest and/or shared experience is met, ie there is a basis for professional networking with this person. 40

Making Your Networks Work

ᔢ Get your contact to effect the introduction. For example, ᔢ ᔢ

ᔢ

ᔢ ᔢ

ᔢ

ᔢ

this may involve accompanying your contact to a meeting at which the third person is going to be present. Form your own judgements (first impressions are always a good guide – learn to trust your first impressions). If the vibes are good, take references – by which we mean see if anyone else on your network knows this person then do a bit of name dropping and see what feedback you get. Stand by for the opinions to be at variance (no two people’s views of a third are ever exactly the same). Decide from the feedback whether you are prepared to give networking with this person a try. Strike up direct contact. If an occasion presents itself, fine. If not, then invent a pretext for making a telephone call. Let it be seen by the other person that you are approachable and available: approachable by your manner; available by swapping points-of-contact information with them (give them your card). View this stage of your relationship rather like an employer would view a new employee on a trial period. Keep an open mind but look out for bad signs (like lack of approachability). Confer full membership of your network on this person only when the conditions of the trial period have been satisfied (when you are happy with the way they have performed over a period).

Problems? Clearly this induction of someone on to your network takes time and time you won’t have if, for example, you need information quickly and a contact’s contact has access to that information or if a job is in the offing and a contact knows someone on the inside. In an ideal world, you wouldn’t put yourself in situations such as these because you would have explored your

41

The Power of Networking

contact’s contacts. However, we don’t live in an ideal world and, from time to time, you will find yourself digging into secondary networks with the clock running against you. The answer is to do the best you can but to proceed with an awareness of the risks you are running. With information, for example, the risk is that the information fed back to you from someone you don’t know, and through an intermediary (or chain of intermediaries), might not be reliable. Check the information against any other sources you may have and see if it tallies. See if it blends with your gut feelings too. If you are happy so far, next ask yourself what the downsides would be if the information turned out to be wrong. Are you staking your entire reputation on it? If so, don’t act on the information unless it is heavily corroborated from other sources. If, on the other hand, the downsides are slight then the risk might be worth taking, particularly if you stand to gain substantially (ie the upsides are good). Risk assessment is a subject we will be looking at again later in the book.

Summary We have seen in this chapter how to make networks work for you. To achieve this, someone has got to want to network with you and, secondly, you have got to keep your networks under control. Getting someone to want to network with you is achieved by ensuring that:

ᔢ you are easy to deal with (your approachability and availability are up to scratch);

ᔢ they stand to gain from the exchange (you do your best for them and let them see that networking with you is worth their while). 42

Making Your Networks Work

Effective control of your network is achieved by:

ᔢ choosing the people you network with and choosing ᔢ ᔢ ᔢ

ᔢ

them carefully (never network with people you don’t trust or who are unreliable); only networking with people you know; controlling the messages you feed out and not feeding out too much as Jeremy did with Marcus in Case study No. 1 (page 10); remembering that just as you do your best for the people on your network, so they will do their best for you – meaning it’s important that they understand exactly what outcome you want, ie they are not putting their energies into pursuing the wrong objectives for you; you don’t delegate any task to your contacts that you ought to be doing yourself.

Control is important because the power of networking is considerable and, just like the forces of nature, it will not serve your purposes well unless you harness it correctly – left completely unchecked, it could indeed turn out to be decidedly dangerous.

Questions and answers Reactive networking: where you can’t help Q One of the people I network with regularly rang me the other day to pick my brains about a company that is in the same group as one of our suppliers. The reason for the call was that my contact was thinking of applying for a job with this company and he wanted to get as much information on them as he possibly could. The problem for me, however, was that I genuinely knew nothing whatsoever about this company – apart from their name – and this is what I had to tell my contact: I had to say I was sorry and that I was 43

The Power of Networking

unable to help. Of course I wasn’t very happy about having to be so totally negative with someone who had been very helpful to me in the past. Can you suggest any better way I could have handled this? A Make sure that you are extending your efforts far enough. For instance, is there anyone you know who would have any low-down on this company that would be useful to your contact? Notably, is there anyone at your suppliers who would be able to give you some inside information? Before carrying out this search, however, tell your contact what you are doing. This is important for two reasons. First, it will give him the opportunity to exercise his control. (He may have reasons for not wanting you to start putting the feelers out for him. If so, he can tell you.) Second, it demonstrates to your contact that you are doing your best for him and that you are prepared to put yourself out (that being on your network confers this special privilege on him).

Networking on the Internet Q It seems to me that the Internet opens up a fabulous opportunity for networking with people world-wide. Why is it you don’t mention this? A Remember that the first qualification for people you network with is that they must be people you know and know sufficiently well to regard them as trustworthy and reliable. Though the Internet may be a great way of sourcing people with whom you have a common interest/shared experience, any relationships you strike up still have to go the final mile. This means that you need to meet the people and have dealings with them over a period of time. Certainly we would not recommend you to include anyone on your network simply on the strength of what you pick up from their Web site. As to 44

Making Your Networks Work

sources, don’t forget that the most important sources for your professional network are always going to be the people you have worked with (past and present) and other contacts you meet in the normal course of your day-today work.

Networking up-front Q Instead of all this beating about the bush with approachability and availability why not just go straight up to someone and say, ‘I want to network with you and here’s my card’? In this way they won’t be in any danger of missing the point. They will know exactly what to expect when you call. A Fine, provided you don’t frighten to death the people you single out for this kind of treatment and put them off altogether. Approachability and availability, however, still apply irrespective of how the network relationship was cemented. The fact that someone knows you want to network with them won’t help if they find you impossible to get hold of or if you are not as receptive to their approaches as you might be.

Business cards Q Like a lot of people, my company provides me with a business card, but is this sufficient for networking purposes? A Most company business cards (because you are handing them out to all and sundry) don’t give details of personal points of contact, such as home telephone numbers. Some companies provide staff with two business cards (one with personal points of contact, one without). However, if you are not in this fortunate position, do as we suggest and print off a set of your own personal cards on your PC or get the local print shop to do some for you. 45

The Power of Networking

Newsletters Q Someone I know produces a newsletter about herself and what she has been doing and she sends this out to her friends and professional contacts every year. Bearing in mind what you had to say about the need for visibility from time to time, do you think this is a good idea? A Though a newsletter is fine in principle, you need to be very careful what you put in it. For instance, some of your professional contacts may not share your enthusiasm for the fun and frolics you have been having with your family and friends and, with some, it could alter their opinion of you (for the worse). Our advice is that if you do a newsletter, keep it brief and factual. New telephone numbers and points of contact are essential, plus perhaps news of anything interesting you have been doing (interesting to your professional contacts). A good example of where newsletters can help is with people who have been posted to obscure corners of the world. Firstly, they have something interesting to relate (where they have been and what they have seen). Secondly, they are removed from the home scene so their networking could otherwise by impaired by lack of availability (this is particularly a problem where people in networking relationships are based in different time zones, making voice contact difficult).

46

three

Beginning with

NETWORKING This chapter is about networking building – starting with your first job, and getting it, then taking you through the beginners’ stages in putting a professional network together.

Pre-employment networks The construction of professional networks starts earlier than a lot of people think. If we take the example of someone going into a family business, it might be said that their professional networking starts at birth and, even among the mass of the population, we find plenty of examples of sons following fathers or nieces following aunts, etc into professions or trades. These early networks are important because, where they exist, they tend to play a prominent part in the early years of our careers. How many of us, for example, have a relative or a family friend to thank for introducing us into our first job? We mentioned in Chapter 1 that, with the vast increase in vocational education in recent years, there is now a far greater likelihood that people who are at college or university 47

The Power of Networking

together will go into the same (or similar) careers. So, here again, is a source of pre-employment network contacts. However, one of the big problems with professional network contacts that you acquire pre-employment is that you don’t recognize them as such. Because you have not yet launched yourself into the world of work, you do not see the connection between these acquaintances you make at school or college and the furtherance of your career. Sadly, and all too often, what happens is that you lose contact with them and you only realize your mistake when it is too late. This lack of awareness (inexperience, if you like) gives rise to one of the complications with early networking: you don’t act up to your lifelong interview and you parade aspects of your character and behaviour that would be best kept under wraps. Few of us are proud of everything we did in our youth and, as we saw in the case of Marcus and Jeremy (see page 10), the world can be a very unforgiving place. Also included in early networks (and not to be overlooked) are teachers – and other academic staff you come into contact with at college or university – and people you meet in the course of part-time and/or casual jobs.

Career choices Unless you have fairly fixed ambitions, determined, perhaps, by the course of vocational education, one of the first big decisions you will have to make in your life is which career to choose. If you are thinking this through properly you will have a few ideas floating round in your head well before makeyour-mind-up time arrives and you will be seeking to refine those ideas by tapping into various sources of knowledge and advice that are available to you. Among these sources are your networks. 48

Beginning with Networking

At this pre-employment stage you will have at your disposal:

ᔢ your home and family network; ᔢ possibly a network associated with an interest you have or a sport you play; ᔢ an assortment of contacts who could go on to become the founder members of your professional network (eg teaching staff at your college, people you have worked for and with during your holidays, etc). What you are fishing for here is anyone who has any direct experience of the career you are considering. For example, if you are considering accountancy as a career, could anyone on any of your networks provide you with any useful insights into what being an accountant is all about? Failing this, could anyone on any of your networks put you in touch with such a person? There is a danger, however, with using your networks to source advice on career choices and the danger is best illustrated by a short case study. Case Study No. 7: Marcia and Ted Marcia is doing a degree in engineering and she is considering using this to go either into research or into industry. With the latter, her room mate at college has an uncle (Ted) who is an engineer and who worked in industry until recently. Through her room mate, Marcia sets up a meeting with Ted only to find out that he is very anti-industry. It seems he lost his job after 20 years’ service with a company and he still feels very bitter about it. Ted advises Marcia to go into research – either that or become a teacher.

Possibly for good reason, Ted has an axe to grind – meaning that the advice he is giving to Marcia is coming from a narrow and prejudiced standpoint, ie it is not good advice. The 49

The Power of Networking

lesson? Take a balanced view of any advice you get on career choices from your network contacts. Preferably speak to a number of contacts and see if a consensus of advice seems to be coming across. Compare this consensus with any advice you get from sources other than networking. A final point: seeking advice in this way, by spreading the word among your networks, can come in useful when you have to face your next big challenge – the challenge of getting your first career job. Read on.

Networking your way into your first job Getting your first career job is one of the most difficult challenges you will ever have to face. First, you have no experience to speak of and, second, you can expect the competition to be stiff (career-start jobs are usually very much in demand). Here, then, is a situation where you could do with a little help. The kind of help that networking might be expected to provide. The problem, however, is that, although the power of networking may be substantial, when you are looking for your first job you are at a point in your career where your network is very small (possibly at its smallest). As we saw in the last section, apart from the odd contact here and there it will consist largely of family and friends.

Nepotism This brings us neatly on to the subject of nepotism and getting your first job by virtue of the fact that someone in your family, or your close circle of friends, works for the same company. Attitudes towards taking in family and friends of existing employees vary enormously among companies. At one end 50

Beginning with Networking

of the spectrum there are some who positively encourage it – to the point that they offer inducements (payments) to their employees to ‘introduce’ people they know. Such companies are usually (though not always) in areas where it is difficult to recruit staff (either because they are in remote locations or because of competition from other employers). At the opposite end of the spectrum there are companies who operate a ‘no friends and family’ policy, either overtly or covertly. The reasons range from bad experiences with friends and families in the past through to enlightened employment policies based on no favouritism and jobs being equally open to all comers. Though it’s easy to be high-minded about nepotism (and to deprecate it), it is still the way a lot of people get their starts in life – so who are we to start raising objections? But if you want to use your friends and family network to ease your way into your first job, and you want to avoid some of the more obvious problems, here are a few guidelines for you to follow:

ᔢ What do you know about the person you are asking to introduce you? O.K., so it’s your uncle or your sister-inlaw or your old school pal but what do you really know about the way they are viewed in their jobs? Could it be, for example, that they are viewed as poor performers or as troublemakers? In which case, your attempt at getting a job by nepotism won’t stand much chance of success. Tap into your other friends and family sources and see what you can find out. ᔢ Conversely, make sure, as far as you can, that the person who is going to introduce you is someone you are happy to be associated with. ᔢ If you are successful, watch out for situations developing where your friendship or relationship with the person who introduced you could become a source of difficulty. 51

The Power of Networking

An example is where the person concerned falls out of favour with the company for some reason or other and where, because of the link, you feel you could get tarred with the same brush. The answer? Be realistic; view your days as numbered and start to look at opening up a few options for yourself. Nepotism, of course, does not just figure with start jobs, hence it is a subject we will be touching on again later in the book.

The Trojan Horse technique Given the difficulties of getting into first career jobs, the lack of opportunity for networking because people at the start of their careers don’t have many contacts and the problems that can arise from using friends and family networks – are there any other ways in which networking can help you to get your start in life? One of the phenomena of the late 20th century has been the vast upsurge in temporary work in various forms. Partly this has been due to the uncertainty with which a lot of companies face the future; partly it is because of the need for flexibility in staffing to meet fluctuations in demand. With this upsurge in mainly unskilled, low-paid work comes the opportunity for career starters to worm their way into organizations in lowly capacities and to attack them from inside – hence the term Trojan Horse technique. Once inside an organization, you can start to grow internal networks – networks that you can eventually use to manoeuvre your way out of the low-skill, lowpaid temporary work and into a proper career job. To help you understand the Trojan Horse technique further, here is a model approach for you to work to:

ᔢ Identify the companies that have career jobs (these could even be companies you have applied to previously 52

Beginning with Networking

ᔢ

ᔢ

ᔢ ᔢ

ᔢ

without success). Enquire if these companies have any need for temporary personnel. Some companies prefer to hire temporary personnel from agencies – in which case find out the names of the agencies and apply to them. Forget the low-paid, menial nature of the work you are being asked to do. Instead, make it your aim to excel at it. This, remember, is your lifelong interview so everything you say, and everything you do, matters. Start your internal networking with your immediate boss. The aim here is to get your boss on your side. Do this by being dependable and carrying out the tasks you are asked to perform to the very best of your abilities. Never grumble and, if anything, aim to be seen as the ‘star temp’. Try to extend your networks into other departments (people you come into contact with in the day-to-day course of your work). Identify ‘key’ targets – these will be managers who have the hire-and-fire responsibility for the kind of career jobs you are targeting. Make yourself visible as far as these people are concerned. Smile at them, wish them good morning, do anything, without being obsequious, to get your face known and associated with someone who is helpful, pleasant and generally the kind of person everyone likes to have round the place. Get networking. After a respectable interval come out of your Trojan Horse and tell your immediate boss, one, that you like working for the company but, two, that you would like to get a job in the XYZ Department. Ask your boss for his or her advice on how you should go about it. If you’ve got the approach right so far, you will find that you’ve got your boss on your side and he or she will be offering to make the running for you or, failing that, pointing you in the right direction. The extended networking starts to click in. 53

The Power of Networking

The aim of the Trojan Horse technique is to open doors for you; doors that might be difficult for you to open otherwise. It combines the power of networking with another powerful force, namely that of visibility (being there and having your face known). The two work very well together, especially for people who are drafted into organizations on temporary contracts. Often these people find that jobs are created for them or that they get priority over job candidates who come in cold from the outside job market. Note: the Trojan Horse technique doesn’t just apply to first-jobbers. For example, anyone who is out of work and finding it difficult to get back in will also, hopefully, benefit from using it. It is a technique we particularly recommend to people who see themselves as disadvantaged in the job market, eg the long-term unemployed, the over-50s, etc.

Developing your first internal network Congratulations. You’ve got your first job and now the way is clear for you to develop your first internal network; the beginnings, if you like, of your professional network proper. Up to now, the networking you have done has been largely among family and friends, so the first point to grasp is that this is professional networking and the rules are different. The bonding agent is not blood ties or the fact you grew up in the same street or went to the same school together – it is a shared experience and common interest that centres around the work that you do. The message is simply this: you needn’t be on close personal terms with people you network with professionally and, as we saw in the case of Marcus and Jeremy (see page 10), closeness in professional relationships can work against you. Of course, there will be some people you bump into in the course of your work who you will go on to form close and 54

Beginning with Networking

lasting friendships with (they will eventually feature on both your professional and your home and friends networks) but this won’t be the case with everyone. Indeed plenty of people who network very successfully at a professional level have never met socially. Note: we draw your attention to the fact that when you embark on professional networking you must not, out of habit, treat it in the same way that you treat your friends and family network. One of the great things about starting your first job is that you are starting with a clean sheet: you come with no history and so you are not carting around any baggage. As far as your lifelong interview is concerned, this is where the clock starts ticking. Case study No. 8: Rebecca and Sharon Six months before her final examinations, Rebecca had a mental breakdown. It was brought on partly by pressure of work and partly by her parents’ divorce. She fought back bravely, however, and eventually came through with flying colours in the shape of a firstclass honours degree in law. Acting on advice from various people she talked to (including her college tutors), Rebecca made no mention of her breakdown when she applied for jobs. At some of her interviews she was asked about her health, but she confined her answers to the various minor illnesses she had suffered as a child. In the end, Rebecca had three offers of employment to choose from, all with leading law firms, and she took the one that offered her the best salary. Soon after starting her new job, Rebecca met Sharon, a graduate who had been with the firm just over a year and who showed Rebecca some of the ropes. They became friendly and started going out to clubs together. It was on one of these outings that Rebecca confided in Sharon about her breakdown. A week later, Amrik, one of the senior partners in the firm, called Rebecca into his office and asked her if it was true that she had received psychiatric treatment at some point in the past and, if so, why had she not said anything about it at her interview. Rebecca made the excuse to Amrik that she hadn’t thought it important

55

The Power of Networking

enough to mention though, caught off guard, she said it in a way that made her sound like she had something to hide. Amrik, she could tell, wasn’t happy with her answer and, although he didn’t say a lot, Rebecca knew the incident had left a question mark about her in his mind.

Assuming it was Sharon who was responsible for putting the word in Amrik’s ear, was it a case that she was being two-faced and seeking to ingratiate herself with higher management at Rebecca’s expense or did Sharon genuinely feel it her duty to report what had been disclosed to her? Whichever the case, it hardly matters, for the fact is that in any organization nothing functions quite so well as the grapevine. Secrets, whatever they happen to be, once shared with work colleagues rarely stay secrets for long. But the real point to the Rebecca and Sharon case study is not to give you yet another bleak warning about getting too close to the people you network with professionally, but rather to illustrate how your lifelong interview can quite easily get off to a bad start. In this instance Rebecca’s lifelong interview was shot to bits by a minor indiscretion on her part. Amrik, one of the senior partners in her firm, now has the impression that she is someone who can be economical with the truth when it suits her purposes, possibly to the point of being prepared to pull the wool over people’s eyes. Amrik will doubtless discuss these misgivings with his fellow partners and none of this will do Rebecca any good when it comes to her using her internal networking skills to work her way up the ladder in her firm. The lessons? First, appreciate that, when you start a new job, all eyes are on you and none more so than the people you report to (your bosses). Your bosses will be anxious to see that, in employing you, they have made the right choice. 56

Beginning with Networking

Part of the test is in your work but the other part is in the revelations about your character that working in close proximity with you brings. Second, remember the old adage about first impressions being the ones that stick. If the first impressions you make are bad ones then, rest assured, they are going to be hard to shift. Developing your first internal network is a natural consequence of starting in your first job. Straight away you meet the people you work with (your peers) and the people you report to (your bosses). As time goes on, you meet other people in the organizations too, but this is the circle from which you will choose your first professional contacts. How effective your networking with these people is going to be, however, and how useful it is going to be to you in years to come, will depend entirely on the quality of the image you are projecting. This is why it is important that you get off to a good start with your lifelong interview and cash in on your clean sheet and the absence of any past baggage. In particular, don’t do as Rebecca did and succumb to the temptation to become close with the people you work with and don’t, whatever the circumstances, let out anything about yourself that might put you in a bad light. Learn to be friendly without being familiar. Learn to keep yourself to yourself.

Extending your network externally Even at this early stage in your career, you will have some external professional contacts and you must not overlook these. Examples are:

ᔢ Friends/members of your family who share a common professional interest with you – notable in this group will be any college or school friends who have gone into similar spheres of work. 57

The Power of Networking

ᔢ Academic staff of your school or college, eg teachers and lecturers – particularly those in vocational subjects. ᔢ Any contacts you have struck up in vacational or parttime jobs. ᔢ Where your course of study had involved you in placements with companies, any contacts you have struck up in those companies. ᔢ Any contacts you have made while searching for employment, eg people who have advised you. It is going to be very much in your interests to have contacts outside the organization you are working in. But, unlike internal networks that come about as a natural consequence of your day-to-day work, growing external tentacles on to your professional network calls for a little proactivity on your part. In short, it won’t happen, or it will be very slow to happen, unless you create the right circumstances. Case study No. 9: Jessica, Darren and Lee Jessica is a business graduate who has ambitions in human resources management and who has recently started in her first job in the personnel department of a large pensions and life assurance company. Jessica became a student member of the Institute of Personnel and Development when she was still at university and one of her first actions when she got her new job was to make contact with the Institute’s local branch. As a result she has now been to several branch meetings (she has only missed one) and she has met a number of people from across a wide spectrum of industry and commerce including Darren and Lee who, like herself, are both newly qualified graduates. Darren works for a food-packaging company while Lee is employed in local government. Jessica has already started to see some benefits from her external networking. Recently she had the task of putting together a training package for office supervisors and she was able to get some ideas on course materials from Darren and Lee, whose organizations had a lot of experience in the supervisory training field.

58

Beginning with Networking

Joining the appropriate professional institution is a must for almost all young people starting in careers, and one of the bigger benefits is the opportunity that membership gives for developing external networks with people doing similar jobs in other companies. The benefits range from pooling knowledge (knowledge that can become the subject of networking, as in Jessica’s case) to accessing employment opportunities (more on this later in the book). Joining a professional institution and taking part in its activities also has the added advantage of being something you can do independently of your company, ie it does not rely on your employment – an important fact if you should have the bad luck to lose your job. There are other things you can do to encourage the growth of your external networks and, if you are at the start of your career, there are other steps you can take to increase your circle of contacts outside your own company. For instance:

ᔢ Go on as many external training courses as you can. So much the better if these should happen to be residential courses extending over more than one day and where your opportunity for striking up network contacts will be that much greater. ᔢ Get involved in bodies such as working parties or trade interest groups where, for example, representatives from firms in an industry meet to express their views. ᔢ Attend any conferences that have relevance to your work. Not all opportunities for external networking require special input from you to make them happen. Some arise in the normal course of your day-to-day work. Using Jessica as the example again, she is in regular contact with various outside bodies such as public employment services, advertising agents, firms of recruitment consultants and training providers. She has the opportunity to establish networking relationships with all of these. 59

The Power of Networking

Using your networks to develop your skills Among the main preoccupations of first-jobbers is the need to make the position they’ve landed work out for them: to be a success at what they’ve chosen to do and to feel that they’ve got their foot safely on the first rung of the ladder. People at the start of their careers have got a lot of good things going for them, not least their energy and enthusiasm. However, where they fall down, very often, is in their mastery of basic skills, such as being able to work within teams or to present themselves clearly and coherently both to their peers and to the people they report to. These, as you have probably recognized, are commonly heard criticisms of graduates. Developing skills has two aspects: identifying the skills that are required and recognising where you may be falling short of the requirement; and acquiring those skills and practising them to an acceptable standard. All is well and good, of course, in the kind of enlightened organizations that provide their new young professional entrants with a mentor or counsellor – someone who will monitor their progress and put them right. But in the majority of cases, people starting in their first jobs don’t get the benefit of back-up like this. They rely on the people they work for and the people they work with for the support and advice they need. In short, it is an early example of using networking to advance your career – in this case from the point of being a complete novice to the level where you can feel comfortable that you know what’s expected of you and how to achieve it. But networking, as we have seen, thrives on two-way traffic. You network someone and they network you back. You do someone a good turn and they do one for you, and so it goes on. Yet herein lies a big difficulty for people at the start 60

Beginning with Networking

of their careers. Why should anyone want to network with them when they don’t have anything to offer in return? Apart from the milk of human kindness, why should anyone want to look after them, tell them the dos and don’ts and put them right when they are about to go wrong? Early networking, particularly networking of the kind that is designed to elicit help and support in acquiring and developing basic skills, has some special rules:

ᔢ Bearing in mind the weaknesses in your capacity to deal

ᔢ ᔢ

ᔢ ᔢ

with the reactive end of your networking, do all that you can to be helpful to people who are doing their best to help you. Helpful means helpful in all sorts of ways including little acts of kindness such as making them a cup of coffee or offering to do the fetching and carrying. Work on your approachability. If someone seeks to criticize you or correct you, be receptive to what they are saying and remember to thank them for putting you right. Openly ask for advice and encourage others to be frank with you. Let them see that you are not the sort of person who takes umbrage. Show your anxiousness to learn and that you value views and opinions that are offered to you. Act on any advice that you have been given. Let it be seen that you have taken heed. If someone has criticized your performance in the past, ask them if you are now getting it right.

Role models Selecting the people you network with in the early years of your career has a further dimension to it, for somewhere among their number will be people you view as role models: people who, consciously or not, you mould yourself on and who, by definition, will have a very marked influence on the rest of your career. 61

The Power of Networking

Everyone has role models but be aware of who yours are. Afford them a special place in your network but allow also for the fact that role models are human and they have flaws. Condition yourself into spotting those flaws and into not incorporating them in the role modelling. Take it from us, your own flaws are going to be enough to contend with so don’t go importing anyone else’s.

Career appraisal by networking This takes us back to your external networks. View your external networks as your window on the outside world and in this way their importance starts to become clear. From time to time you are going to find it necessary to take a rain check on the way your career is developing and, to do this effectively, you will need comparators – other people working in other companies who are similarly qualified to you and who share similar ambitions. You will need to ask yourself:

ᔢ Are they getting on any faster than me, or at more or less the same speed? ᔢ Are their companies investing any more in their training or are the opportunities offered to them more or less the same as those that are offered to me? ᔢ Do they enjoy better pay and perks or is my package broadly in line with theirs? ᔢ Are they acquiring any new skills that I am not acquiring or is my company doing a good job in keeping my skills up to date? The answers to these questions will help you to form an ongoing view as to how your company is performing as a career provider and, as we shall see in Chapter 5, it will help you, in the fullness of time, to determine the point at which 62

Beginning with Networking

it is right for you to make a job move. All this is in the future but, at the outset of your career, it is important for you to realize the value of having people on your external network who will be able to serve as comparators. The sources of such comparators are:

ᔢ ex-college and school friends who have gone into similar careers as yourself, ie people who will be on your home and personal network; ᔢ professional institutions – as we saw in the cases of Jessica, Darren and Lee (see page 58); ᔢ courses, where you will tend to meet people in similar situations to yourself. This is particularly the case when you go on to study for some further professional qualification by, for example, attending an evening class. Note: in the questions and answers section at the end of this chapter the sensitive subject of networking on pay is dealt with more fully.

Summary We have encouraged you throughout the book so far to take a proprietorial view of your professional network: to see it as your property, one of your most valued assets and as something you are prepared to give time to and strive for. Though there may be no such thing as automatic life membership, one of the interesting characteristics of any professional network is its enduring quality. You tend to network with the same set of people over relatively long periods of time. By beginning and nurturing your network, you are building something for the future, an important feature of your life that will go on for as long as you want to go on using it. Therefore, treat it well and it will be a good friend to you; treat it badly and it will let you down. 63

The Power of Networking

Given this long term view of network building, one of the most important pieces of advice we give to people at the start of their careers is not to be tempted to rush it. This means:

ᔢ seeing your network as an organic entity that will grow naturally and at its own pace; ᔢ being genuinely selective about the people you network with – don’t just to go along with anyone simply to make up the numbers; ᔢ recognizing that there is nothing wrong with a compact network; ᔢ putting the bulk of your effort into your lifelong interview (get this right and the network you are building will be one that works for you).

Questions and answers Using family influence to get a career start Q In my case, my father got me a career start not with his own company but with one of their suppliers. Do you see any problem with this? A The problem arises if it should become expedient at any point in the future for your father’s company to switch suppliers. If your situation is allowed to influence that decision then there could be problems for your father. If it is not and the company you work for loses your father’s company’s business, then the problems could be for you (expect no more favourable treatment or, if the job was created specially for you, expect the worst). Given your acceptance of these realities, we do appreciate the problems a lot of young people face in getting career starts so, if you can use your family network to pull strings, we would be the last people to say ‘don’t’. 64

Beginning with Networking

Networking with comparators: people don’t like talking about their pay Q I see the point to networking with comparators but I would find it hard to broach the subject of pay with, for example, people in my age group who I have met through the local branch of my professional association. Is this me or do others have the same problem? A We are glad you asked us this. Yes, is the answer: a lot of people find it awkward to discuss pay with their professional peer group and you should only do so where you feel completely comfortable that your (proactive) networking overtures will be well received. Get this wrong and you could be committing an awful gaffe – asking someone to share salary information with you who is not happy to do so and finding that the result is the end to your networking relationship with this person. Our advice is to test the temperature of the water as far as you can. Really, it’s far easier if the invitation to network comes from the other party (on the inbound carriageway of your superhighway). Often excollege friends (people on your home and social network) are easier to talk to about pay.

No wish to discuss pay with my network contacts Q While giving me a start in my career, the job I got when I left university is very poorly paid and I would feel embarrassed if any of my professional contacts asked me to share salary information with them. Appreciating that putting up the shutters won’t do my networking much good, what do I say to people who ring me? A You could always tell them a white lie, ie give them a false figure that approximates to what you view as the going rate for someone of your age and in your profession. You would save yourself embarrassment and you would not be 65

The Power of Networking

putting up any shutters which, as you rightly suggest, would only serve to put the dampers on any future networking. We do understand if you don’t feel totally comfortable with this approach. Perhaps the best way to view it is as a means that is justified by the end.

My company won’t let me go to conferences Q I work for a small firm. When I asked to go to my professional association’s national conference, I was given a polite but firm ‘no’. In fairness, I do not think I was being singled out in any way. Because of its size, the firm has genuine difficulty in covering for people when they are away: usually the burden of work falls on the managing partner. I would like to go to the conference next year, partly because of what I might learn and partly because of the opportunities it would provide for network building. Apart from changing jobs, is there anything I can do? A Keep back a few days of your holiday entitlement so that you are going in your own time and it won’t be subject to your company’s approval.

66

four

Using your

NETWORKS INTERNALLY There is a tale from many years ago of the apprentice who found out that the managing director of his company, a remote and tyrant-like figure, was very much taken up with the game of golf. The apprentice, a bright young lad who had his eye fixed firmly on the future, used most of his savings to buy a set of clubs. He then practised and practised till he felt he had reached the stage of proficiency where he could ask the managing director to join him for a round one Sunday morning. The object was to do a little networking, of course, and where better to start than at the top? Though we have no record of what response our young man got to his invitation, the moral to this tale is that networking internally is something you need to think through carefully. When you go to work for a company, the first relationships you strike up are those with your boss and your immediate colleagues (the people who work in the same office or who are part of the same team). If you are employed in a management position, you will also develop 67

The Power of Networking

relationships with the people who report to you (your subordinates). Your work will of course involve you in dealing with people in other parts of the organization so, pretty soon, you will find that your range of contacts has spread and, in smaller companies, it may eventually extend to encompass everyone. But, as we observed at the beginning of the book, this part (making the contacts) is easy. All you are doing is your job. The difficulties come when you seek to make these contacts perform for you, by which we mean help you to achieve the aims you set for yourself internally.

Deciding your aims From individual to individual, aims can be very diverse. They can range, for example, from big aims, like getting a seat on the board, down to small aims, like getting the company to update your skills by sending you on a course. But before embarking on the task of using your networks to achieve any of these aims, first ask yourself one very important question. Is the aim you are pursuing one that is realizable or, by seeking to achieve it, are you simply going to be banging your head against a brick wall? Just to give you the general idea, some examples of unrealizable aims are as follows:

ᔢ Annette, who wants a big pay rise (the company has just chalked up record losses and there are rumours of redundancies flying around). ᔢ John, who wants a seat on the board (he works for a firm where all the directors are members of the family who own it). ᔢ Carter, who wants a bigger company car (the company has a strict policy on the kind of cars that are allocated to individuals). 68

Internal Networks

ᔢ Louise, who wants a job in sales (her company doesn’t have a sales department; all its products are distributed internally to other companies in the same group). ᔢ Kay, who wants to be general manager (her general manager is 42, in good health and has no intention of leaving). Obvious though it may seem to ask yourself if your aims are realizable, there are plenty of people out there who spend years of their lives chasing goals that their companies are totally incapable of providing. The message is this: if the aim is not realizable then no amount of clever networking is going to help you.

Who to network with This is important because you need to define where your networking effort is best placed: who can influence the outcomes you are seeking to bring about and who will serve your interests through a networking relationship? Many of your aims would simply seem to require a ‘yes’ from your boss but, as we know, life can sometimes have the habit of not being quite as simple as we think it is going to be. Case study No. 10: Lou, David, Alan and Mel Lou works as a materials expeditor in a large manufacturing company. His job is to chase up suppliers and make sure that materials needed in production are delivered on time. Lou’s problem is that he is using his own car to do the running round and, although he receives a mileage allowance, his sums show that he is out of pocket on items such as wear and tear. Lou’s boss is David, the materials manager, and Lou has tried putting it to David many times that he is a deserving case for a company car or, failing that, the standard company mileage

69

The Power of Networking

allowance needs adjusting to a more realistic level. David, however, refuses to budge on either front and Lou quickly realizes he is banging his head against a brick wall. This, to him, is typical David. Good boss he may be, but getting him to see reason is never easy.

Lou feels he has a valid case with his car but, given David’s obstinacy, what other options are open to him? Well, for a start, he has a grievance procedure which is set out in his terms and conditions of employment and which invites him to raise any unresolved matter with higher management. In Lou’s case, higher management means Alan, the manufacturing director. Alan is David’s immediate superior, but how does Lou feel about going to see Alan? ‘I know exactly what will happen’, Lou says, ‘Alan will back David. He can’t do anything else when you think about it.’ One of the big snags with formal grievance procedures is that levels of management do tend to back one another, so Lou may be right in his assertion that a formal approach to Alan will be a complete and utter waste of time. What’s more, contesting David’s decision publicly might only serve to put his back up; something Lou might not want to risk in the interests of their ongoing relationship. So where does Lou go from here? Does he continue to be out of pocket every time he uses his car or can the power of networking come to his assistance? Let’s go back to the case study and find out what happens next. Lou’s experience as an expeditor has taught him that, to get what you want, you sometimes have to pull a few strings. It so happens that Lou is on good terms with Mel, the human resources manager. Lou has done Mel a few good turns in the past, like putting him wise from time to time to some of the rumblings that

70

Internal Networks

are going on on the shop floor. Mel, Lou knows, has got the ear of Alan, so one night after work he pays a visit to the human resources department and puts his head round Mel’s door. Mel’s view of Lou is that he is a helpful, hardworking individual who has the company’s best interests at heart. More to the point, he has never heard Lou complain before, so this is why he listens carefully when Lou tells him about the problems he is having getting David to see reason. Mel knows David, of course. He knows he can be awkward and how, once his mind is set, he is capable of digging himself deeper and deeper into holes. The morning after his chat with Lou, Mel goes to see Alan. Alan is quite concerned to hear that Lou and David are at loggerheads over Lou’s car, not least because he realizes that if the issue ever came to a head he would be put in the position of having to back David. Like Mel, Alan has a high opinion of Lou and Lou, as Mel suggests, does seem to have a point. The standard company mileage allowance was only ever intended for people who make the odd local trip and Lou is doing something like 10,000 business miles a year. What’s more, with further emphasis being placed on keeping raw material inventories down, Lou’s presence with key suppliers is going to be increasingly critical in the future. In short, a company car for Lou does seem to be the best answer. After Mel goes, Alan reflects that it is a pity this situation ever had to develop in the first place. Still, it did and Alan – who doesn’t want to see a good company man like Lou treated unfairly – now has the task of getting David to see the point. In doing this he doesn’t want to let on to David that Lou has been to see Mel just in case this sours the relationship between the two of them. The ideal outcome would be if David could be made to see the sense of giving Lou a company car without too much pushing, but with David’s reputation for pig-headedness, Alan realizes that this is going to be a good test of his skills at handling people.

The points to note from this case study are as follows:

ᔢ Consciously or not, Lou got himself on to networking terms with Mel by being helpful to him. ᔢ The help in this case was unsolicited: Lou fed information to Mel that he knew would be useful to him (it was Lou who got the traffic on the incoming lane of his superhighway moving). 71

The Power of Networking

ᔢ Mel has the ear of Lou’s boss’s boss (Alan), hence he is a useful person to develop a networking relationship with. ᔢ The networking worked only because Lou made a good job of his lifelong interview – Mel had a good opinion of Lou and it is interesting to speculate how Mel might have reacted to the approach from Lou if Lou had the reputation for being a whiner. Differently, we suspect. Picking up on the third of these bullet points, Lou’s networking relationship with Mel may have come about unintentionally, but it points to an interesting fact about organizations and the people who work in them. There are always those who can influence the outcomes that you are seeking to achieve and you need to start by identifying who they are. People who qualify as potential string-pullers are people like Mel – people who can operate behind the scenes and put words in the right ears; people whose opinions carry weight; people who can come to your aid when the normal channels fail you; people with whom your networking effort will be very well placed.

Using your external network to achieve internal career aims What we are seeing with Lou, David, Alan and Mel is an example of secondary networking – achieving an aim by using the network of someone you network with. But the Mel in your life, the person whose contacts make him or her a person with whom your networking effort will be well placed, need not necessarily be someone who works for the same company. External contacts can sometimes have the ears of people who are able to have an influence over, or decide, your internal career outcomes. So, see if you can spot 72

Internal Networks

any such individuals. For example, is there a long-standing supplier or an external professional advisor who networks with people at all levels in your company? If so, and provided all the other criteria are met (ie the person passes the selection tests for your network), it might be worth your while moving your relationship with this person on to a stronger (networking) footing.

The power of shared experience We made the point at the beginning of this book that, to function properly, a network needs a bonding agent – a thread of common interest and shared experience – and, with the possible exception of a closely knit family, nowhere are these conditions more in evidence than in organizations or companies where people share the same goals (eg the profitability of the enterprise or the struggle to overcome competition). Similarly, people in organizations go through the same good times and bad times together and this latter aspect is worth dwelling on for a moment, for it forms part of the shared experience – meaning it is a very powerful bonding agent indeed. People who have shared success together, people who have worked their way through difficult periods as part of a team, form remarkably strong ties with one another and these ties are the bases for many longstanding networking relationships. When the people in these relationships go their separate ways (for example when they go to work for other organizations) part of the bonding that holds them together is the shared experience of what took place in the past: ‘The way we pulled through the recession in 1982’, ‘The way we took the market by storm in 1995’ and so on. What are we getting at here? Simply this: with internal networking, bonding agents don’t need any special stimulation. 73

The Power of Networking

All the conditions for them to form naturally are there, hence what our apprentice was seeking to do at the start of this chapter (have a networking relationship with the managing director based on the game of golf) was not really necessary. If a networking relationship stood any chance at all of developing between the two of them then the best basis for it was the shared experience of their work. Unlikely, you may say, given the gulf between the two of them. Maybe you’re right, but there is another anecdote worth recounting concerning the chairman of a company who was on very good networking terms with the labourer who swept the works’ yard. The labourer fed the chairman with all the snippets of gossip, notably about what the management was up to when his back was turned. In return, the chairman bestowed his patronage, meaning, to all intents and purposes, the labourer was a law unto himself (an arrangement that suited him fine). The background to the relationship between this unlikely pair was that both of them had very long service with the company dating back to the days when it was a small business poked up a back street and employing 20 people. The shared experience was the way things were back in the old days: the personalities, the incidents that took place, the way things were run and so on.

Applying selectivity to internal networks To sum up so far: we have seen how developing internal networks is an entirely natural process focused on the work that you do and the relationships you form with the people you work with. You can facilitate this process by being helpful to people you want to be on networking terms with (in the same way that Lou was helpful to Mel) and, once the two-way traffic is underway, your network is properly in business. 74

Internal Networks

But what is also abundantly clear is that you don’t develop networking relationships with everyone you work with for the simple reason that some people won’t pass your selection test. If they are unreliable, if you don’t trust them, if they are carriers of office tittle-tattle, if you simply can’t stand them, if for any one of a thousand reasons they are not people you are happy to associate yourself with then, as far as you are concerned, you are best leaving it at that. The mistake, and plenty make it, is to start allowing in some of these people you are not sure about. The message is: don’t allow yourself to succumb to such temptation because, rest assured, you will find you come to rue the day that you did. When someone you have reservations about comes asking you for a favour (like putting in a good word) you will find you are in a tricky situation. Just as Sally Ann found with Jen (Case study No. 2, page 13), you will find yourself reluctant to stick your neck out for them and rightly so, because it will be putting your lifelong interview at risk. But, equally, you will find it difficult to explain your reluctance to them. You would have done far better, of course, by keeping such people at arm’s length in the first place. A final word here – you have a day-by-day relationship with people you work with, so their lifelong interview with you is ongoing. What you could find, therefore, is that people on your network start putting themselves forward for deselection because some aspect of their conduct falls short of standard. Equally, you could find that people you have previously ruled out redeem themselves in your eyes. You should be prepared for both eventualities.

Getting your aims across Having given yourself the facility to pull strings by getting yourself on to networking terms with a selection of people 75

The Power of Networking

internally, it will be of no benefit to you whatsoever if you don’t use it. Obvious though this may sound, a common failing with networking is that people fight shy of asking their contacts for help or favours. Why do they do this? The answer, nine times out of ten, is that the people who need the help or favour step back because they feel that they are being a nuisance. They feel that they are imposing on the other party in the networking relationship and putting them to trouble. There is a fine line in networking between what is and what isn’t a reasonable request to make of someone. If you are in any doubt as to which side of the fine line you are standing on, a useful test is to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. How would you feel if the same request were made to you? Would you feel put on or would you have no problem in complying? What you should be seeking to establish by this bit of soul-searching is that you are not putting any of your contacts into the position where they will have to say no to you for the simple reason that it will make them feel hesitant about networking you back. If this is the case then the traffic on your great networking superhighway will dry up. As far as networking is concerned, the no-go areas are as follows:

ᔢ Anything that requires an inordinate amount of work or effort.

ᔢ Anything that could put the other party in breach of a confidence.

ᔢ Anything that might cause difficulty or embarrassment. ᔢ Anything that could get the other party into trouble (put his or her job at risk). Outside these no-go areas lies a whole range of perfectly legitimate subjects for networking, so the message is this: if the string is there, pull it. Take a leaf out of Lou’s book, in fact, and don’t hesitate to tap into your networks if the occasion demands, but do this by: 76

Internal Networks

ᔢ always getting your contact’s agreement to the course of action that you propose before any action takes place; ᔢ listening to any alternative ideas they may have (being prepared to be flexible and to accept any suggestion they come up with); ᔢ agreeing the time scales for completion and the reporting-back procedures (keeping control). In the event of your contact still saying no then differentiate between the kind of no that spells out a perfectly valid objection (you entered a no-go area without realizing it) and the kind that is being plain unhelpful (evidence of the other party’s unapproachability and a signal to you that their days may be numbered as far as their membership of your network is concerned).

The importance of peers and subordinates Being on good terms with your boss and with people who can influence your career outcomes (people like the Mels of this world) is one thing, but what about people you work alongside (your peers) and people who work under you (your subordinates)? How do these people fit into your networking grand plan? The first point about networking sideways and downwards is that the bonding agent, the thread of common interest and shared experience, is exactly the same as with networking upwards. You all sit in the same boat and you all ride the same peaks and troughs of the same waves. The difference, if there is one, is that the need for networking sideways and downwards is not so apparent. There is no obvious gain, or so it seems, and for this reason people often omit to do it. Their lifelong interview, their person-perfect 77

The Power of Networking

and work-perfect image, is reserved for those higher up the ladder and they are less diligent when it comes to dealing with people at the same level or beneath. Yet this is a grave mistake, as is demonstrated by the next case study.

Case study No. 11: Margie and Mac Margie is a research chemist and she works in the research and development laboratory of a large haircare products company. One of Margie’s colleagues is Mac, who is a good chemist, but he spends a lot of his time complaining about the company and his and Margie’s boss, the research and development manager. For this reason, Margie has always sought to distance herself from Mac. Quality has become an issue in the company and, in response to a spate of customer-related problems, the managing director has recently instigated a massive quality improvement initiative. A feature of this initiative is the appointment of quality coordinators at each of the company’s manufacturing locations and Margie is successful in her application for one of these positions. Mac, for his part, doesn’t bother to apply. He sees in the move to manufacturing the potential to have to work shifts and the difference in pay is, in his opinion, not worth taking the risk. As it happens, Margie does well in manufacturing and pretty soon she finds herself being fast tracked through two promotions before finally being appointed to head up a new venture – a diversification for the company into luxury soaps and toiletries and an important step up the ladder as far as she is concerned. One of Margie’s first tasks in her new job is to appoint a product development manager and one of the names suggested to her is that of Mac. He is still working in R&D, still agitating for promotion and, with his background as a chemist, he is probably the best-qualified candidate. What bothers Margie, however, is her recollection of Mac as a complainer and someone who has little loyalty either to the company or to his boss. That attitude, Margie decides, is the last thing she wants in the new venture where total commitment to getting the product on the market is going to be the order of the day. So she offers the job to a business graduate who was seconded to her for a short while during her time in manufacturing. In Margie’s opinion what this young man lacks in experience, he more than makes up for in his attitude to the job.

78

Internal Networks

Mac’s lack of attention to his lifelong interview clearly put paid to any good that could have come from the fact that Margie and he were once colleagues in the same department. Indeed, little did he suspect that at some point in the future Margie would be his senior. If he had, then he would perhaps have been more careful to keep some of his views and opinions to himself. With fast tracking, sidestepping and leapfrogging, the potential is always there for someone who used to be your peer or subordinate to end up at a higher point in the organization than you are at. This is why your lifelong interview needs to have a 360° orientation to it. It needs to take in people at all levels and your selection of those to network with therefore needs to extend to peers and subordinates. But the benefits of networking at all levels don’t end there. Here is a further example to show how these things can sometimes work out, this time to someone’s benefit. Case study No. 12: Rufus, Stella and Tom Rufus used to be the manager of a small car dealership till the company ran into cashflow problems and went into receivership. Stella used to work for Rufus as an administrator prior to leaving to join another dealership and the two of them have always remained on good terms. Stella was concerned, therefore, to hear from Rufus that he was out of work and when Rufus asked her if she could help him, she promised to see what she could do. The next day Stella had a word with Tom, her general manager. Tom, as it happened, had a high opinion of Stella so he listened with interest to what she had to say about Rufus. An idea that Tom had had up his sleeve for a long time was to open up a branch dealership in a neighbouring town. The availability of an experienced manager, introduced by someone he knew and whose opinions he trusted, seemed to Tom a plausible reason for advancing his plans. He therefore asked Stella to invite Rufus to come in for an interview.

79

The Power of Networking

Whether Rufus gets the job or not, what this demonstrates is that his networking with someone who used to be a subordinate has opened a door for him that might not have opened otherwise. In this case, the connection with Stella clearly did Rufus a power of good and he would not perhaps have been so fortunate if he had just cold-called Tom to ask if he had any vacancies.

Avoiding making enemies Just as the power of networking can work for you, the interplay between you and the people you work with can also have an opposite and very detrimental effect. In other words, if you make enemies then they can put the poison down for you and thwart your career aims. So what can you do to avoid this happening? Politics are a feature of most organizations. The people in them divide into rival camps and these camps are constantly locked in a struggle with one another, a struggle for ascendancy. Sometimes these struggles amount to little more than harmless bickering; other times they become divisive in the extreme and damaging to the business. These camps come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes you find that they form around personalities and the disbursement of patronage. You are one of Dick’s people – Dick promoted you and it is to Dick that you owe your allegiance. But Dick happens to be at loggerheads with Al because Dick and Al are both rivals for seats on the board of management. Al has his people too, and the fact you are one of Dick’s cronies won’t endear you to any of them. Indeed, it wouldn’t be too surprising if animosities began to form. Another kind of camp is the one that forms along the dividing lines in a company’s structure. The production versus sales situation that you get in a lot of manufacturing 80

Internal Networks

organizations is an example of this. Personalities frequently come into play in organizational camps as well. For example, the production director and the sales director will figure prominently in any rivalry between their respective departments. A third kind of camp is the one based on a principle or a set of ideals. An example is where you get the senior management dividing into modernizers and traditionalists: those who seek change versus those who are happier with things left as they are. What characterizes all of these camps is that there is a common factor, a bonding agent, that holds them together. The common factor may be loyalty to Dick, being part of the sales team or holding certain views on the way the company should be run. What you will be quick to spot here is that bonding agents are also essential to forming networking relationships. So, in short, what you tend to find is that the people you bond with in organizations – the people you go on to network with – often turn out to be people who belong to the same camp. Conversely, the people you don’t form networking relationships with are those who belong to the rival camps. This is fine, of course, when your camp is in the ascendancy: Dick gets his seat on the board of management and the people you network with internally are on the up-and-up, whereas Al and his crowd are cast into outer darkness. Where it is not so good is where the reverse happens – where Al is the one who gets picked for promotion and the upwardly mobile set are people you don’t have networking relationships with. One answer to the problems that politics can pose for people in organizations is to be good at picking winners and losers. Join the camps that are on their way up – so the advice goes – and distance yourself from those that don’t seem to be going anywhere. Ensure, as a consequence, that you are networking with the right people. It all sounds very 81

The Power of Networking

good, but in practice this kind of picking and choosing is hard to achieve. If you are in sales, you are in sales. If Dick is responsible for giving you your leg-ups in the company then you will be identified with him and, even if you wanted to be identified otherwise, there would be little you could do to alter the fact. The bottom line to this cautionary note to internal networking is to get you to see the difficulties that can arise from having all your network contacts in one camp. Conversely, there are advantages, if you can achieve it, to building bridges with the opposing camps – in other words, to spreading your networks around a bit. How do you go about this? Here are a couple of examples:

ᔢ Sarah, who works in production in a manufacturing company where there is serious in-fighting going on between the production and sales departments. Sarah is doing her MBA, part time at the local business school, alongside Jamie, who works in the sales office. Sarah and Jamie are already swapping information about projects and Sarah recently helped Jamie catch up on his coursework after a period of absence caused by illness. ᔢ Donna, who works for Jas. Jas is at loggerheads with Geraint, and Sol is Geraint’s assistant. Donna has found, however, that she and Sol have a common interest in IT. Both of them believe that the company’s systems are obsolete and in urgent need of investment. The key to this cross-camp networking is to identify areas of common interest with people in the opposing camps. These people have internal networks too, so the word soon spreads round the other camp that you are not such a bad sort after all (not like the rest of them over in production!) Failing any areas of common interest for cross-camp networking, often the best course is to keep out of internal squabbling as much as you can and to make this part of 82

Internal Networks

your lifelong interview. Certainly don’t join in any of the running down of people that goes on between camps. Any opinions you have got on individuals are usually best kept to yourself.

Leaving on good terms When you leave a company, you leave behind the network you have put into place. But the story doesn’t end there. Your contacts in companies where you have worked before have an ongoing part to play in your life and this is something you need to consider. For instance:

ᔢ In certain situations you may want to find out what other companies in the same trade or industry are doing. Your previous company contacts will be very useful to you in sourcing the information you need. ᔢ You may want to go back to companies where you have worked previously. ᔢ Your previous company contacts may be instrumental in you getting jobs in other companies. Apart from ensuring that you don’t lose touch with contacts in companies you leave, this also signals that you must never leave a company on anything less than the best possible terms. In every leaving situation there is the temptation to say a few things. All the little niggles you’ve had over the years have a habit of coming out and this can sometimes include telling the boss a few home truths. What happens in these situations is that your lifelong interview falls apart within a few brief, ill-considered moments. You gain nothing, of course, apart from a worthless bit of self-satisfaction, and you undo nearly all of the good work you have done in building your network so far. Your image won’t be quite so 83

The Power of Networking

squeaky clean any more and the people you network with will be left wondering which you is the real you – the person they felt they knew or the rather more bolshie and opinionated version that appeared without warning shortly before beating a path out of the door. The message here is to bite your tongue if you feel the urge to air your opinions more freely as you approach the point of leaving. Don’t give your colleagues (your bosses, your peers or your subordinates) any reason to view you any differently to the way they have always viewed you. Remember, above all, that your professional network won’t work for you if your contacts have reservations about you – so don’t give them the grounds to doubt you.

Summary Working in an organization brings you into contact with people at all levels. Some of these people you will find an affinity with and networking relationships will form naturally. Some networking relationships, however, need a little push to get them going and, as we saw in the case of Lou and Mel (Case study No. 10, page 69), the little push can often be provided by giving the other person some unsolicited help. In networking what you give is usually what you get back in return and it pays to remember this when seeking to establish networking relationships with people who can have an influence over your career outcomes. Using your internal networks effectively means first of all deciding what purpose you want to use them for. What aims are you setting for yourself and are those aims realizable in the context of the company you work for? If they are, then the next step is to ask yourself how your networks can help you to achieve your aims. Which strings do you need to be pulling to bring about the outcomes you 84

Internal Networks

are seeking and who on your network is best placed to help you? If we assume your unfailing attention to your lifelong interview, and also that what you are asking your network contacts to do for you falls under the heading of ‘reasonable’, then from there on it is very much a case of going for it. State your aim, tell your contacts how you feel they can help you and then listen to what they have to say. Maybe they’re happy to go along with your plan of action or maybe they want to introduce some refinements but, whatever you decide jointly, you must agree in precise terms what is going to happen and the timescales involved. This is, of course, all part of the vital business of keeping control (making sure that your contacts are doing what you want them to do and not something else such as what, in their own opinion, they think might be good for you). Finally, on the subject of networking within an organization, bear in mind that your internal networks switch to being external networks the minute you leave. External networks are what are going to help you when it comes to networking on the job market – the subject of the next chapter.

Questions and answers Networking in fragmented companies Q I work for a company that is broken down into a large number of geographically dispersed trading divisions, all of which operate very independently of one another. One of the unfortunate consequences of this organizational structure is that I never get to meet people from the other divisions, hence there is no opportunity to network with them. As I see it, therefore, networking isn’t going to be a lot of help to me in developing my career outside the division I work in. Can you suggest any ways of overcoming this difficulty? 85

The Power of Networking

A With the move towards decentralized structures in recent years, the difficulty you have is becoming increasingly common. There are ways of overcoming it and this is where networking needs to be seen as a challenge, as this calls for a little creativity and lateral thinking. Take one example: a purchasing manager we knew in a situation not dissimilar to yours set up a purchasing consortium within his group of companies. This meant he met up with the other purchasing managers in the group on a regular basis and networked with them freely. The original aim of the consortium was to use the combined buying power of the group to get better prices from suppliers. This original aim soon extended, however, into a wide range of mutual interest topics.

Networking for peripatetics Q I am a salesman and I work a territory that is a long way removed from my company’s main operating base. I work from an office at home and, apart from six visits a year from my field sales manager and telephone conversations with people back at base I have never clapped eyes on, I have no contact whatsoever with anyone in my company. How, therefore, can internal networking serve me in the furtherance of my career? A The answer is rather like the answer to the last question: see your networking as a challenge and apply a little creativity and lateral thinking. For example, salesmen are usually at the sharp end of problems with customers – problems that are not to do with selling but relate to product quality and manufacturing methods. One approach in situations like these would be to turn the problems over to a quality engineer or someone from the factory then fade away into the background. Another would be to insert yourself as the interface between the customer and the company so that straight away you are dealing directly with 86

Internal Networks

people in engineering and manufacturing on matters of common interest. This would see you extending your scope for networking into areas of the company where people have previously been faceless. ‘Hold on’, we can hear you saying, ‘my company doesn’t operate like that.’ But the question we would put back to you is, ‘Have you tried them?’ Few companies in our experience actually prevent their staff from doing something that serves the interests of the business. In these days of empowering people who operate at the sharp end, like you, we would hazard a guess that your taking the initiative would be seen as a good thing and encouraged.

Office politics – is the answer not to get involved? Q Isn’t the best advice to keep out of office politics altogether? A What we are saying is that because networking needs a thread of common interest and/or shared experience and because opposing camps in organizations are formed around threads of common interest and/or shared experience, the two often go in tandem. This is why, contrary to what you might be thinking, people who try to keep out of politics can often end up with no networks at all or ones that don’t perform in their moments of need. In practice, what you are suggesting (keeping out of politics) is difficult to achieve.

Entering into conspiracies via networking Q To explain, the director in charge of the part of the operation where I am based is performing very poorly in his job, to the point where nearly everyone reporting to him has now lost confidence. Two of my colleagues – two people I rate very highly and who have helped me enormously in 87

The Power of Networking

the past – have recently come to me to see if I will join them in going to see the chief executive with the intention of spilling the beans. Naturally, my first reaction on hearing their proposal was to hesitate and to ask for a few days to think it over. I am sure you can appreciate the dilemma I now face. On the one hand I could be embarking on a course of action that has no turning back; on the other, I could be stonewalling two people I want to stay on networking terms with and leaving them to shoot the bullets on their own. Any advice? A What we have said in this chapter is that you should never ask any of your contacts to do anything unreasonable – including anything that puts them at risk. But if the tables are turned and if someone you network with is asking you to do something unreasonable and risky then the rules of the game are that you have a right to decline. Whether your contacts would see it the same way is, of course, another matter. They might simply feel you lack the moral fibre to go along with what they are proposing so, in short, stand by to get the cold shoulder next time you ask them to do you a favour. Having said all of this, your situation is a very tricky one and is perhaps best viewed by looking at the main issues and assessing the risks. Networking, on this occasion, is not the main issue. What you need to be focusing on is that if you join this conspiracy you will, as you realize, be playing a high-risk game. Risks, however, cut both ways. On the upside, if the conspiracy comes off you will rid yourself of a bad director and remove the threat that his presence is posing to the job prospects of you and your colleagues. On the downside, if your bean spilling falls on deaf ears then you will achieve nothing and have the added difficulty of facing the future with the possibility of your director knowing that you and your conspirators tried to put the knife in his back. This is clearly not a comfortable choice and one that the three of you need to make with 88

Internal Networks

your eyes wide open. A lot, in our view, depends on how you see your relationship with the chief executive. Does this person hold you and your two colleagues in high regard? (How is your lifelong interview?) Also, is he someone you can speak to ‘off the record’, ie someone you can trust not to transmit your spilling of the beans back to your director? If, as a result of this risk assessment, you come down in favour of backing off then try to explain the reasons to your two colleagues. Try to dissuade them from going it alone and, in that way, your networking relationship might survive. A possible alternative to making a direct approach to the chief executive would be to see if, between the three of you, you could come up with a contact who has the chief executive’s ear and who would be prepared to test the temperature of the water for you while you remain anonymous.

89

This page intentionally blank

five

Networking on

THE JOB MARKET In the few words at the beginning of this book we drew attention to the success people are having with networking themselves into jobs and how, in effectiveness terms, networking compares very favourably with other forms of job seeking. But why should this be? This is indeed a reasonable question to ask seeing that, for legal and public-image reasons, companies are so keen to stress the openness of their selection procedures these days. Why should it be increasingly possible to get in through the back door by pulling a few strings? What’s going on here? In this chapter we look at how the modern job market operates and how it advantages people who can become adept users of the networking tool. We will see how this knowledge can help you refine your approach to networking, thus allowing doors to open for you that haven’t opened so far.

How jobseekers view the modern job market Talking to jobseekers is always an interesting experience, not least because it reveals the apprehension with which a 91

The Power of Networking

lot of them view modern job market conditions. Breaking this apprehension down, we arrive at what we call the six articles of pessimism: the reasons why these jobseekers find the modern market so difficult. Let’s now go through these six articles one by one and see what the problems are: 1

The sheer volume of competition that faces candidates for any decent job. They know they will be up against dozens, hundreds and, occasionally, thousands of other applicants and this is a major off-putter.

2

The bad treatment employers dole out. The reference here is usually to the large number of employers who neither reply to applications nor let candidates know how they got on at interviews. Anecdotal evidence suggests that ‘bad treatment’ is on the increase.

3

The emergence of the so-called ‘invisible’ market – the jobs that are never advertised, which are reputed to be the best jobs. How does anyone ever access these jobs?

4

The feeling of hopelessness that comes from belonging to what people regard as disadvantaged groups, eg the long-term unemployed, those considered to be ‘too old’ or those lacking in skills.

5

The risk that goes with changing jobs. Just how secure are the jobs that jobseekers are going after? At the back of everyone’s mind is, of course, the certainty that, if times get tough, the last in is usually the first to go.

6

The perceived unwillingness of employers to offer training and the difficulties this presents to younger people or those who are seeking to change their careers.

The six articles of pessimism are important because they are the reasons why people end up staying where they are: frustrated, over-worked, under-paid, blocked-in, turned-off, passed-by, fed up or whatever it was that put them out on the job market in the first place. Needless to say, this isn’t 92

Networking for Jobs

good, but it proves that allowing the job market to become a place where you go round chalking up bad experiences is a big mistake.

The increased demand for good career jobs It won’t have escaped your notice that there have been major changes in the way companies structure themselves. Gone, in the main, are the large organizations with their hierarchical pillars of management. Gone, too, are the career paths that those pillars used to support. Driven by recession or the onslaught of global competition, or both, companies have sought to divest themselves of anything they see as nonessential. This has resulted in the kind of slimmeddown, flattened-off structures that are now so much in evidence – structures where, very often, there are no career paths or where the career paths truncate. As if these changes were not enough, there have been two other developments in recent times that have not been particularly good news for people in careers: the increasing tendency for companies to fragment themselves into autonomous, self-accounting and more manageable units; and an upsurge in the number of small companies. By definition, fragmented companies and small companies don’t offer much in the way of career paths. So, what we are seeing here is the emergence of a world where getting on, as often as not, means moving on. Hence the tremendous interest in any job opportunity that offers prospects, training or what people see as being a way out of the ruts and dead ends that they see themselves in. In short, the quality end of the job market is getting a very crowded place indeed and any good job that is advertised widely attracts very large numbers of applicants. 93

The Power of Networking

The invisible job market Prior to the changes we have just described, most mediumto large-sized organizations carried a personnel or human resources department whose job it was to receive applications and carry out preliminary interviews. Candidates viewed as suitable would then be put forward to heads of departments for final selection in the form of a short list. However, the norm with the small- to medium-sized, slimmed-down and fragmented organizations that make up much of the supply side of today’s job market is not to have a personnel department meaning that, from start to finish, recruitment is handled by heads of departments. How well this is done will depend on two factors: the amount of time and resources these heads of departments can dedicate to recruitment; and their levels of experience. With the time and resources factor, what we also have to bear in mind is that many of these companies have experienced rationalization programmes, resulting in more and more work being put into fewer and fewer pairs of hands. Since the pairs of hands in question happen to be those belonging to the same heads of departments who now have to handle their own recruiting, the knock-on effect is for recruitment to be seen as something to be ‘fitted in’. Short cuts and time-saving measures are often sought and applied. Also there is going to be heavy demand for any job that is perceived as being good. This means these jobs will attract the largest numbers of applicants and give our busy heads of department the biggest headaches. One of our six articles of pessimism – the upsurge in the number of companies who don’t bother replying to letters of application or informing candidates how they got on at interviews – can be put down to bad manners and poor standards, but often this isn’t the whole story. What’s going on behind the scenes in a lot of these cases is that some poor overworked, 94

Networking for Jobs

stressed-out departmental manager is inundated with replies to an advertisement and doesn’t know how to cope. Apart from time and resources, the other factor influencing the way in which these companies deal with recruitment is the level of their managers’ experience and expertise. Do they know how to recruit and, in particular, how to recruit people with scarce or specialist skills? Do they know enough about selection techniques to enable them to make the right choices? The first point is clearly a concern for the knowledge- and technology-based organizations that form an increasingly important part of today’s employment scene (organizations that will be chasing people with scarce and specialist skills). The second point is a worry for any organization, with the penalties for picking poor performers or bad apples ranging from the damage this can inflict on the business through to the expensive litigation that can arise from dismissals. But how do these perceptions of the difficulties that surround recruitment of staff affect the way in which employers behave in the job market? Let’s now draw the threads together and see what picture materializes:

ᔢ There is a greater tendency for employers to ‘hold fire’ before automatically replacing leavers. This holding fire may be partly rationalized by ‘seeing if we can manage’. The justification is in terms of trying to reduce costs rather than apprehension about the situations these employers see themselves getting into. The ‘holding fire’ may in turn manifest itself in the form of hiring a temp from an employment agency. In the fullness of time the temp may get offered the job (the well-known temp-toperm transmutation that advantages users of the Trojan Horse technique – see pages 52 to 54). ᔢ Employers are less inclined to use advertising as a means of filling vacancies. Advertising will be seen as 95

The Power of Networking

‘too slow’ or as unselective, ie attracting too many applicants of the wrong calibre who take time and effort to weed out. ᔢ If the demand is for people with specialist or scarce skills, advertising may not be seen as the appropriate medium anyway. ‘The kind of people we want won’t be looking at job ads’ is a remark we often hear from employers these days. ᔢ The increased use of headhunters and recruitment consultants: people who can source candidates from their networks of contacts or from their files. Headhunters and recruitment consultants will also have the expertise that employers find reassuring. ᔢ A greater tendency for companies to avoid the pain of going through long-winded, time-consuming recruitment exercises by approaching people they directly or indirectly know. Go through this list and you have the reasons for the growth of the so-called invisible market – the positions that are never advertised; the jobs that are so hard to find out about; the jobs that are often the best jobs. But how do you go about penetrating the invisible market? Let’s see how the power of networking can help.

Getting headhunted What is a certainty is that headhunters (or executive search consultants, as they prefer to call themselves) have taken over a huge chunk of the top-jobs market. Yet it is a mistake to think of approach as being confined to people in board-level jobs – this is far from true. Approach, as a method of recruitment, is used for all kinds of people and, 96

Networking for Jobs

in its commonest form, it is the kind of poaching of staff that goes on, day in, day out, between competing firms in the same business or trade and without the help of executive search consultants. The targets for these direct approaches are usually those whose know-how and expertise will benefit the poacher commercially. The effect on the targeted company is, of course, a double whammy. Not only do they lose the know-how and expertise in question, but they also suffer the equally devastating blow of seeing it fall into the hands of the competition. While sales staff have traditionally been targets for this kind of activity, other key personnel such as skilled technicians, IT specialists and good managers often find themselves on the receiving end of direct approaches from companies. As we have seen, in these days of stripped-to-the-bone organizations, companies are now less inclined to place an ad in the press when they have a need to recruit. What they may choose as an alternative is to headhunt someone, which means either forking out large sums of money and going to the professionals (the executive search consultants) or seeing if they can headhunt someone suitable themselves. The amount of headhunting that goes on is hard to quantify because, by its very nature, it is covert (its existence is only known to the parties directly involved). Yet an intelligent guess would be to say that it is substantial and, because of the increasing constraints imposed on companies by their limited resources, it would be an equally intelligent guess to say that it is becoming very substantial indeed. All this, you will be glad to hear, is good news for networkers. Networking is the way in as far as getting headhunted is concerned. The power of networking, if you like, is what provides the magic force to open the doors and this is what we will be seeking to demonstrate over the next few pages. 97

The Power of Networking

Networking and search Search is the province of executive search consultants, an exclusive and elitist bunch of people best known, perhaps, for the impenetrable wall of mystique that surrounds them – and for the large fees that they charge to their clients. For this reason alone, the activities of executive search consultants are largely confined to the top end of the job market, typically to board-level appointments. Therefore, to be approached by an executive search consultant is usually a pretty sure sign that you are on the way up. Success and riches will undoubtedly follow, so the questions on everyone’s lips are: how do you get yourself on the receiving end of a call from one of these superior beings and how does your name find its way on to their lists? Executive search consultants, the good ones at least, are people who thrive on their connections. They are, if you like, the networkers par excellence. They pride themselves on the numerous contacts they have in the business world, contacts that they can quickly tap into whenever a client comes on to them with the need to source some new executive talent. Example: company Z is in the plastics industry and needs a new chief executive because the present incumbent is planning to retire. Company Z knows of no one suitable for this position so they approach a leading firm of executive search consultants. Given company Z’s briefing, the search consultants first go through the names of the contacts they have in the plastics industry. Pretty soon they have a list and the phone calls start. Do any of these contacts know anyone who would fit company Z’s specification? Alternatively, do these contacts know anyone else who would be able to suggest a name? What is happening here is that the executive search consultants are tapping into other people’s networks (secondary networking) and this is what they are very adept at doing. 98

Networking for Jobs

Who, at the end of the day, benefits from these extended lines of enquiry that executive search consultants put out? What kinds of people are going to find themselves in the net at the end of each one of these trawls? Is it a case of the old school tie in action again, or are the qualities needed to get headhunted by executive search consultants more subtly defined? As in all professional networking relationships, executive search consultants’ relationships with their contacts are built on mutual interest and the two-way traffic that the networking spawns. In the executive search consultant’s case, a good contact is one who will provide him or her with access to suitable candidates. The search assignment is successful and this is the way the consultant makes money. From the contact’s point of view, being on networking terms with an executive search consultant is a considerable asset. In return, the contact can expect some good jobs to come his or her way. What this mutual interest means is that:

ᔢ Search consultants’ contacts will be anxious to come up with the right people so that they will be seen as worth networking with. ᔢ The right people will be those who are going to meet the executive search consultants’ approval – people, in other words, who project the work-perfect and personperfect image (people who have got their lifelong interviews right). ᔢ Conversely, the names these contact figures won’t be putting forward will be the names of people who fall short of the work-perfect and person-perfect image (another example of where simply knowing someone has no benefits whatsoever). ᔢ How better it is for the consultants’ contacts if the names they are putting forward are the names of people they 99

The Power of Networking

network with: they have done these people a good turn and, with reason, they can expect a good turn back. Therefore, getting on the lists of executive search consultants is the product of good networking practice and, in turn (and because of how the modern job market works), this is a way of accessing some very good jobs indeed.

Using proactive networking to get on executive search consultants’ lists What we have described in the preceding section is reactive networking: the approach comes in on the inbound lane of your great networking superhighway and you respond to it. But the question you may well be asking is whether or not there is anything you can do proactively to enhance your chances of being on the receiving end of an approach from an executive search consultant. Is it a case of having to wait for the approach to happen (and possibly having to wait a long time) or is there a way of getting your name on executive search consultants’ lists and putting yourself in line for a top drawer job? We will deal with this question in two parts, firstly by telling you what won’t work: sending a copy of your CV off to every leading firm of executive search consultants you can find. Why won’t it work? Simply because, done properly, search doesn’t consist of digging into the back files for names of candidates; it consists of going out into the world and tracking down individuals whose skills and talents are going to match clients’ needs. Your CV will therefore end up with all the other CVs that executive search consultants receive – and don’t be too surprised if this happens to involve the shredding machine. 100

Networking for Jobs

Now for the second part of the answer. If you want to bring yourself to the attention of executive search consultants then there is no better way to do it than by engaging the power of networking:

ᔢ Tap into your professional network and find out if any of your contacts have had the experience of being headhunted (the chances are increasingly likely these days). ᔢ Get the name of the executive search consultant who was involved in the headhunting of your contact and give this person a ring. ᔢ Introduce yourself by using the name of your contact and take it from there (tell the consultant what you are looking for and ask if he or she can help you). By using this approach you are using the same technique of secondary networking that executive search consultants use themselves – in effect, you are turning the tables and playing the consultants at their own game. But, from the consultants’ point of view, the fact that you have arrived on their doorstep on the inbound lane of their networking superhighways, rather than cold in the post, will be a source of comfort and interest to them.

Networking and approaches from companies Most headhunting that goes on is not done by executive search consultants but by companies making approaches to individuals themselves. The individuals concerned are people they know either directly (through one of their own employees) or through an intermediary. An example of the latter is company Y, which operates in a technology-based industry and, as a result of changes in its management structure, it is seeking someone new to 101

The Power of Networking

head up its product development team. The chief executive of company Y is on very good terms with the director of the trade association to which Company Y belongs. This person, as the chief executive knows, has some very good connections in the industry, hence he asks him to recommend a few suitable names. Though it does avoid the relatively long-winded and expensive processes of advertising or going to professional search consultants, companies proceeding along the route of recruiting for themselves by making direct approaches to individuals don’t just do it for reasons of speed or cost. What this method also offers to those who use it is a comfort factor. Either they have first-hand knowledge of the individual they intend to approach or a person they trust (the intermediary) has first-hand knowledge. The risk of picking up a poor performer or a bad apple is therefore reduced. This comfort factor is important and we will be coming back to it later on. Who benefits from companies going down the route of recruiting staff by direct approach? Again the answer is people who pay attention to their networking. Let’s go to a case study and see how. Case study No. 13: Delia, Edmund and Richard Delia is the marketing director of a major chain of hotels and leisure centres. Delia is looking for someone to lead a special projects team that she is setting up: someone who will be responsible for bringing one of her own pet schemes to fruition, hence someone she needs to have a great deal of confidence in. For this reason Delia is not keen to run advertisements in the trade papers. Anyone and everyone can apply to an advertisement and Delia knows she will feel much happier with someone whose track record she can vouch for personally. Besides, in Delia’s view there are too many misfits floating round in the industry and she doesn’t want to run the risk of employing one in this key position.

102

Networking for Jobs

Having conducted a search for internal candidates and drawn a blank, Delia therefore turns her mind to people she knows in the trade. Two names immediately present themselves: Edmund and Richard. Edmund and Richard work for the hotel group where Delia worked previously and, because of uncertainties following a take-over, Delia knows that they are both anxious to make a move. Edmund, if anything, has the greater experience but Delia has to admit to reservations about him. Edmund is apt to fly off the handle when his ideas meet resistance and Delia realizes that this will cause problems with leading the project team. An important part of the brief is to convince a largely staid and sceptical senior management of the need for major change and fits of petulance on the part of the team leader simply won’t help to achieve this aim. Much as she likes Edmund and appreciates his many talents, Delia sees that his presence could pose a serious threat to the success of the project, ie it is a risk she is not prepared to take. For this reason, she decides, reluctantly, to give Edmund a miss. On reflection, Richard, who has no history of losing his temper with his colleagues or of anything else that gives Delia a problem, seems like the far safer pair of hands.

The points to note out of this case study are:

ᔢ The comfort factor at work – the project is important to Delia and she is not happy about turning it over to a complete stranger. Having exhausted the possibility of internal promotions she turns to people she knows – in this case two ex-colleagues. As a consequence, the job of project team leader never surfaces on the job market and it becomes yet another example of those vacancies companies keep to themselves (the invisible market). ᔢ The test Delia applies to her two candidates is the test of the lifelong interview, what her direct knowledge of them reveals. This is a far truer and more exacting test than, say, subjecting a complete stranger to the normal couple of job interviews. 103

The Power of Networking

ᔢ How Edmund failed the test because of his lack of attention to his lifelong interview. On the occasions he flew off the handle with his colleagues he did not realize how, one day, this would be held against him and be the reason why he did not receive an approach for a job opportunity that he would have welcomed. ᔢ In reality, it hardly matters whether or not Richard is any sweeter-tempered than Edmund. What he is certainly better at doing is projecting an image that gives Delia no cause for concern. Whatever his faults are, they are ones that he has managed to keep to himself. ᔢ How companies play safe when it comes to key appointments; how any perceived flaw in a candidate tends to put paid to his or her chances.

Compensating for the small worlds As we have demonstrated, networking is a very powerful tool in these difficult modern job market conditions. However, you will recall the observation we made in Chapter 1: because professional networks are built on people you know and because these people are drawn from a tight circle, your networking will only ever access small worlds. For you the problem arises when you want to break out of these small worlds – an example being when you want to change careers. The connections you have in the rubber and plastics industry may have served you very well indeed, but they won’t be much use to you if you decide to run a restaurant or go on the stage. The answer here is to appreciate these limitations to the power of networking and to offset them by using other methods of job seeking at the same time – for example, by applying for jobs you see advertised or by putting yourself on the books of selected employment agencies. 104

Networking for Jobs

These small worlds, however, sometimes have a habit of sucking you in almost without you noticing. We can quote the case of Ed, who never wrote off for a job in his life. Ed had lots of contacts in the foundry industry where he worked for many years and every time he made a job move it was as a result of an approach from someone he knew. The result for Ed was that he stayed in the foundry industry and this was fine until most of the foundries in his area closed. Ed then found he was stranded mid-career in what had by then become a declining industry. His mistake was to allow the power of networking to take over the management of his career. The lesson to be learnt here is never to let this happen and always to preserve your own agenda separate to anything your networks dictate. We all live in small worlds but when we see those small worlds threatened or not offering us the challenges they used to offer us then the time has come to take stock and consider the options. A further move in the direction our networks are pulling us in could be a step closer to stagnation, frustration or perdition – whichever happens to be beckoning. So, with job seeking, be aware of the need to turn off the power of networking from time to time.

Controlling the power of networking This brings us back neatly to the important subject of control, which we introduced you to back in Chapter 2. Resisting the power of networking when it is pulling you in a direction you shouldn’t be going in is all part of control. In Ed’s case the power of networking was holding him back in a small world, one that was slowly dying and, as a consequence, becoming a dangerous place for him to be. Yet the pull of networking can sometimes be even more insidious 105

The Power of Networking

than it was in Ed’s case and if you go back to the case of Bill and Tarsem (Case study No. 6, page 36) you will see a very good example of this. Tarsem, you remember, was introduced to a job by his former colleague, Bill. The job was with Bill’s firm and had conditions attached to it that were not to Tarsem’s liking – namely, extensive travel and working away from home. The right decision for Tarsem was to turn the job down, but he was concerned how it might reflect on Bill if he did. Tarsem therefore found himself in a tricky position, a position he would not have been in if, say, he had sourced the job by replying to an advertisement, a position that arose because the job came to him via his network. The object lesson in Tarsem and Bill’s case is one of control: controlling the messages you feed out to your contacts and ensuring that they are understood – in other words, making it double clear exactly what you are expecting your contacts to do for you. In cases we have had like Tarsem and Bill’s, the people involved have often been people in family relationships where the emotional tangles and feelings of obligation and loyalty are even harder to deal with. This illustrates yet again the difficulties that can arise when home/family and professional networks cross. Beware if ever this happens. (Note: ‘small worlds’ arise because there is a natural tendency for people to use their accumulated experience to move round in the same industry or trade. This means that some of the people you network with (ex-colleagues) are going to be working for competitors and, as a result, some of the approaches you receive will be from companies who are in direct rivalry with your own. Needless to say there are dangers in situations such as these, dangers of the sort encountered by Neville (see page x). We will be looking at the difficulties associated with networking with the competition in Chapter 6.) 106

Networking for Jobs

Tapping into your network as a source of opportunities In the previous section we looked at approaches from companies where the networking is reactive – where you are the one who is receiving the taps on the shoulder and where the approaches come at you on the inbound lane of your great networking superhighway. Next, we want to consider what might happen when the tables are turned, when you’re taking on the proactive role and tapping into your networks to see what career opportunities they might open up for you. What is immediately striking about proactive networking as a means of sourcing employment opportunities is how little people use it – that is, until they find the world really is closing in on them. Viewed very much as the method of last resort, they only tend to start phoning their contacts when things start looking particularly bad – like when they get the redundancy notice put in their hand or when the new boss turns out to be someone they can’t stand. The result is that proactive networking tends to reveal snapshots of the market at given points in time, and herein lies a weakness. For example, if the point in time happens to be the start of a recession (a time when a lot of redundancy notices will be issued), the snapshot won’t be a very pretty picture (other companies will be in the same difficulties as yours). We say this because a lot of people’s experience of proactive networking is based on the phoning round they did when they got laid off or when the writing seemed to be on the wall at the start of the last slump. They found the exercise to be nonproductive for the reason we have described and they don’t give it another try when conditions are more favourable. Going after another job is something you do best if you plan your way into it. So, you should: 107

The Power of Networking

ᔢ take stock of your situation and view all your options; ᔢ decide what you are going after and then check that you are being realistic;

ᔢ decide the best ways of accessing the opportunities you are looking for;

ᔢ use these ways as fully and effectively as you can (work at it);

ᔢ build on your experience. The converse to a planned approach to job seeking is where you apply for jobs haphazardly and randomly then snatch at what seems like the first decent offer that comes along. O.K., so this may be the way you have to proceed when you get the redundancy notice out of the blue but, nine times out of ten, your forays out on to the job market won’t be dictated by dire events such as these. You will be able to take a planned approach and your job seeking will benefit as a consequence. Incorporating some proactive networking into your planned approach is the next step, though whether this is appropriate or not is something you will have to decide. For example, if you are trying to make a complete career break, tapping into your professional network probably won’t be a lot of help to you in accessing opportunities. Your contacts will all be in the professional orbit you are trying to move away from and the problem of ‘small worlds’ hits you in the face. These odd situations apart, what you need to do when you decide the time has come for you to make a move is to feed this message out to your network contacts or a selected number of them, such as those you feel are best placed to be able to come up with something for you. The message needs to contain:

ᔢ Why you have arrived at your decision and, in fairly precise terms, what it is that you are looking for. ᔢ Details of what other steps you are taking to source suitable opportunities, eg talking to other network contacts, 108

Networking for Jobs

ᔢ

ᔢ

ᔢ

ᔢ

replying to advertisements, etc. This will dispel the impression that your approach to any one of your contacts is the sum total of your sourcing activities and you won’t be put in any embarrassing situations if two contacts come up with an opportunity at the same time. (At some stage you will have to disengage from at least one contact and you need to feel as comfortable about doing this as you can.) Emphasis that you are in no hurry and that your interest is ongoing so your contact understands that you want to keep the line of enquiry open; you are not just seeking a snapshot of what’s available at the present time. Confirmation that your contact will speak to you first before advancing any line of enquiry on your behalf (to avoid a Tarsem and Bill situation and to ensure you stay in control). With regard to the last bullet point, re-emphasis of your availability and approachability (‘If you hear of anything, check it out with me first: ring me at home in the evening or at weekends. If I’m not in, the answerphone is always on.’) Emphasis that, apart from the other contacts you’ve spoken to (identify them), the fact that you’re looking for another job is to be treated as strictly confidential: they should check with you first before your name is mentioned to any third parties. Explain what problems there could be for you if your job-seeking activities should reach the wrong ears.

When feeding out enquiries about job opportunities to people you network with, remember to tell them when you want them to stop. This will normally be when you manage to get yourself fixed up or if your circumstances in your present company should change so that you no longer wish to make a move (for example, if you get a promotion or a 109

The Power of Networking

rise). We add this piece of advice because it is quite infuriating to do a lot of spadework for someone only to be told when the spadework comes to fruition that they are not interested any more. Many a good network contact has been lost by a communication failure like this. Apart from the time wasting, your contact will be put into the position of having to explain away your seemingly sudden change of heart and this won’t do a lot for his or her credibility. Remember: this is your network and you are the one responsible for its good management – including getting the communications right.

Wrong ears This takes us back to the problem of the small, tightly knit worlds that most professional networks are built around. In small, tightly knit worlds, secrets have a habit of not staying secrets for very long. The fact you are looking for another job can get transmitted from A to B then quickly on to C till finally it reaches the ears of someone you don’t want it to reach, which in most cases will be the ears of your immediate boss. In some situations, deciding to move on won’t cause any ripples in the pond. There are companies, for example, who realize that they can’t offer much in the way of career opportunities to their employees and where the subject of moving on is openly discussed. For most of us, however, job seeking is an activity that we carry out covertly. We don’t let on to our companies what we are up to because we know that it will put a question mark over important areas like our commitment and loyalty. We know full well that companies tend to write off those they see as short-term stayers. They take no further interest in the development of their careers and this can manifest itself, for example, in spending no more money on their training. 110

Networking for Jobs

In some cases, however, whispers going round that someone is looking for another job can provoke a very different kind of reaction, and here are two experiences that illustrate just how difficult these situations can become. Rita: ‘My boss simply took the view that if I wanted to leave, I might as well leave straight away – he gave me the sack on the spot!’ Imran: ‘Rather foolishly I let it out to a colleague that I had applied for another job and, the very next day, I was confronted by the managing director and asked to step into his office. The gist of the conversation was that either I withdrew my application or he would put a stop to my part-time MBA course.’ Keeping quiet the fact that you are putting out feelers on the job market is relatively easy where the job is one that you have seen advertised in the newspaper and where applying consists of sending in a letter and your CV. Provided you don’t do as Imran did and give the game away, there would seem to be every chance of your secret remaining a secret. Not so, however, with networking your way into jobs where, because the right ears and the wrong ears are often people that know one another, there is a real risk of a leak. So what’s the answer to this one? ᔢ First, you must acknowledge the risk (appreciate that it is there and don’t pretend that it isn’t). ᔢ Second, you must seek to minimize the risk. You can do this by: being selective in the first place with the people you network with, ie never network with people you don’t trust or people you view as gossips; in terms of your total network, being even more selective about the people who you network with about jobs; stressing the confidentiality; keeping control (asking your contacts to clear any conversations with third parties with you first). ᔢ Third, you must quantify the risk. Is it a big risk or is it a small risk, ie does the company you work for tend to take 111

The Power of Networking

great exception to people who go out looking for other jobs or are they more even-handed? In other words, assess the retribution that could be coming your way and how much it will hurt.

ᔢ Fourth, ask yourself if you are in a position to take the risks. Are you, for example, a sole breadwinner with monthly mortgage commitments to meet or are you footloose and fancy free with few financial burdens? If you fall into the former category then clearly you need to err on the side of caution; if the latter, you can perhaps afford to take a rather more cavalier attitude. ᔢ Fifth, see what’s to be gained from your networking. In other words, now you’ve looked at the downsides, look at the upsides too. The object to this balancing of the risks is twofold in that it will also serve as a check to ensure that what you hope to gain from your networking makes the risk worth taking. The last thing you want to be doing is putting your job on the line or incurring corporate disfavour for the sake of a trivial increase in your salary or because you want a slightly better company car. Let’s put it another way: make sure that the job moves you achieve through networking count for you. ᔢ Sixth, take account of all we have to say about networking with the competition in Chapter 6. Finally on the subject of your networking reaching the wrong ears, be aware that this isn’t just confined to situations where the networking stimulus is coming from you (where you are tapping into your networks to see what opportunities they are able to provide). The problem can also arise where you are on the receiving end of an approach and where, because the networking is reactive, it will be less in your control. O.K., so the charge can’t be levelled at you that you went out looking for the approach, meaning it could not be viewed as an expression of your 112

Networking for Jobs

dissatisfaction with the company or lack of commitment. However, the stigma of the potential short-stayer is still there and, once again, this is something you need to be careful about.

Job creation To sum up so far, we have reached the stage where:

ᔢ We have seen what the power of networking can do in

ᔢ

ᔢ ᔢ ᔢ

the modern job market conditions that have evolved since the mid-1980s; we have seen in particular what a powerful agent networking can be when it comes to accessing the increasingly important invisible market. We have looked at how good networking practice can provide the key to getting yourself headhunted both by professional executive search consultants and by companies who headhunt direct. We have seen that just knowing someone is not enough: for the networking to work for you, the associations have to be good. We have seen how you can use your networks to practise approach in reverse and tap into your contacts as a source of jobs. We have looked at some of the risks attached to networking on the job market, particularly the risks associated with operating in small, tightly knit worlds.

Without doubt, effective networking can achieve results – it has the power to advance careers in the difficult conditions presented by the modern job market. Indeed, this power is so extraordinary that it can virtually create jobs out of thin air. A further case study will help us to see how this can come about. 113

The Power of Networking

Case study No. 14: Matt, Tony and Bella Bella is 28 and, apart from a good engineering background, she also has specialist knowledge of control systems for the kind of high-speed machinery that is used in the food processing and packaging industries. Bella works for a company that designs, manufactures and installs such machines to customers’ specifications. The company, however, is a relatively small company and Bella realizes that, to get on, she needs to be joining one of the major players. With this aim in mind, Bella looks first of all at her network of contacts in the industry to see how they might help her. Tony used to work with Bella but he has since moved on and is now with a big name in the machine-building industry. He is interested to receive the approach from Bella because he has a very high opinion both of her and her work. He is quick to appreciate why Bella wants to make a move because he happened to be at the same crossroads himself just a few years ago. However, the problem is that the control systems division of Tony’s company has no vacancies at the moment, a fact that Tony has established by talking to Matt, the divisional manager. Matt, however, is greatly impressed by what Tony has to tell him about Bella and some of the projects that she has been involved in. Matt knows all too well that good control-systems engineers don’t grow on trees and on that basis he asks Tony to set up an interview. The interview goes well, with Matt and Bella mainly talking shop. Matt makes it clear that he has no current vacancies but, as the interview progresses, he realizes that Bella would be a great asset to the division if he could find a slot for her. He therefore ends the interview by telling Bella that he may be able to do something for her and that he will get back to her in a few days. The same afternoon Matt makes an appointment to see his boss, the director in charge of operations, and puts forward a justification for taking on an extra engineer over and above his budgeted establishment. This justification is based on:

ᔢ bringing in-house some of the work he is currently putting out to sub-contractors;

ᔢ the likelihood that, at some point, one of his existing engineers will leave and the time it takes to bring any new engineer on stream (the benefits of having someone waiting in the wings); ᔢ Bella’s knowledge and skills not ending up with the competition.

114

Networking for Jobs

The key points to pick out of this case study are:

ᔢ The networking only worked for Bella because Tony had a high opinion of her. ᔢ The networking got Bella the visibility that led to the creation of a job for her. This combination of ‘being there’ and having the right associations is the same combination that makes the Trojan Horse technique (see Chapter 3) such a formidable force. ᔢ At that particular time, a vacancy in the control systems division would not have arisen by any other means. Prior to the conversation with Tony, Matt had no intention of recruiting a member of staff, particularly one who would put the division over budget and require the sanction of the director. ᔢ If Matt’s director gives the go-ahead, the job will be offered to Bella, ie she won’t have any competition to fight off. Creating jobs by networking won’t of course work for everybody. In Bella’s case, apart from her good image, she had a bank of knowledge and skills that had a value to Matt, and here is the clue to knowing where your proactive networking effort is best placed:

ᔢ Begin by asking yourself what’s special about you – what skills or knowledge do you have that marks you out as different to most of the other people in your profession or trade? ᔢ Identify the organizations where these skills and knowledge would have a high value placed upon them. For example, in Bella’s case she made a good choice whereas if she had gone to another company she may not have generated the same level of interest. ᔢ Do you have any contacts in these organizations you have identified? Are you on networking terms with any 115

The Power of Networking

of their employees or do you know anyone (eg a professional advisor or someone working in sales perhaps) who has their ear? ᔢ If so, get your network working for you, remembering of course to keep control by telling your contacts exactly what you want them to do for you and how far to go before reporting back. In Bella’s case it could be, for example, that Matt’s company competes with hers, in which case the need for control is critical. For reasons you will now understand, job creating won’t tend to work if: you have little to offer in the way of skills and knowledge – for example, if you are in the early years of your career; or your skills and knowledge are obsolete (a reminder of the need to keep your skills and knowledge up to date and, where possible, to add to them). If you’ve got skills and knowledge to trade, the chances are that someone, somewhere will be prepared to make a space for you, but you need networking to open the doors.

Networking and interviews We have seen how networking on the job market is sometimes proactive and sometimes reactive in the form that it takes. Proactive is where you are putting out the feelers – tapping into your networks to see what opportunities they might yield (outgoing traffic). Reactive is where you are responding to approaches that are generated by your contacts (traffic on the inbound lane). What both proactive and reactive have in common is that they can lead on to selection procedures that are markedly different to the selection procedures you would face if, say, you wrote off for a job you saw advertised in 116

Networking for Jobs

the newspaper. Selection procedures associated with networking, and in particular interviews, are the subjects we want to look at next. What makes a candidate sourced by networking different to a candidate sourced by other means, such as advertising?

ᔢ First, and by definition, someone has foreknowledge of the candidate. That someone may be an executive of the company or an individual who is close to them, eg a trusted professional advisor. If we are talking about candidates sourced by executive search consultants, the someone will be one of the search consultants’ contacts. As we have seen already, this foreknowledge of a candidate’s track record offers a comfort factor. The company will know that he or she can perform effectively. It will also be known that he or she is not a bad apple who is going to cause problems. ᔢ Second, the candidate will be one of a few candidates sourced or, more likely than not, he or she will be the only one. The latter will tend to be the case where companies are doing their own headhunting or where the candidate has accessed the position by proactive networking. Where executive search consultants are involved, the consultants will probably prefer to give their clients some choice by offering them a shortlist so you will be one of a selected few. Both of these situations contrast with advertised vacancies where, depending on the job and the extent to which it has been advertised, the number of candidates can run into hundreds and thousands. (This excess of competition, you will remember, was one of the six articles of pessimism we touched on at the start of this chapter.) ᔢ Third, where the candidate has been approached it is not a foregone conclusion that he or she is going to be interested in the job. Items like pay and perks may have to be negotiated. 117

The Power of Networking

Because of these fundamental differences, interviews with candidates who have been sourced by networking will tend to have rather different agendas to interviews with candidates sourced by other means. Notably:

ᔢ The candidate’s track record will mostly be taken ‘as read’. ᔢ The assumption may have been made by either or both parties that the candidate has already got the job, ie the interview is just a formality or to talk over the details. ᔢ The package will tend to be a central topic of discussion. The company will be seeking to establish what kind of deal they will have to put together to tempt the candidate out of his or her tree. ᔢ The candidate’s contact may be conducting the interview or be present in an advisory role. As a result there will be a tendency for the interview to get side-tracked or drift off into reminiscences, meaning that sometimes time runs out and the topics that are normally covered at job interviews are left out. The exception to the above tendencies is where executive selection consultants are involved (where the consultant’s foreknowledge of the candidate is not first-hand). With search being such a lucrative business and with future billings hanging on the success of each assignment, search consultants will be anxious to make sure that they are not putting forward sub-standard candidates to their clients. They realize that it is their reputation that is on the line, hence selection is usually rigorous and prolonged. What the search consultants will be seeking to establish is that their own assessment of the candidate tallies with what they have heard from their contacts. Nothing is left to chance. Search consultants apart, the net effect of these tendencies is for the network-generated interviews and selection procedures as a whole to be compressed. The result is that great chunks of what would be viewed as ‘normal’ in selection are 118

Networking for Jobs

left out. Sometimes these chunks contain something that is vital and their omission has traumatic consequences. Case study No. 15: Steffi and Andrea Steffi is the managing director of a company in the jewellery trade (part of a large group). She is fairly new to her position and she is still building up her management team. A key appointment as far as she is concerned is a person to head up sales. Here she is fortunate, because Andrea, the sales manager in her previous company, is looking for another job and Andrea’s talents are just what Steffi needs. A quick phone call to Andrea confirms that she is interested and Steffi fixes for the two of them to meet for lunch. Andrea is very interested when she hears about the job and Steffi’s plans for advancing her company’s market share. It is exactly the challenge Andrea needs so, over coffee, they discuss salary and, as they part company, Steffi and Andrea shake hands on a deal. Will Steffi put it into writing? Andrea asks. Steffi says she will and two days later Andrea receives a letter confirming the terms they agreed. Andrea has no hesitation about handing in her notice and, a month later, she starts in her new job as head of sales in Steffi’s company. From a work point of view, everything goes well for Andrea, her energy and flair bringing a new drive to the sales team. Soon the results start to show in the way of vastly improved figures. Steffi, needless to say, is very pleased indeed. The problem arises when, three months into the job, Andrea receives a letter from group head office containing a service agreement for her to sign and return. The service agreement is very detailed and written in legalistic language, but what concerns Andrea most is a clause stipulating that if she leaves, she is not allowed to work for any other company in the jewellery trade for at least two years. Andrea is speechless. She realizes that, if she signs such an agreement, it will effectively put paid to her employment prospects because jewellery is the only business she knows. What happens if, for example, she is made redundant? What happens if Steffi leaves for any reason and she gets a new boss – someone she finds she can’t work with? Andrea confronts Steffi straight away and demands to know why she didn’t mention the service agreement and its contents to her when she offered her the job. Steffi at first pleads ignorance.

119

The Power of Networking

She has no idea why the service agreement has been sent to Andrea and feels that there has been some mistake. She promises to get on to head office and tells Andrea not to worry in the meantime. Steffi is more than a little incensed when she speaks to her boss, the group chief executive, later the same day. She is incensed about the service agreement being sent to Andrea without her knowledge. She is incensed most of all because it undermines Andrea’s confidence in her and in the company. The chief executive is unmoved, however. All senior sales staff in the group are issued with service agreements, he explains, so everyone over a certain salary level has to accept restraints of the type that Andrea is making such a fuss about – there are no exceptions. Without restraints the group would be wide open to key sales people leaving to join competitors and taking business with them. If anyone is at fault, he adds, it is Steffi for not knowing the rules. Steffi is not quite sure what to make of this. Her understanding of her role as managing director is that she is empowered to run her company as she sees fit. To have to comply with some obscure group dictate on the conditions on which she can employ staff seems to her nonsensical in the extreme. What is bothering her most of all, though, is how to tell Andrea that she has no choice other than to sign the service agreement. Whatever the outcome, it is going to put a strain on their relationship.

Ignorance, omission, inexperience or downright deceit: whatever the cause, the incidence of cock-ups such as these seems to be on the increase – judging from some of the tales of woe we hear at the sharp end. The difficulty is, of course, for the Andreas of this world: the unfortunates who take a job only to find at a later stage that there is a condition that is not to their liking or a vital piece of information has not been passed on to them. Whether the correlation is significant or not, an awful lot of these cases seem to be in:

ᔢ companies where the infrastructure has been stripped out (eg the human resources department has gone); 120

Networking for Jobs

ᔢ small or heavily fragmented (decentralized) companies where professional input is usually lacking;

ᔢ companies in a hurry and companies who are looking for short cuts. Companies like these make up much of the modern job market and they are, of course, the very companies where good networking has the greatest pay-off. The mistake, however, is to view such companies as ‘bad’ companies. Just because their recruiting is under-resourced or because they lack experience or knowledge (like Steffi) it doesn’t mean that they will be bad employers. Indeed, there are many cases of companies that are models of excellence in product terms but whose recruitment is utterly shambolic. The message to take on board here is that good networkers take account of the fact that a networked approach to a job can mean that essential parts of the selection process get missed out. With Andrea-type disasters in mind, the following preventative measures are therefore strongly advised:

ᔢ Always make sure that you get the offer of employment in writing, with the terms you have agreed set out in black and white. ᔢ Unless one is given to you, make sure you get a copy of the company’s standard terms and conditions of employment (sometimes contained in documents such as staff handbooks). ᔢ Ascertain (by asking) whether there are any other rules that apply to you. If so, get copies of these rules. Examples of ‘other rules’ are service agreements for senior staff employees; rules affecting operators of company vehicles; pension scheme rules; rules covering perks that are included in the package, such as medical care plans, share options, etc. ᔢ Make a point of asking the company if there is anything else you need to know, eg unwritten rules or if there is 121

The Power of Networking

anything happening in the company which will have an affect on the role in which you are being employed (eg a restructuring exercise). ᔢ Read all the written information you get carefully (from cover to cover). Highlight anything you feel to be important and that has not been covered in the discussions. If in doubt, ask further questions. ᔢ Don’t hand your notice in until you have exhausted this list of measures. Finally on the subject of compressed selection procedures, make sure that the company knows everything about you that you feel they ought to know, for example:

ᔢ Any medical conditions that might affect you in the performance of your job including any restrictions on what you are capable of doing (eg if your doctor has advised you to avoid stressful situations, don’t leave it for the company to find out after you have started). ᔢ Any other impediments that might affect you in the performance of your job (eg if you are banned from driving, make sure you tell them). ᔢ Any contractual restraints you are subject to, notably restraints on what you can do and where you can work. ᔢ Your period of notice. In particular, tell the company if you have a long period of notice to give – don’t leave it for them to find out after you have accepted the job. Don’t run the risk of having them withdraw the offer because they feel it’s too long for them to wait. Because everyone’s case is different, the above list is not exhaustive. You will therefore need to judge whether there is anything else concerning you that the company’s selection procedures have not revealed – anything you feel they ought to know. Reveal anything that might affect their view of your suitability for the job, anything that could cause a 122

Networking for Jobs

problem if it were to come out at a later stage. The reason for this advice is that candidates who are sourced by networking frequently don’t go through the kind of question and answer sessions that candidates sourced by other means are faced with. Their track record, as we noted earlier, is taken ‘as read’. Similarly, companies omit to ask candidates sourced by networking to complete standard documentation such as application forms. The risk again is that something vital, which could affect the candidate’s suitability for the job, is overlooked. Taking account of compressed selection procedures is all part of keeping the power of networking firmly under control.

Dealing with enticement This is another facet of jobs that are sourced by networking – particularly reactive networking. In these situations the item that quickly comes under discussion, once the company has satisfied itself that you are indeed the right person for the job, is what it is going to take to tempt you out of your tree. Here, on the one hand, you should not be afraid to name your price, and certainly you should not be tempted to sell yourself cheap. On the other hand, you should not allow yourself to succumb to enticement. What we mean by this is that a job is either right for you or it is not – and it should be judged on that basis only. You should be wary, therefore, of companies who appear to be making you the offer you can’t refuse. Approach and enticement go very much hand in hand and in the majority of cases this works to the advantage of the candidate. The lack of competition (or its complete absence) means the company has nowhere much to go if the 123

The Power of Networking

approach fails. Therefore, this acts as a further compulsion on them to meet the candidate’s terms. So far, so good, but what happens where, for example, the job takes you in a direction you don’t particularly want to go? With a press advertisement you wouldn’t even be bothering to send in an application, but with approach you are usually there, ‘eyeball to eyeball’ with the employer and open to any enticement they care to subject you to. What is frightening about enticement is the lengths to which companies can go. This is not just a question of salary. Modern companies have a vast array of perks at their disposal ranging from the kind of company car you’ve only ever dreamed about through to share options, luxury holiday accommodation, help with the domestics or running the kids to school (take your pick). And, just in case you still have any lingering doubts about taking the job, the company can always throw in a golden hello – a five- or six-figure sum payable to you when you start with them – either in instalments or as a lump sum. Naturally, the higher up the ladder you go, the greater this largesse tends to be. Of course most people crumble when it comes to enticement, proving, perhaps, that we all have our price. Among the candidates we interview are those who put themselves in the category of ‘desperate’ as far as their job situations are concerned – some have actually walked out because they felt they couldn’t take any more. However, a high proportion of these same candidates have, at some stage, succumbed to enticement, proving just how big the dangers are. ‘I knew I was making a mistake. . .’ is the usual opener, followed by the inevitable tale of woe. Good networkers are people who know when to say no to approaches. Again, this is all part of keeping the power of networking firmly under control. In short, every offer should be seen as refusable. 124

Networking for Jobs

Using your networks to source information about prospective employers One of the big worries attached to taking a new job (and another of our six articles of pessimism) is the fact that it is a step into the unknown. No one has any real inkling as to how it is going to turn out and chief among the concerns is the worry that the job won’t last very long. Hence, and quite rightly, candidates go to great lengths to find out as much as they can about any company that they are contemplating joining. You need to research its financial stability, its trading performance, its performance as a career provider and its culture (for example, whether it is a ‘hire and fire’ organization or not). The problem, though, is where do you go to find out privileged information like this? Certainly it won’t be in anything you are likely to find in the public library or, with some of the questions you want answers to, in the company’s published accounts. With a job you source by networking (reactive or proactive) the chances are that: you will know the company because it operates in the same trade or industry as the one you are in already; or the contact you used to source the job will know the company (in many cases the contact will be someone who works for the company); or other contacts you have will know the company. Your networks are also there when you source a job by any other means (eg by replying to an advertisement in the press or through an agency or firm of recruitment consultants). Tap into your networks to see if you can discover any inside information on the company that interests you. Sometimes you may find you draw a blank. Here is where secondary networking may be able to help you – none of your own contacts may have any low-down, but they may 125

The Power of Networking

have contacts with others who are better placed. Again, it is the power of networking that puts you in the privileged position of being able to access knowledge that would be denied to you otherwise. And this knowledge could prevent you from making a bad move (a step that could put your career on a backward track). Don’t forget the control when using your networks to source information about prospective employers. In particular, don’t let your job-seeking activities reach the wrong ears – one of your contacts may let it out that you are asking questions about a particular company. In addition, remember that if you are tapping into secondary networks this control can be harder to achieve. Be prepared for some of the feedback you get from different sources to be conflicting. It is normal for different people to see things in different ways and it is also true that different individuals will have had different experiences upon which they base their opinions. Where there is variance in the feedback, try to identify points of consensus. Take with a pinch of salt any views from sources that might be prejudiced.

Networking in return Time and time again we have stressed the importance of keeping the two-way traffic flowing on your great networking superhighway – you help someone and they help you back. This is the way in which networking thrives. But what this means with regard to networking on the job market is that what you expect your contacts to do for you, you must also be prepared to do for them in return. So, you must be prepared to put in a good word for them and to do the best you can when they ask you to explore opportunities. You must have no qualms about doing this. This surely emphasizes, yet again, the importance of selecting the people you network 126

Networking for Jobs

with very carefully. Bad choices mean problems – problems for you. You will find yourself in the kind of situation Sally Ann found herself in with Jen (see Case study No. 2, page 13). You will find that you are having to tell white lies or make awkward excuses.

Summary As your career advances, your professional network starts to acquire an external dimension, contacts that, in the main, are made up of:

ᔢ Ex-colleagues – contacts in companies you have left or contacts who once worked in the same company as you but who have now moved on. Included under this heading are people who work on temporary contracts and who move round from company to company. ᔢ Contacts you meet through bodies such as professional institutions or trade associations, or from going on courses – people with whom you share a common interest (namely your work). ᔢ Contacts you meet in the course of your work. Examples include the salesman who works for your stationery supplier and who calls on you regularly, the customers you deal with, the self-employed software trainer you use, the manager of the staff agency on the High Street who provides you with temporary personnel and so on. Your external network gives you the facility to access employment opportunities outside your own company. This is important to you because approach (headhunting) is based on external networking: both approach from professional executive search consultants and from companies doing headhunting in their own right. Furthermore, external networking can be used to source jobs – you can connect 127

The Power of Networking

with good employment opportunities by tapping into your professional networks and not just when you are out of work (or your job is at risk). Networking is about making networks work for you, not impressing your credentials on an ever extending number of people, and nowhere is this better demonstrated than on the job market. Notably:

ᔢ Your networking won’t work unless you project the right image to your contacts. They won’t stick their necks out for you if they have misgivings about you. ᔢ Similarly, networking won’t work for you unless the twoway traffic is going up and down your superhighway. What your contacts do for you, you must be prepared to do for them in return. This means that if you can help your contacts to network their way into jobs then this is what you must be prepared to do. ᔢ Like any powerful tool, networking used without control will land you in serious trouble. You will find yourself in awkward situations, your job seeking will become public knowledge or you will be put in front of employers you feel awkward about saying no to, just as Tarsem was (see Case study No. 6, pages 36 to 37). ᔢ Assuming that you follow the rules properly, your network can be a great asset on the modern job market. In particular, it is the means of accessing opportunities on the increasingly important and elusive invisible market, which is where some of the best jobs are to be found.

Questions and answers Using mailshots to generate approach Q What’s wrong with sending a copy of my CV to executive search consultants and selected companies? Won’t my 128

Networking for Jobs

name be on file if any suitable opportunities come up, and isn’t this the best way of making sure I get headhunted? A Sorry, but that’s not the way it works. Approach is built on comfort factors – the comfort factors that come from knowing a candidate and his or her background either first-hand or through a trusted intermediary. An unsolicited CV arriving in the post offers no such comfort factors and, more to the point, it will probably end up with all the other unsolicited CVs – in a pile on someone’s desk where it will be lucky if it ever sees the light of day again. Mailshotting CVs is a method of sourcing jobs on the invisible market, but don’t confuse it with networking or feel that it has the same kind of power to open doors – it doesn’t. If you want to use networking to generate approaches then follow the advice in this chapter.

Person imperfect Q Sadly, I have not done a very good job with my lifelong interview. I left my last two companies under a bit of a cloud and the contacts I have in those companies all know the circumstances. What is your advice to someone like me? A By and large, networking is not going to work for you, which means, in job market terms, you are not going to be a target for approach. Also, tapping into your networks for job opportunities is not likely to yield much in the way of results. Our advice is to concentrate on other methods of sourcing jobs, such as replying to advertisements. However, and this is important, don’t give up on your networking. It’s never too late to draw a line under the past and start again.

Not in a position to make my job moves count Q You have said that with jobs that are sourced by networking, the moves should be moves that are worth making. In my case my job is due to be phased out in two months’ time and, yes, I am furiously tapping into my networks. 129

The Power of Networking

What I don’t see is how I can afford to be terribly selective. Frankly, any opportunity would be welcome at the moment. Your comments please? A The point, you remember, was one of risk – the risk inherent in networking is that your activities on the job market will reach the wrong ears and have a detrimental affect on your career. In your case, there is no such risk as we see it. If your company is making you redundant, they will be expecting you to be applying for jobs.

Networking your way back into companies you have left Q I have always taken the view that it is a mistake to go back to companies where I have worked previously, hence I have always said no when approaches have been made to me. Am I doing the right thing here? If not, please tell me what I should be doing. A Are you doing the right thing by not going back to companies where you have worked previously? The answer is it depends entirely on the circumstances. If, for example, you left because you couldn’t get on with the managing director and the managing director is still there then it would clearly be a mistake for you to go back. If, on the other hand, your old firm wants to offer you a really good job based on their experience of your character and work record then it would appear you are reaping the benefits of networking. Our advice is to always hear out an approach irrespective of whether it comes from a company you have worked for previously or not. View it on its merits.

Going behind executive search consultants’ backs Q An approach I received from an executive search consultant led to an interview with a company for a very senior position in their management team. After the interview, 130

Networking for Jobs

however, the approach went cold and, when I phoned the executive search consultant to find out what was happening, he told me that the company had decided to shelve its recruiting plans. Naturally, I was very disappointed with this outcome, but then it crossed my mind that the company might have been put off making me an offer by the large introduction fee that they would have been liable to pay to the consultant. I am now wondering whether there would be any mileage in making an approach to the company with a view to agreeing with them that I apply again in, say, a month’s time, only this time to do it direct, so the consultant’s fee would not come into it. What do you think? A Consultants come in all shapes and sizes and their terms of business vary widely. What is likely, however, is that the liability to pay a fee for introducing you extends for some considerable time into the future, ie what you are suggesting would not remove the liability. Of course, there is a chance that the consultant would not find out that you had joined the company. However, what is worrying us most about your suggestion is that you run the risk of being wrong, ie finding out that the consultant told you the truth and the company really has shelved its plans. You also risk souring your relationship with the consultant, in which case you couldn’t expect any more approaches from this source. This is a case of being aware of all the downsides before you proceed. Don’t run away with the idea that consultants are naive either. What you are suggesting is one of the oldest tricks in the book and all consultants who operate in the employment field are fully tuned in to the possibility of deals being reached behind their backs.

Getting a contact to hand-deliver a letter of application Q I am very interested in a job that is being advertised by a local company. I have a contact in this company (someone 131

The Power of Networking

I used to work with) and, seeing that the job is going to attract a large number of applications, I wondered if I might be doing myself a favour by getting my contact to hand in my letter of application. I could also ask her to put in a good word for me at the same time. Is this a good idea or not? A By virtue of the fact that the job has been advertised, it means that it has surfaced on the visible market and, as you have probably twigged already, most of what we have covered in this chapter concerns the invisible market, where the power of networking lends itself best. As to your suggestion, a lot really depends on your contact and how she is viewed in her company. If, for example, she is viewed favourably then you will gain from being associated with her. In this instance, and if there are a lot of replies to the company’s advertisement, your contact handing in your letter of application and putting in a good word for you might get you an interview. On the other hand, if your contact is viewed as a troublemaker or a poor performer then the association will work badly for you (your application will probably end up on the reject pile). There are two other factors to bear in mind here. First, be careful that this is not one of those companies that discourage the employment of friends and relations. Second, handdelivered letters of application run the risk of being separated from replies that arrive in the post and, as a result, not being dealt with (at worst, ending up at the back of someone’s drawer). Our advice is that, unless you are pretty sure of your contact’s standing and influence in her company, it might be safer to put your application in the post.

132

six

Networking with

THE COMPETITION One group that has fully taken on board the power of networking is employers. With businesses becoming more and more knowledge-based, the risk of information finding its way into the hands of competitors is an area of major concern for employers. Since there is no easier way of appropriating knowledge than by appropriating the staff in whose heads it is locked, the spotlight in recent years has been put on frustrating the efforts of networkers. Indeed, and as we saw in the case of Neville at the start of this book, networking with the competition could nowadays be described an activity people indulge in at their peril. But, herein lies a source of conflict because a lot of people’s careers are built around moving from one company to another in a given industry or trade. It is how they move themselves forward and, without this mobility, there would seem to be no future for them. With this conflict in mind, we have decided to devote a whole chapter to the issues that arise from networking with the competition. In particular, to see how the people involved can find ways of dealing with the risks they are taking when they approach, or they are approached by, a competitor. 133

The Power of Networking

How employers see it If we go back to Neville, who got the sack after being seen taking hospitality from a competitor, our first inclination is perhaps to view his employer’s actions as harsh and over the top. Yet, if we are to make any progress with this subject we need to begin by understanding employers and where they are coming from. What are their chief concerns and why are they so sensitive to these situations? In the commercial world, as everyone knows, a company has one aim and that is to make profits and to go on making profits. If anything gets in the way of this aim it needs to be dealt with swiftly because, if it isn’t, it threatens the company’s very survival. Most companies operate against a background of fierce competition, competition that is often global in scale. Margins are usually tight and any advantage to be had is usually to do with a company’s astuteness: their knowledge of the market; their pricing policy; their ability to source raw materials at the best price; the skills and experience of their workforce; their methods of production and any one of a thousand and one other little items of know-how that are readily transportable and would be greeted with glee by their competitors. Poaching staff, as we have noted already, is a more or less traditional activity among companies that compete with one another for business but, in the present climate, it has taken on a heightened significance. The loss of a key employee can be devastating to a firm, and everyone knows it. The predators (the poachers) are therefore encouraged to become more and more audacious (an example being the enticement we talked about in the last chapter) and those that are being poached from to look to more effective ways of shoring their defences. The poachers and the poached are not, incidentally, two separate groups. Companies swap hats from time to time, so at one point they could be out 134

Networking the Competition

there dangling the carrots whereas at another they could be carrying out the damage-limitation exercises. The concerns of employers are not just restricted to poaching. Knowledge can reach the ears of the competition in a variety of ways ranging from the malicious gossip of disgruntled employees through to innocent remarks dropped in casual conversation. For this reason alone, any kind of cosying up with the competition will be viewed with grave suspicion, and Neville’s experience was a case in point. Therefore, networking with the competition is something that companies see themselves as having to clamp down on. The way in which Neville was dealt with clearly had two aims: to remove him from the commercial environment as quickly as possible (to limit any potential damage) and to discourage others who might be considering doing the same. Neville’s company obviously did not believe in halfmeasures. They saw it as their duty to do what was necessary to protect their business and they did not hesitate to act. In cases similar to Neville’s, people are not dismissed but are moved into less sensitive jobs. As a consequence, their careers are disrupted and their prospects impaired. So the message here is simple: you must understand that employers will always seek to protect their business. The more commercially vulnerable they are (ie the more exposed they are to the actions of competitors), the more likely they are to act in the same way that Neville’s company did. Expect nothing less and you will be correctly assessing the risks that go with networking with the competition.

Contractual devices It is beyond doubt that no company can afford to idly stand by and watch its key employees being spirited away by the competition. Therefore, most companies subscribe to the view that prevention is better than cure. 135

The Power of Networking

So what ways are available to employers to prevent their employees jumping into the arms of competitors who come along with sweet talk and bearing gifts of gold? Some would argue that a good job with good prospects is the best way for any company to retain its staff. This is true, but at the end of the day it may not be enough to distract someone from the attentions of a really determined predator, particularly where enticement is being used. Hence, for a lot of employers, the answer lies in the kind of restraint clause that Andrea objected to being included in her contract (see Case study No. 15, pages 119 to 120). These restraint clauses are usually drafted by solicitors and contained in documents such as service agreements for senior employees or in offers of employment. Typically, they stipulate what an employee may not do when he or she leaves the company, defined in terms of:

ᔢ the trade and industry in which the employee may not participate;

ᔢ the geographical area to which the restraint applies; ᔢ a period of time over which the restraint is binding. Are these restraint clauses legally enforceable? There is a long and a short answer to this question. The latter is that it depends on the circumstances. In UK courts, for example, it will depend to a large extent on whether the restraint is considered ‘reasonable’ or not. For example, a restraint that seeks to prevent an employee from working in the steel industry anywhere in the world is not likely to be viewed as reasonable if the employer is only involved in a limited range of steel products or if it only trades in the European Union. However, the reason why a lot of companies use contractual restraining devices is not because they envisage themselves embarking on countless legal battles with exemployees but for the simple reason that the existence of 136

Networking the Competition

restraints is a great off-putter as far as predators are concerned. If you are subject to a restraint clause it will make you think twice before you use your network to source a job with the competition. Similarly, if the competition sees you are subject to a restraint they will also think twice before getting too deeply involved with you. Particularly with smaller companies, the prospect of injunctions flying backwards and forwards won’t appeal at all. Restraint clauses sometimes extend to other items, such as how confidential information is to be treated (eg not to be revealed to anyone outside the company without the company’s express permission in writing) or not poaching staff after you have left. These, as you can tell, are all devices aimed at thwarting the activities of networkers.

Going for jobs with competitors: the risk element This, then, is the background against which you are operating when you network with individuals who are employed by, or who are close to, competitors – a background that could include the risk of draconian action being taken against you if you are found out. If you are in a senior job, or if your job gives you access to any sensitive information, then the chances are that there is a restraint clause lurking somewhere in your terms of employment – a clause that both you and the people you are networking with will tend to find worrying. So where does this leave you? After all, you are only trying to further your career in the line of business you know best and seeking to do this by using the power of your networking to the fullest possible advantages. How do you proceed from here? 137

The Power of Networking

As we know, every risk has two sides to it: an upside and a downside. When networking with the competition, the upside is the job you hope to network your way into: the increase in your pay, the improvement in your prospects or the chance to enlarge your skills and experience. Whatever it is you hope to gain, it is tangible and quantifiable. Now to the downsides: the downside, as we have seen, is that you get found out and something nasty happens to you, as it did to Neville. When networking with competitors, the most important part to the downside is realizing that it is there – so don’t ever drift into these situations feeling that they are risk-free. Having taken the risk on board, next, examine your capacity to take the downsides. If the worst ever came to the worst, where would it leave you? Out of this self-interrogation should, hopefully, come a few contingency ideas. For instance, your partner might be able to take some of the financial strain off you should you end up out of work. Alternatively, what potential might there be for you picking up short-term work as a stop-gap? All this sounds very bleak, we know, but you will find that, contrary to what you might think, doing this exercise has a very positive and beneficial effect. You will find, nine times out of ten, that there is a way for you to keep the wolf from the door and suddenly the biggest enemy of all disappears: fear. You have thought the unthinkable thoughts. You have walked through the dark places and it doesn’t seem quite so terrifying any more. On the other hand, if you are at one of those critical points in life where you rely very heavily on your job and the income it provides, this may not be the best time for you to be taking risks. Perhaps you would be better off leaving your networking with the competition for a more favourable time. 138

Networking the Competition

Going back to our earlier risk assessment, which we carried out when we looked at normal networking (pages 111 to 112), you will remember that the conclusion we came to was this: yes, networking is risky compared with other forms of job seeking. This is because networks are built within small worlds and there is a greater chance that what you are doing will reach the wrong ears. This led us to put two conditions on any job market networking that we do. First, it must be worth the risk, ie what you hope to gain from your networking (the upside) has got to represent a substantial advance for you. Second, you must maintain control over what your contacts are doing for you – in particular, you must emphasize the need for confidentiality and you must ask your contacts to clear it with you first before they speak to third parties. Because of the higher risks involved in networking with competitors, perhaps these two conditions need further emphasis. So, the gain you go for has got to be really substantial – a clear step forward in your career (otherwise the risk isn’t worth taking). Plus, your security has got to be to secret-service standards. You need to have rules, like no phone calls to you at the office or if any face-to-face meetings are required then these need to be in out-of-the-way venues. It would be almost suicidal to meet at the competitor’s offices or in public places, such as bars or restaurants (remember Neville). Control over competitors extends a little further in that you don’t want your networking to drag on over long periods of time (the longer it goes on, the greater the chance that your security is going to get blown). Compress the period of exposure to risk, therefore, and do this by urging your contacts to come to swift conclusions. Whether they offer you a job or whether they don’t, what you are asking for is to be informed quickly. 139

The Power of Networking

Going for jobs with competitors: working your way round contractual restraints This is the second big impediment to networking with competitors: the possible existence of a contractual restraint in your terms of employment and the worrying effect that this will have on both parties. Our advice on dealing with contractual restraints is, first and foremost, to avoid them if you can. If your upward career path is likely to involve moving from company to company in the same trade or industry then a contractual restraint is going to hang like a millstone round your neck. The best point at which to avoid a contractual restraint is at the start of your employment with a company, ie by making it a condition of your acceptance of their offer. Incidentally, if there is no mention of a restraint by the company during any of the interviews, or in any of the paperwork they send you when they offer you the job, it might be worth carrying out the kind of document check we recommend on pages 121 and 122. Sometimes these things have a habit of lurking in odd places – like in the small print in service agreements. O.K., we appreciate that you are not always in a position to dictate terms when you are viewing offers of employment and, likewise, employers are not always willing to make exceptions (for example, if the restraint is common to everyone on a particular staff grade). However, it is interesting to note that the most favourable circumstances for picking and choosing the terms you sign up to are in approach situations. It is here where the company, out of its anxiety to acquire your services, may well be prepared either to waive any conditions that are not to your liking or to negotiate the precise wording. With regard to the latter, if the job is one that you want to take, and if the company is

140

Networking the Competition

not willing to drop the restraint arrangements, then as a compromise deal it might be possible to look at containing the restraint in some way. For example, if the company trades mainly within a 50-mile radius of City X then it might be possible to persuade them to limit the restraint to the same defined area. This means that, if you have the future need to, you will be able to network jobs outside the 50-mile limit without any inhibition posed by your restraint. Having said all this, sooner or later you may find yourself in a position where you are unable to wriggle out of a restraint clause that prevents you from networking jobs with the competition. This is most likely to be the case when:

ᔢ Your job is a top job (eg senior manager or director of a company). ᔢ You are involved with customers (knowing who they are and how the company structures its prices: the best example, of course, is working in sales). ᔢ You are involved in any kind of innovative or creative role (eg design or research). ᔢ You have access to other kinds of confidential information, such as financial information. So, if you fall into one of these categories, does it mean you are stymied? Does it mean that you have to consider putting up large chunks of your network for decommissioning? Is the case, in fact, that the power of networking is no longer going to be open to you if you should, at some stage, need to go out on to the job market to advance your career? With people who are subject to restraints, and whose next job move has the likelihood of being in breach of the restraint, the best advice always it to try and negotiate your way out of it or, at least, out of the parts that are going to give you problems.

141

The Power of Networking

Here’s how to set about doing this: 1

You need to make it abundantly clear to the networked competitor that you are subject to a restraint. With the compressed selection procedures that can go with networking (see pages 116 to 123), there is scope for questions about restraints to get left out during interviews. Put it this way: it’s no good if the first a new employer knows about your restraint is when an injunction is served on you (especially no good to you).

2

Given this disclosure of your restraints, you will now have a reaction. O.K., so the competitor – (your potential employer) may be put off completely – in which case, better you know about it earlier than later (disengage). More likely, however, you will find that your disclosure throws them into a quandary. They won’t know what to do, so quickly assure them that once you get their job offer in your hands, and provided the terms are acceptable, you will approach your company and seek to negotiate an agreement with them.

3

Differentiate between situations where networking with the competition has been forced on you (eg by the threat of redundancy) and situations where you have simply been testing the market to see if it has anything better to offer you.

4

With the former (job seeking that has been forced on you) you can try appealing to your company’s better nature and, to be fair, most companies don’t have enforced redundancy in mind when they put employees on restraints. Releasing you from the restraint should be a simple matter of giving you a letter to that effect. You should have no problem with this where your redundancy is associated with your company’s withdrawal from the business activity covered by the

142

Networking the Competition

restraint. For example, if your restraint covers roofing activities and your company is pulling out of the roofing market then they should have no difficulty in releasing you from the restraint. 5

If, on the other hand, this is not the case, or if you find the company are hard-nosed with you for other reasons, then disengage (and move on to point No. 10). Important note: don’t open any of these dialogues with your company until you have the competitor’s offer of employment in your hand and you have satisfied yourself that all the terms and conditions are acceptable to you.

6

If your job seeking has not been forced on you and your networking has yielded results then tell your company that you have had the offer of employment from a competitor. Explain that, for (perfectly respectable) reasons of career advancement and personal betterment, you want to accept. You realize the implications of your contractual restraints, of course, but you are seeking an amicable agreement with the company over the terms of your departure.

7

Some displeasure at this announcement is probably inevitable, but once your bosses have got over their initial reaction the hope is that they will start to see things rationally. Effectively, they have two choices: either they come to an agreement with you on how your restraint clause is to be discharged or they have to face the prospect of you being on a competitor ’s payroll and completely out of their control. One of the presumptions here is that few companies are keen to embark on litigation against ex-employees: they realize that there are usually no winners in such situations and it is not a road they will want to go down.

143

The Power of Networking

8

What do we mean by an agreement? A lot depends on the circumstances, of course. The company could agree to release you from you restraints in exchange for an undertaking from you that you don’t personally solicit business from any of their customers or they could insist that any confidential information stays locked up inside your head. Incidentally, the final ‘agreement’ may be more implicit, with compliance seen as being a matter of personal honour, ie it basically comprises an exchange of words and a handshake (this may be the best you can get).

9

Before you finally agree terms with your company, check with the competitor first to make sure that they have no problem with anything you are agreeing to. For example, if you are on the point of reaching an agreement with your company which states that you will not attempt to solicit business from any of their customers, you need to make sure that the competitor is happy to go along with this.

10 If you are still at loggerheads with your company – if they are being hard-nosed with you or you can’t reach an agreement with them that is acceptable to all parties (you, the company and the competitor you hope to join) – then the time has come to consult a lawyer. Make sure you engage a lawyer who has experience in the field of contractual restraints (not necessarily the one with the office on the corner of your High Street). A lawyer will be able to give you a view on the enforceability of your restraint clause and how to proceed generally. However, it is going to cost you from this point on. At this point, it might be worth approaching these competitors who are so keen to acquire your services, and sounding them out on the possibility of them footing the bill (if they have not offered to do so already). Footing the bill may 144

Networking the Competition

come in the form of the competitor giving you access to their solicitors. For this reason, speak to the competitor before making any personal approaches to law firms. The point to following this plan of action is that you exhaust the possibility of a negotiated settlement before you bring in the legal big guns. Rather like divorce, the involvement of lawyers in the settlement of contractual disputes has the effect of escalating the hostility. One of the unfortunate aspects of this is that you will be leaving your company on a sour note, meaning you will be putting a dent in the personperfect image you have dedicated such a lot of time to. It could also put paid to any future networking with ex-colleagues. With injunctions flying backwards and forwards they may not be over keen to be seen as associating with you.

Where your family and friends get jobs with competitors O.K., so you’re not guilty of coseying up to the competition yourself, but what if members of your friends and family network put themselves in this position? What are the dangers for you? Case study No. 16: Neil and Lisa Neil is the sales manager of Symington & Smudgitt, a firm of office equipment suppliers and, up until recently, Lisa was a senior member of his sales team. Eighteen months ago, Neil and Lisa started a relationship and, because Neil felt this might lead to problems for both of them, he decided the best course of action would be to tell the managing director, Mr Symington, straight away. Mr Symington, contrary to Neil’s expectation, was quite relaxed when he heard what Neil had to tell him. He took the view that it was of no concern to the company what Neil and Lisa did in their private lives provided, of course, that it didn’t interfere with

145

The Power of Networking

their work. Neil, much relieved, was more than happy to reassure him that this would never happen. In the months that followed, Symington & Smudgitt went through a very lean period and their order book was at its lowest level for many years. By this time, Neil and Lisa had taken out a mortgage on a property and the fact that both their livelihoods were tied up in the fortunes of one business started to give them concern. After talking it over further they decided that it would be best if Lisa looked for another job and, as a result, she found a position with Symington & Smudgitt’s biggest rivals, Penwright & Polesworth. The next development, however, took Neil completely by surprise. He was summoned into the office by Mr Symington and asked if it was true that Lisa was now working for Penwright & Polesworth. Neil, seeing no reason for saying otherwise, confirmed that it was, at which point Mr Symington put it to Neil bluntly that he had two choices: either Lisa packed in the job with Penwright & Polesworth straight away or he, Neil, would face the sack. Mr Symington stated emphatically that having a sales manager, with all sorts of sensitive customer information available to him, cohabiting with an employee of a major competitor was completely unacceptable.

Most people put in this or any similar position quite naturally tend to feel indignant over the fact that their integrity has been called into question. The inference is that they can no longer be trusted to keep confidential information to themselves and, understandably, this rankles. However, the point of view of employers like Mr Symington also deserves some sympathy. The prospect of pillow talk between Neil and Lisa poses a real threat to the business as far as Mr Symington is concerned, and it is a risk that he is not prepared to take. Where did Neil go wrong? Largely in his assessment of the risk involved in Lisa going to work for an arch competitor. Indeed, like many others put in the same position, Neil does not appear to have considered the risk at all. It is yet another example of how the power of networking can turn lethal if it is not kept under control. The fact that Lisa figured on Neil’s 146

Networking the Competition

home and family network, as well as his professional network, made it even more difficult for him. What he and Lisa should have done, of course, was to have spotted the problem that would arise from Lisa going to work for Penwright & Polesworth, ie to have seen the risk and assessed it correctly. Apart from the downside, this would have left them with the upside to consider, too – the job for Lisa with Penwright & Polesworth had to be a sufficiently good job to make the risk of Neil getting the sack a risk worth taking. If it were thought to be worth it then the correct response for Neil would be to get looking for another job himself. If it wasn’t, Lisa needed to be giving Penwright & Polesworth a wide berth and finding a job elsewhere (perhaps not with a competitor next time).

How to deal with an unsolicited approach from a competitor This is a thorny subject: what do you do when you find yourself on the receiving end of an unsolicited approach from one of your company’s biggest competitors? How do you read the situation and, most importantly, how do you avoid getting into the kind of mess that our poor friend Neville found himself in? As we have noted earlier, one of the problems with approach is your lack of control over it. It comes zooming in unannounced on the inbound lane of your great networking superhighway and it is there before you know about it (and whether you like it or not). With major competitors, of course, the situation is different in that it immediately spells danger. If your company gets wind of you having private discussions with one of their arch-rivals, they are going to be suspicious. Naturally, they will question your motives and wonder 147

The Power of Networking

just how secure is any confidential information to which you have access. Your company may or may not decide to confront you in these situations but, in many ways, the damage has already been done. A shadow of doubt has been cast over you (the kind of shadow that will do your lifelong interview no good at all). You did not ask for any of this, of course. The message is this: never underestimate or fail to take account of the risk posed by an approach from a major competitor. Never underestimate how your company might react if your networking reached their ears. In worlds where business is hotly fought over, the prevailing conditions usually verge on paranoia (where the other company’s motives and practices are always a matter of suspicion). Never underestimate the powers of the grapevine either. Networking is usually rife in industries where people move around a lot between competing companies, meaning that vast amounts of tittle-tattle go backwards and forwards. The result of this is that you could find details of your secret meeting with Company Y’s chairman winging its way back to your boss courtesy of someone else’s network. And what you must always allow for in these incestuous situations is that somewhere along your path in life you will have made a few enemies. So, the someone who has exposed your networking may be someone with a score to settle. And what better way of wreaking vengeance than to put you in trouble with your company? So what do you do when you find yourself targeted for approach by a major competitor? How should you react when you receive a phone call out of the blue? Assuming that you’ve carried out your risk assessment (looked at the upsides and downsides) and decided the downsides are ones you would rather not face then a seemingly safe way out would be to put up the shutters immediately and say, ‘Not interested’. The pity for you, 148

Networking the Competition

though, would be if, for any reason and without you knowing, it turned out that your job was under threat. It would be quite sickening if, say, a week after declining the competitor ’s approach, you found a plain envelope being pressed into your hand with your redundancy notice inside. Since this seems to happen quite a lot these days, reacting by putting up the shutters may not be very wise. Our suggestion on how to deal with one of these out-ofthe-blue approaches is as follows. Unless you are very clear about where the approach is leading, and that this represents a clear step forward for you, begin by losing no time at all in telling your company (your boss). Following this, agree with your boss as to how you should proceed. With this plan of action the benefits for you are threefold:

ᔢ Any impression of furtiveness (going behind your company’s back) is taken away.

ᔢ If your job is under threat, and your company is not in a position to disclose this information to you just yet, your boss will at least have the option of putting his or her stamp of approval on you speaking to the competition. Equally, a more enlightened company, seeing that you have no career prospects with them, may also give its blessing to you proceeding. ᔢ Your openness should hopefully gain you a few brownie points – your lifelong interview will benefit from what you have done.

‘Fishing expeditions’ (competitors who try to pick your brains or who have no precise aims) Assuming that you do proceed with hearing out their approach do beware of getting dragged into situations where, on the pretext that a good job offer could be in the pipeline, 149

The Power of Networking

the competitor networking you could simply be seeking to tap into your knowledge banks. The signs are usually self-evident and come in the form of vague and evasive answers to any questions you put seeking clarification. Rather as Neville found, the tone to these meetings will be one of ‘wait and see’. The initial overtures in these situations often come from a network contact – someone you trust. The network contact may, however, be an unwitting partner in the conspiracy to pick your brains. He or she may have acted in complete good faith. Instances of ‘fishing expeditions’ may in themselves be quite rare. But what is more common, and equally problematic from your point of view, is where companies embark on approach with no precise aim. The fact that you are your company’s senior product specialist may be sufficient reason for wanting to speak to you, but where it is all leading to is something they haven’t really thought through yet. The result for you is that, after you have your meetings with them, the approach is left dangling in the air – and often for a very long time. Whether the approaching company is on a ‘fishing expedition’ or has no precise aims, the upshot for you is that you have put yourself at risk and gained nothing. All the more reason, therefore, for following our advice – tell your company first and do nothing without their knowledge and blessing.

Summary In this chapter we have sought to differentiate between normal networking on the job market and networking with contacts in rival companies. The latter means taking a trip into very dangerous waters and our first aim has been to apprise you of the risk. Never ignore the risk, or underestimate it, and don’t wander into networking with major competitors without some appreciation of what might be in store for you 150

Networking the Competition

should you be found out. With companies having to fight their corners in increasingly difficult global markets, and where any competitive edge tends to be fragile, they will not look kindly on any employee who poses a threat. Their first thoughts will be towards damage limitation and taking action that will discourage others bent on the same course. The normal rules of fair play may not figure too highly in any of this and, in short, the kind of situation that Neville found himself in may be the unhappy outcome. Given these risks, our advice to you when networking with competitors is:

ᔢ Consider the magnitude of the risk and see it as one that is only worth taking where the networking is aimed at a very tangible move forward in your career, ie don’t network with the competition for trivial or secondary reasons. ᔢ Apply strict control to your networking and ensure that the highest possible standards of security are maintained. ᔢ Beware, in particular, of reactive networking (approaches) where, often, control will be out of your hands. ᔢ Be ready to ‘tell your company first’. Having said all of this, we recognize that, in certain industries and occupations, networking with the competition (using your contacts to move from one competing company to another) may be the only way of advancing your career. Here, the risk is one you have to take, otherwise you will be setting your career on the slow-track to stagnation.

Questions and answers How to deal with being bought off Q Recently, and thanks to an introduction by a contact, I succeeded in landing a job with a leading competitor. However, when my company found out where I was 151

The Power of Networking

going, they offered to increase my salary by 30 per cent (putting it marginally above the figure quoted by the competitor). My question to you is where do I go from here? Among my concerns is that if I decide to stay with my company, it will put my contact in a very awkward position. As far as the competitor is concerned, I am sure they will view me as the kind of person who applies for jobs for the sole purpose of blackmailing my company, and my contact will suffer because of her association with me. Seeing that she did her best to help me, this doesn’t seem a very just reward for her efforts. A Assuming that your contact is someone employed by the competitor, your reading of the situation is spot on. If you go back to the competitor and tell them that you have now changed your mind and that you won’t be accepting their offer because your company has offered you more money, your name will be mud and your contact’s position will indeed be difficult. But though this may go against the grain with you, fair play for your network contact has to be the secondary consideration when taking such an important decision as whether to change companies or not. In other words, this is a choice you have to make for the right reasons and allowing yourself to be swayed by concern for your contact will only serve to blur the picture for you. As the salaries more or less match, you will need to compare these companies like-for-like on their ability to provide you with the kind of career you are looking for. Your present company has the advantage of being a company you know but, on the minus side, it took the threat of your resignation to make them pay you the right salary.

Going to a competitor and being asked to leave straight away Q Is it normal, when going to work for a competitor, to be asked to leave straight away, ie without working out your notice? I ask the question because this has just happened to 152

Networking the Competition

me, meaning I am now in the position of having to approach my new employer to find out if I can join them earlier than I anticipated. A Is it normal? In some occupations, such as sales, the answer is yes. The company will be very anxious to get you off the grounds as quickly as possible so you won’t be using their time to tout for business for their competitors. Equally, they won’t want to run the risk of you becoming a conduit for sensitive information. What you must watch out for in these situations, however, is that your company pays you for the unexpired portion of your notice. If they fail to do so then they are committing a contractual breach. Judging by your comments about having to renegotiate your starting date, it sounds like this may have happened to you. If so, take advice.

Not declaring a restraint Q I was subject to a restraint in my last job and, because no one in the company I work for now has ever asked me any questions about it, they are completely unaware of its existence. I must confess to not having given this matter a great deal of thought but, if they do find out, am I at risk of getting fired? For your information I have been in my present job for six months and the restraint is in force for a period of two years. A If your former company had intentions of invoking any part of your restraint, we feel sure you would have heard about it by now, hence our advice to you is to let sleeping dogs lie. Would your company fire you if they found out? In our view this is highly unlikely, particularly if you happen to be doing a good job for them.

Offers of employment conditional on negotiating your way out of a restraint Q I am in a very senior management position and I have recently been the target of an approach by a competitor, a 153

The Power of Networking

small but very ambitious company that has been making serious inroads into our business in the last five years. From my point of view the approach is welcome but, from the outset, my service agreement and its various restrictive covenants, have been viewed by the competitor as a major stumbling block (largely, I suspect, because they are not used to dealing with such matters). The upshot is that they have now sent me an offer of employment in which there is a clearly stated condition that I must be free of any contractual restraints at the date of starting. In other words, they have put the onus on to me for negotiating my way out of the restraint. Though I am quite happy to have a go at doing this, I am concerned about my position if I fail. Any advice? A Yes: stop immediately. Passing the buck to you like this is not on. You could, as you say, be left in a position where you have gone to all sorts of lengths to persuade your company to release you from the terms of your agreement only to find that, because your company won’t play ball, the competitor’s job offer is no longer open to you. You will then have to find some way of re-establishing yourself with your company and, needless to say, this will be difficult in the extreme. Our suggestion is to go back to the competitor and point all this out to them. Do this face to face rather than attempt a letter because you need to convey to them that you would be interested in the job if it was offered to you on reasonable terms. If, as you say, the problem is their unfamiliarity with restraint clauses then you might have to be explicit in what you consider to be reasonable terms.

Member of your family joining a competitor without your knowledge Q In Case study No. 16, Neil was in a position where he knew what his partner, Lisa, was doing. In my case, a member of my family (my brother) has joined one of our biggest competitors and I have just got to hear about it. Sooner or 154

Networking the Competition

later, I know my company will find out and I can see all sorts of difficulties arising for me. Clearly I was in no position to influence my brother’s decision on whether to take the job or not so it seems to me I have been presented with a fait accompli. Given that the situation is tricky, what should I do? A Assuming that pleading with your brother to find another job won’t get you anywhere, the only advice we can think of is to get a few options open, ie start putting out feelers on the job market so, if the axe should fall, you will at least have some applications in the pipeline. You are right to anticipate the difficulties and full marks to you for doing this.

155

This page intentionally blank

seven

Networking for the

SELF-EMPLOYED Up to now we have been looking at the power of networking in the context of organizations and the people who work in them. In this final chapter we turn our attention to the growing number of people who work for themselves or who depend on short-term assignments for a livelihood. What can the power of networking do for people who fall into these categories?

Networking aims of self-employed people Let’s begin with the self-employed. On the whole the networking aims of people who work for themselves will be very different from the networking aims of people in jobs. The latter will have their eye to pursuing career objectives in the companies where they work or to improving their prospects on the outside job market. Their networking will be tailored towards these aims. Self-employed people, however, will have no such ambitions. They will be looking for success, yes, but success for them lies not in the ability to access and climb up corporate structures but in how good 157

The Power of Networking

they are at sourcing (and continuing to source) profitable work. Tied in with this is the fact that the success of selfemployed people is a success that is all their own. They source work because they are good and reliable at what they do (that’s why their customers use them) and this is true for all self-employed people from freelance journalists and software trainers through to painters, odd-jobbers and plumbers.

Sources of work for the selfemployed How do self-employed people find work for themselves? The next case study illustrates a fairly common experience for people setting out on their own.

Case study No. 17: Cassie Cassie spent several years working in-house for a company as a one-woman publicity department. Seeing that the company could offer her no career prospects in publicity, Cassie hit on the idea of going freelance, ie setting herself up as an outside publicity consultant. This, as she saw it, would give her the opportunity to do something different and, furthermore, it might even lead to bigger and better things. Cassie had frank and open discussions with her boss, the marketing manager, who, while stating his preference that she stayed with the company, recognized that she had a career problem. However, it was when the conversation turned to the question of finding a replacement for Cassie that the marketing manager came up with an idea. Why, he suggested, didn’t Cassie carry on doing the company’s publicity work in a freelance capacity? The fact that she would be an outside supplier as opposed to an employee hardly seemed to matter. From the company’s point of view it would save them having to recruit someone new (someone who would know nothing about the

158

Networking for Self-employed

company’s culture and products). From Cassie’s point of view it would give her a steady income during her start-up period (a period that might otherwise be difficult for her). For her part, Cassie was more than happy to agree to this suggestion. She had enjoyed her time with the company and she welcomed the chance to continue her relationship with them. In preparation for going freelance, Cassie spent a weekend putting together an attractive mailer advertising her services. Using her contacts, she managed to negotiate a good price for printing these mailers and she made plans to do a mailshot of 5000 companies in the local area. Beginning her existence as a freelancer seemed, at first, a little strange to Cassie. For a start, she was working from home and so straight away she missed the routines of going backwards and forwards to work and the contact with colleagues. She told herself, however, that she would soon be busy handling enquiries from her mailshot and she would have no time to spare for wondering whether she had made the right decision or not. By the end of her first week Cassie was starting to get worried. Her mailshot had gone out but so far it had yielded only three telephone calls – two from companies telling her that they had their own in-house publicity departments and would she please therefore remove their names from her mailing list. The third call was from someone trying to sell her a photocopier (it transpired that her mailshot had inadvertently hit a firm of office equipment suppliers!) Undeterred, Cassie decided that her best course of action would be to try some follow-up calls. The results, however, proved equally disappointing. In most cases she found it impossible to get through to the person she wanted to speak to and with the rest it seemed they either had no need for a publicity consultant or they already had arrangements in place, which they had no desire to change. Deflated by her experiences so far, Cassie concluded that either she had no talent for telephone sales or there was genuinely no call for the kind of service she had set out to provide. Either way, it meant she had made a big mistake in thinking she could make it on her own. With the money she had spent on her mailshot, and the other expenses she had incurred in setting herself up in business, the only consolation Cassie had was that she still had her work from her old firm.

159

The Power of Networking

We hope Cassie is not put off by her bad experience and that she continues in her efforts to succeed as a freelancer. However, what we are seeing with her case study is the difficulty that freelancers have in sourcing work ‘cold’ – in Cassie’s case, by a mailshot and her subsequent follow-up calls. In contrast, we are also witnessing the relative ease in getting work where your face and your ability to do a good job is known – in Cassie’s case, her old firm. Again this illustrates not only the power of networking compared with other sourcing methods but also the fact that, for the networking to work for you, it has to connect with your workperfect and person-perfect image (your lifelong interview). With this last point in mind, it is obvious that Cassie’s marketing manager would not have shown the same enthusiasm for outsourcing the company’s publicity work to her if he had had any qualms about her character or he had not had complete confidence in her ability to deliver. Indeed, if Cassie’s work record with her company had been poor, it is safe to assume that his mouth would have remained well and truly closed.

Outsourcing In the lean and minimalist world of modern companies, the trend in recent years has been to shed any functions that are regarded as ‘non-core’. This has led to a glut of outsourcing of specialist functions. For example, the company that once had its own pensions department now outsources the work to an independent firm of pensions advisers and so on. The beneficiaries of the outsourcing have, in many cases, been self-employed people and Cassie, in our last case study, is an example. But, other than what Cassie did (go freelance and take the work with you), how else can this outsourced work be obtained? 160

Networking for Self-employed

The answer lies yet again in the power of networking. Companies feel distinctly more comfortable with people they know, especially if what they have in mind is outsourcing work that has previously been done in house and to company standards. The worst scenario, let’s face it, is putting work out then finding that the service provider is slack or incompetent. The benefits of outsourcing will be thrown into question and someone, somewhere, will have to pick up the pieces. The bottom line here is that self-employed people will stand a much better chance of procuring outsourced work if they are on networking terms with key people in the company. And being on ‘networking terms’, remember, doesn’t just mean knowing key people – it means you must ensure that what they know about you is favourable (your lifelong interview). So, if you are self-employed and want to reap the benefits of this harvest of outsourced work, the way to go about it is by tapping into your contacts – not just contacts in the company where you used to work, but also those ex-colleagues who have moved on. In Cassie’s case, the invitation to take on outsourced work came on the inbound lane of her superhighway (reactive networking), but in most cases it will be up to you to make the overtures. Incidentally, this could include approaching contacts in companies who have, up to now, given no thought to outsourcing and pointing out the benefits to them. Prick your ears up, therefore, for situations where the in-house provision of the service you are offering is being either poorly or expensively delivered.

Overcoming being on your own Unless you are in a partnership (or some other similar arrangement), one of the difficulties of being selfemployed is that you are not surrounded by colleagues – 161

The Power of Networking

you are not part of a team. This means that there is no one to share the bad moments with (all the troubles fall on your shoulders). Plus, you no longer have the facility to pick your colleagues’ brains (for example, to take advice or to get second opinions). Here, again, is where the power of networking can come to your help, as the following two examples demonstrate.

Example 1: Lotte Lotte is a freelance linguist and she has been having problems negotiating an extension to her overdraft. Lotte travels extensively in her work and she needs the money to buy a new car. She mentions the difficulties she has been having to her mobile hairdresser, Joel. It turns out that he has had a similar experience. In his case, he resolved the matter by transferring his account to another bank. He advises Lotte to do the same and gives her the name of the small-business adviser at his branch.

Example 2: Wesley Wesley is a freelance human resources management consultant. Two months ago he helped Al, the credit manager in his old company, to prepare a CV – something he did free of charge. Wesley now has a problem with a customer who won’t pay. He therefore turns to Al for advice. Other than illustrating how networking can help you overcome the difficulties posed by being on your own, the points to note from these examples are:

ᔢ the benefits of networking with other self-employed people, as Lotte did (people with whom there is a shared experience – irrespective of their line of work); ᔢ the advantages of keeping open your lines to former colleagues, particularly those whose wisdom you have a high regard for or those who have specialist knowledge; 162

Networking for Self-employed

ᔢ the lesson, again, that a good turn done for someone is the best way of guaranteeing a good turn in return and just how important this is for self-employed people (access to the advice of a good and reliable credit control expert would have been costly for Wesley otherwise).

Building up contacts Just as the aims of the self-employed are different to those of the employed, so is the content of their lifelong interview. How they are seen as measuring up to the person-perfect and work-perfect ideals is subject to different (additional) criteria. The importance is, of course, that performance in the lifelong interview is the key to successful networking and, with so much at stake, for the self-employed it is crucial that they get this right (their livelihoods depend upon it). Case study No. 18: Dee and Toni After many years working as a secretary for a large company, Dee decided to become a freelance teacher of word processing skills. In preparation, she went to college in her own time to get her teaching qualifications. She is now ready to set out on her new career. Dee is still on very good terms with Toni, her old boss, and Toni has said that she will do her best to give Dee some work. Dee, however, finds it hard to pick up teaching assignments despite an ad in the local newspaper offering to give students tuition in their own homes and a mini-mailshot to firms in the area. Then one day Dee gets a call from Toni, who is in a fix. Toni’s new secretary (Dee’s replacement) has walked out and Toni has been left with the papers for tomorrow’s board meeting still to be typed. Because of the confidential nature of the work Toni is reluctant to hire a temp, hence her first thought is to contact Dee. Dee is slightly annoyed by Toni’s call. She is not a secretary any more and she is dismayed that Toni clearly hasn’t got the message. With a slightly frosty tone in her voice she tells Toni she can’t help.

163

The Power of Networking

In time, Dee will hopefully learn that to survive successfully as a freelancer she needs to be prepared to put her skills base to use in whatever capacity the market demands. As anyone who has worked freelance for some time will tell you, this is nowhere truer than at the start. If there is a time to become picky and choosy about what you do it comes later, when you are established. Toni, we assume, is a senior manager who could, in the fullness of time, put some teaching work Dee’s way. Indeed, and up to the point of this incident, it would probably be safe to say that Dee would get first call if any word processing teaching needs arose in Toni’s department (Dee and Toni were on very good terms). What’s more, by doing Toni a good turn (getting her out of her fix) Dee would be practically guaranteeing a good turn coming back her way. This much is simply good networking practice, but Dee’s error goes deeper. With a service provider, the expectations are higher than with an employee. The relationship is customer-supplier rather than boss-subordinate and performance is judged on this basis. There is a definite message here for the self-employed provider of services: the person-perfect and work-perfect images, on which professional networking is built, have to incorporate an awareness of customers’ needs and a willingness to satisfy those needs. Therefore, you need to be free from any constraints imposed by lack of inclination or preconceived notions of what is or isn’t your sphere of work. In short, what may be a perfectly reasonable stance to take with your boss may not pass muster when it comes to being self-employed and dealing with customers.

Networking with other freelancers This brings us back to the thread of common interest, the bonding agent that holds any professional networking relationship together. 164

Networking for Self-employed

Self-employed people are all, theoretically, in the same boat: they survive on their wits; they put their skills and knowledge to best use; they work hard and they have common problems (not just intransigent bank managers!) In the example we gave of Lotte, we saw how two self-employed people in completely different fields of work networked freely on an item of common interest (overdrafts). In this section we look at how self-employed people in networking relationships can come together in long-term or assignmentbased partnerships where the arrangement benefits both (or more) parties. Once again, a case study will help. Case study No. 19: Don and Rachel Don is a freelance software consultant who specializes in customizing financial packages to customers’ needs. One of Don’s leading clients is a large company in the pharmaceuticals industry and Don has recently been involved in a major overhaul of their internal accounting systems, meaning that he has spent a lot of time working at their head office. On one of these visits Don found himself buttonholed by the chief executive of the company who asked him if, through his contacts, he could help to headhunt a new IT manager. Wishing as always to project a ‘can do’ image, Don immediately said yes – at the back of his mind was his old colleague, Rachel. Don and Rachel once worked together for a leading software house and Rachel, to the best of Don’s knowledge, is now a freelancer, too, except in her case she works in the field of recruitment consultancy specializing in IT personnel. A quick phone call to Rachel that same evening found her at home. Confirming first of all that she was still working in the recruitment field Don then put a proposal to her. She would headhunt an IT manager for Don’s client under the banner of Don’s business. Don would get the kudos (and any future spin-offs that this might lead to) while Rachel would get the assignment fee.

Freelancers can often join together for their mutual benefit and this highlights the advantages of maintaining networking relationships with other self-employed people, particularly 165

The Power of Networking

self-employed people whose areas of activity border on or key into your own. A common source of such relationships is, as in Don and Rachel’s case, the parent organization from which you both originally spring. If two (or more) of you from the same company have decided to spread your wings and go freelance then, because of your common parentage, there will be a good chance that your areas of work overlap or complement one another. What’s more, there will be the shared experience of your previous working together to act as the bonding agent.

Formal partnerships based on networking relationships For whatever reason, you may decide you want to expand your one-man or one-woman enterprise into something larger. Alternatively, you may decide from the start that what you want to do will benefit from more than one pair of hands. Forming a formal business partnership with someone you are on networking terms with is just one way of achieving this objective, and it has many advantages to which we can testify from our own experience. Some of these advantages are:

ᔢ First and foremost, someone you network with is someone who has passed the tests for having that privilege conferred upon them. By definition, they will be people you trust and feel you can rely on (essential in a business partnership). ᔢ Second, there will be that bond of common interest and shared experience. You will be like-minded. Contrast this with people who try to forge business partnerships when they are not like-minded – they usually end up

166

Networking for Self-employed

falling out on issues of principle. Remember, dissolving a business partnership is not only complicated, it can also have disastrous consequences for all the parties involved. For instance, going it alone may not prove viable or the former partners may find themselves competing with one another for what was previously partnership business (to their mutual detriment, of course). ᔢ Third, in the bonding created by common interest/shared experience there is a quality that enables people in partnerships (formed from good networking relationships) to transcend the bickering and minor disagreements that are an unavoidable part of being in business. The bickering and minor disagreements don’t become reasons for parting. The partnership has a life that goes on after the strife.

Networking for the portfolio worker There is a new creature on the loose in the job jungle, or at least there is a creature that has been round for some time but who now has a name. ‘Portfolio worker’ is a term applied to people who make a living from a number of different sources: for example, from part-time jobs coupled with freelance work plus the odd short-term assignment for an agency thrown in here and there. It’s a bits-and-pieces existence but people do make careers out of being portfolio workers, ourselves being cases in point. The enjoyment is in the diversity of work, the mixing and matching. The challenge is in putting knowledge and skills to use wherever there is a demand. The reward is in survival and, above all, the portfolio worker is someone who can survive in a world where a lot of what’s available is short-term, part-time or assignment-based.

167

The Power of Networking

What role does networking play in the lives of portfolio workers? The answer is that networking plays a very important role. Portfolio workers not only have to use networks to tap into sources of part-time employment and freelance work (subjects we have looked at already and seen the value of networking), but also into the market for temporary and contract-based work.

Networking and the complementary workforce ‘Complementary workforce’ is the term used to describe the vast array of temporary, contract or assignment-based personnel that companies surround themselves with these days. This, as they see it, is the flexible part of their workforce – the part they can bring in or lay off as and when the peaks and troughs arise. Some people work exclusively in the complementary sector, doing nothing else except short- or fixed-term assignments, whereas some (portfolio workers) mix and match complementary sector work with freelancing and part-time permanent jobs. The dividing line between working as a temp and doing contracts or assignments is sometimes a little blurred so, to begin with, let’s get down some definitions as to what we mean by these terms. The importance, to us, will be when we come to look at how the power of networking can help to source complementary sector work. Temps. There are two main situations in which companies use temps. First, to fill a hole in the ranks, for example when someone is away sick, on holiday or on maternity leave. Second, to meet an upsurge in demand – either one that is not expected to last (eg a pre-Christmas rush) or one where the company would prefer to see if the upsurge is sustained before recruiting any permanent staff. 168

Networking for Self-employed

Companies sometimes employ temps direct or, more often than not, they go to an agency that supplies temporary staff. Contracts. These are usually associated with a project or an assignment: work with a defined beginning and a defined end (fixed term). Within this definition, contracts can be short term (a few weeks) or long term (a number of years). A lot of overseas postings are on one- or two-year contracts for example. Contracts are sometimes offered by companies direct or, again, more often than not, they fall into the province of organizations specializing in contracts, eg firms of consultants who go into companies to carry out specific tasks or assignments.

Networking complementary-sector work direct from companies Companies go down the route of hiring their own temps or people on fixed-term contracts for three reasons: 1

It’s cheaper – fees charged by agencies or firms of consultants are usually considerably higher than the salaries companies would pay to those they employ direct (the difference represents the agency’s or firm of consultants’ cut).

2

A company has more control over those it employs direct. It will, for example, be able to control selection.

3

There is a great comfort factor for companies in having their complementary workforces made up of people they know. It gives them not only a reassurance that the tasks they have in mind will be performed well, but also that the complementary workers will be familiar with the work, the company and its culture. The risk of drafting in someone who can’t do the work (or effecting a mismatch) is taken away. 169

The Power of Networking

It is the last of these points that determines why the power of networking scores so heavily with sourcing complementary-sector work direct from companies. The comfort factor explains why so many temporary or fixed-term contract staff are ex-permanent employees, for example retirees, stay-athome parents and people who now work freelance and who, by virtue of doing temporary work, convert themselves into portfolio workers. It also explains why companies wishing to engage complementary-sector workers will look to those who have previously completed temporary or fixedterm assignments – including those who have previously worked for agencies or firms of consultants. (Note: there is a question at the end of this chapter that deals with companies who approach agency workers to come and work for them direct and the conflict of interest that this can give rise to.) The telling factor is again the lifelong interview: the person-perfect and work-prefect image you create that encourages people to want to network with you and to see it as being to their advantage to do so. In this instance, the power of networking opens the door to short-term assignments. An interesting development here is the growing number of companies who use ‘pools’ of complementary workers – a circle of people who they use regularly and mainly for comfort-factor reasons. Again, networking at work is the feature to draw your attention to.

Networking complementarysector work from agencies and firms of consultants The difference here is that the contact you are cultivating will be someone who works for the agency or the firm of

170

Networking for Self-employed

consultants providing the work. The criteria by which you will be judged will be different also. In particular:

ᔢ Your competence at performing the task ascribed to you will be subject to scrutiny. Not to put too fine a point on it, your lifelong interview will be shot to pieces if, for any reason, the agency or firm of consultants gets flack from its client about your behaviour or work performance. You will find yourself pulled out abruptly and no other work will be coming your way. ᔢ Your accessibility and availability will be viewed as critical. Your accessibility, remember, is your ability to be contacted quickly and without a lot of hassle. Your availability is your capacity to do assignments as and when you are asked. Agencies and firms of consultants are conditioned by their bad experiences with people, notably:

ᔢ People who are unreliable and let them down. ᔢ People who are difficult to deal with – for example, people who are hard to make contact with, people who don’t return their telephone calls, people who accept assignments and then change their minds, etc. Conversely, people who don’t give problems and who get on with what they’re supposed to be doing and keep the clients happy will find that agencies and firms of consultants will use them over and over again. Longstanding and mutually fruitful relationships grow up and the power of good networking scores yet again.

Summary In this chapter we have looked at how the power of networking can come to the help of:

ᔢ self employed people (freelancers); ᔢ those who do temporary or fixed-term work; 171

The Power of Networking

ᔢ people who combine freelancing with short-term and/or part-time jobs (portfolio workers). We have seen how not only the aims of networking differ for people in these sectors, but also how making networks work differs too. Most of all we have seen the tremendous gains that those who work outside the normal structures of employment can make from their networking in terms of sourcing and continuing to source work. One facet we have not touched on so far, however, is the scope for expanding networks that working freelance or on short-term assignments of various kinds provides. Moving round, visiting different companies and getting to know new faces provide you with a golden opportunity for expanding the number of people you network with. Great, you may say, but before you get too excited we would take you back to a little warning that we gave at the beginning of this book: that the bigger a network gets, the harder it is to manage and control. For this reason it is important that freelancers and people who do temporary/assignment work don’t view all their contacts as people they are aiming to get on to networking terms with because, if they do, they will be falling into a trap. The rules of selectivity must always apply and, the more people you meet, the more people there are going to be who won’t pass your selection tests. For example, a contact in a firm of consultants may be sufficiently impressed with your image to provide you with a steady flow of lucrative assignments. However, if that individual doesn’t satisfy the other tests (eg you don’t rely heavily on what he or she tells you) then your relationship with him or her is best left where it is, ie don’t move on to full-blooded networking terms. Indeed, if you ever find yourself feeling that you have had the good fortune to meet a lot of people you would like to network with then this is usually a signal to quiz yourself a little more closely. Are they really what 172

Networking for Self-employed

they seem? Are you guilty, perhaps, of viewing these people through rose-tinted spectacles? And, as you ask yourself these questions, remember the dangers of networking with people who are unsatisfactory and letting your networks get out of control (people putting out the wrong messages for you and you ending up in difficult situations). Finally on the subject of networking for the self-employed and people who do temporary work and short-term assignments, remember that these existences in themselves are often only temporary stopping-off points in the furtherance of a career. Today’s freelancer may one day move back into mainstream employment. The professional network he or she has built in their period of freelancing will continue to exist, but it will serve different purposes.

Questions and answers First jobber, small network and difficulties of setting up as a freelancer Q Ten months after getting my degree in Business Administration I found myself still without the career start I wanted in human resources management (I lost count of the number of applications!) What I have decided to do now, therefore, is to set myself up as a freelance human resources management consultant and to advertise my services to small firms. Originally, I had planned to send out a mailshot then I read your Case study No. 17 (Cassie), which implied that I would be wasting my time (and money) and that tapping into my professional network would yield better results. The problem for me, as you have probably guessed, is that apart from a few university pals (many of whom are in the same boat as I am) I don’t really have any professional network to speak of. Any advice please?

173

The Power of Networking

A Yes. Going freelance is only something you should contemplate doing if you have got a lot of experience in your field and, even then, it is hard. So, though we don’t like to be the ones to put the damper on your ideas, our advice to you would be to think again. Our biggest single concern for you is that you will put a lot of effort into your project then, when the outcomes are disappointing, you will feel discouraged. Discouragement is the start of the slippery slope to giving up on your ambitions, so it is not something you should court lightly. Any suggestions? Yes, try the Trojan Horse technique we outlined on pages 52 to 54. In your case, this means identifying a company with a good human resources department and getting a job in it (any job, if necessary a temporary job). The technique is to then start using the power of networking enhanced by visibility to worm your way into the human resources department by the internal (back-door) route. In years to come you may want to consider the option of going freelance again, but by then you will have a professional network in place which you will be able to tap into as a source of work.

Being asked to provide your services free Q I work as a freelance software trainer and one of my contacts (from whom I get quite a lot of work) is pestering me to give his daughter some lessons in how to use the desk top publishing package he has purchased for her recently. Since there has been no mention of a fee, I presume I am expected to give these lessons free. Bearing in mind that training is the way I make my living, do you agree with me that my contact is taking unfair advantage of our relationship? If you do then how do you suggest I go about asking for payment at my normal hourly rate? A Your question is similar to one at the end of Chapter 1 (‘Network contacts looking for pay-backs’ – see pages 17 and 18) except in your case, what your contact is asking you to do 174

Networking for Self-employed

doesn’t seem to be stepping over the line of reasonableness. What’s involved as far as we can tell is a few hours of your time and this seems a small price to pay for an ongoing relationship with someone who has a proven track record for supplying you with work. The overriding point here, though, is that networking is based on this two-way traffic, meaning the correct way for you to view your contact’s request is not as an attempt to rip you off but as an opportunity to balance the flow. Put another way, doing this good turn for your contact now is probably the best guarantee you can have of more work coming your way in future. Conversely, saying no, for what amounts to little more than a matter of misguided principle, seems the best way of choking off the traffic flow and saying goodbye to your client’s business.

Forming business partnerships with members of home and family networks Q My boyfriend is pushing me to join him in a business venture, namely a café and wine bar, which is something that is completely unrelated to anything either of us have ever done previously. In the text you suggest that being on close terms with someone is a source of strength in business partnerships, but can there be a case of ‘too close’ and, if so, where is the dividing line? A Our remarks about business partnerships founded on networking relationships were confined to professional networking relationships and what you describe is entering into a business partnership with someone on your home and family network, which is a different kettle of fish altogether. An opinion? Some very successful and well-known business partnerships have been built on husband-wife, father-son, mother-daughter, sibling-sibling and buddybuddy relationships. Equally, some have ended up as business partnerships from hell. Clearly the two of you have got some frank and serious talking to do, but a good acid test of 175

The Power of Networking

how you are likely to fare in a business relationship is to look at how, as a couple, you handle rows. If you are the kind of people who can put their differences to one side while life carries on as normal (ie go back to the row later on) then this is a good sign. If, on the other hand, the bickering or the frosty silences last for days on end then this won’t be good for you with a business to run. Also, with a new venture such as your café and wine bar there is a considerable risk element and we are sure you appreciate this. All the more reason, therefore, for just one of you to be involved at the start-up stage thereby taking advantage of the facility that people in close relationships have of apportioning the risk between themselves. Once the venture is off the ground and proving it can provide you both with a good regular income, then that is the time to think about the other half of the relationship getting involved. It’s a case of not putting all your eggs in one basket, to start with at least.

Working for an agency and being approached to work for a firm direct Q I am a quality controller and, following a compulsory redundancy six months ago and a short period of unemployment, I have been doing temporary assignments for an agency. This agency specializes in temporary quality control personnel and I must say that it has been very good at providing me with a steady flow of work. The problem that has arisen, however, is that the company where I am currently working on a quality audit has approached me and asked me if I will come and work for them direct. I am sure their main motive is to save money for, even with the extra 10 per cent they have promised to pay me, it will still mean them having to pay less than they have to pay the agency for my services. What they want me to do is resign from the agency and then make a fresh application to them. This, they say, will get them out of having to pay the agency an introduction fee. I suppose 176

Networking for Self-employed

what is bothering me about their proposal is that it smacks of being underhand and unethical. Really, I would feel happier if I reported what has happened to the agency. I am holding back, not because of the extra money the company is offering to pay me but because of the strong hint they have dropped that the job could be made into a permanent position in three months’ time. Having said this, I don’t want to sour my excellent relationship with the agency by going behind their backs then find that a permanent job doesn’t materialize. What would you do in my shoes? A This is similar to an answer we gave at the end of Chapter 5 (’Going behind executive search consultants’ backs’) where we pointed out that most recruitment firms have a clause in their terms of business which stipulates that the liability to pay an introduction fee extends for some time into the future. So, the dodge this company is suggesting to you won’t wash anyway. Our chief concern, however, is that you could find that, having joined this company by the circuitous route they suggest, they will drop you like a hot cake the minute an invoice from the agency arrives, claiming their introduction fee. They will do this because it will be their only way of avoiding payment. If your instincts seem to be telling you to have no truck with this company then we would say your instincts are right. So our advice is this: do what you feel comfortable with, report what has happened to the agency and keep your relationship with them sweet.

Lack of availability arising from portfolio working Q As part of my weekly portfolio of work, I spend a day a week lecturing at a local college. This has been going on for two months now and looks like extending for some time into the future. The work is well paid but one of the difficulties is that I am having to say no to any consultancy assignments I 177

The Power of Networking

get from my various contacts that require a full five days’ attendance. I do take on board all that you have to say about availability being an essential part of my ability to source assignments and I am concerned that sooner or later my sources will dry up. Do you have any advice to pass on or is this a case of me having to decide whether I go on with my one day at college or not? A Conflict somewhere along the line is a more or less inevitable part of being a portfolio worker and your experience is fairly typical. In the fullness of time you will see where your best sources of work lie and you will tailor your networking to suit. However, one bit of advice that might help you to avoid the conflict is to make sure that the contacts who provide you with assignments are aware that you are only available on certain days of the week. This will let them see that you are not rebutting their approaches out of awkwardness or disinclination but that you are available to them provided the work can be parcelled into the days you have spare. Some flexibility on your part might help, too, like offering to complete assignments ‘out of hours’. By ensuring that your lack of availability doesn’t come across as lack of approachability, some of the bigger problems associated with conflicting portfolios can be avoided.

178

eight

The perfect networker:

A TEN-POINT PROFILE 1

Focus. Perfect networkers treat their networks as important assets and give them the care and attention they deserve.

2

Image. Perfect networkers strive to project a personperfect and work-perfect image at all times so the networking they do will work for them. They don’t get too close to their contacts and take care to keep their flaws to themselves.

3

Selectivity. Perfect networkers take care to network with the right people. They apply strict rules of selectivity to the people they admit to their circle of contacts.

4

Limitations. Perfect networkers realize that there are limits to how far their networking can take them. They appreciate that networking will only ever access small worlds. They seek to compensate for any difficulties that this can cause. 179

The Power of Networking

5

Two-way traffic. Perfect networkers appreciate that networking is built on two-way traffic. What they expect from their contacts is the same as what they are prepared to do for their contacts in return.

6

Approachability. Perfect networkers always have the time of day for the people they network with. They are never too busy and, within the bounds of reason, nothing is ever too much trouble for them.

7

Availability. Perfect networkers make sure that they are easy to make contact with.

8

Control. Perfect networkers are careful about the messages they feed out and they define, in precise terms, what they expect their contacts to do for them. They leave nothing to the imagination and, where security is important, they are careful to make this clear.

9

Usage. Perfect networkers use their networks. They don’t fight shy of asking their contacts for information and assistance.

10 Risk. Perfect networkers are aware of the dangers that go with networking. In particular they are aware of the dangers of their networking messages reaching the wrong ears.

180

Index accessibility 171 advertising as means of filing vacancies 95–96 advice, seeking 49–50 agencies complementary workers 170–71 response to direct approaches 176–77 aims 68–69 implementing 75–77 realisable 69 unrealizable 68–69 animosity 80–83 answering machine 22, 26, 29, 30 approachability 20, 32, 34, 41, 61, 180 attaining 33 case study 32 lack of 33 availability 20–21, 34, 41, 171, 180 aids 22–24 limitations of 31–32 at home 26

at work 26 auditing 25–27 case study 25 importance of 27 loss 25 mobile phones 30–31 portfolio workers 177–78 solutions 27 back-up record 23 bad contacts 14 bad networks 15 bonding agents 73–74, 77, 81, 164–65 building bridges 82 business cards 23 business partnerships see partnerships call-waiting 26 career aims, external networking 72–73 career appraisal, external networking 62–63 career change 104 career choices 48–50 181

Index

career start 50 family influence in 64 case studies x–xi, 7–8 approachability 32 availability 25 career choice 49 company approaches 102–03 contractural restraints 119–23 control 36, 106 external networking 58 family and friends’ involvement 145–47 freelancers 165–66 internal networking 69–72 job creation 114 job seeking 13, 28–29 mental breakdown 55–56 partnerships 10 peers and subordinates 78–79 self-employed 158–59, 163–64 character flaws 11, 13 company approaches 101–04 case study 102–03 unsolicited 147–49 company information, sourcing 125 company restructuring 93 comparators 63, 65 competition 92, 133–55 employers’ views on 114–15 family and friends’ involvement 145–47, 154–55

182

‘fishing expeditions’ 149–50 risk assessment 137–39 unsolicited approaches from 147–49 competitors see competition complementary workforce 168–71 from agencies and firms of consultants 170–71 pools 170 work direct from companies 169–70 compliments slips 23 conferences 59, 66 confidential information 144 conspiracies 87–89 consultants, complementary workers 170–71 contacts 19–20 of contacts 40, 42 records 23 contracts, fixed-term 169 contractual restraints 135–37, 140–45, 153–54 case study 119–23 control 11, 15, 21–22, 36–38, 40–41, 105–06, 126, 172, 180 cross-camp networking 82–83 CV 100, 128–29 early networking 47–48, 61 e-mail 22, 27–30 employers bad treatment by 92 power of networking 133 views on competition 114–15

Index

employment terms 121 enticement 123–24 excuses 15 executive search consultants 98–101 terms of business 130–31 see also headhunters expanding networking freelancers 172 short-term assignments 172 extended networking 53 external networking 22 career aims 72–73 case study 58 developing 59 extending 57–59 growth 59 in career appraisal 62–63 use to achieve internal career aims 72–73 external networks x, 5 family and friends’ involvement 17, 64, 145–47, 154–55, 175–76 family influence in career start 64 fax 22, 26 feedback 126 first career job 50 Trojan Horse technique 52–54 ‘fishing expeditions’ 149–50 fixed-term contracts 169 fragmented companies, networking in 85–86

freelancers case study 165–66 expanding networks 172 networking 164–66 paybacks 174 setting up 173–75 see also self-employed friends see family and friends’ involvement grievance procedure 70 half-measures 15 half-truths 15 headhunting 96–97 see also company approaches; executive search consultants in-fighting 82 information reliability 42 sourcing, prospective employers 125–26 intermediaries 40, 42 internal networking 4, 22, 52, 53, 67–89 aims 68–69 case study 69–72 cautionary note 82 developing your first 54–57 selectivity 74–75 who to network with 69–72 Internet 25, 26, 44–45 interviews 116–23

183

Index

invisible job market 94–96

92,

job applications ix, x, 5, 94 job changing 92 being asked to leave straight away 152–53 being bought off 151–52 job creation 113–16 case study 114 job market 91–132 invisible 92, 94–96 jobseekers’ view 91–93 job opportunities, sourcing 107–10 job security 92 job seeking 1, 9, 38–40, 91–132 career change 104 hand-delivered applications 131–32 increased demand for good career jobs 93 non-networking 129 planned approach 107–10 see also first career job keeping in touch

x

leaving on good terms 83–84 letterheads 23, 24 lifelong interview 5–7, 14, 21, 24, 27, 48, 55–57, 77, 79, 83, 85, 129, 170, 171 limitations 179 mailmerge facility

184

24

mailshots 24, 128–29 message-taking facility 30 mobile phones 30–31 nepotism, conflicting company views 50–52 network control centre, setting up 21–22 networkers, ten-point profile 179–80 networking abandonment of control 40 applications ix–x barriers 35 basic procedures 77 basic requirement 2 basic rules 33 building 47–66 control see control disuse 34 downwards 77 exploring 1–18 first principle of 39 home and family 1 in fragmented companies 85–86 in synchrony 11 individuality of 1 job or professional 1 lifeblood 34 maintenance 19 measuring 7–8 neglect 19 no-go areas 76 non-performance 19 pay-backs 33

Index

power of see power of networking reasonable requests 76 right to hire and fire 14 selection 39–40 setting the parameters 38 sideways 77 standards 14 successful 6 switching 35 tapping into other people’s 39–42 unreasonable 89–90 up-front 44 upwards 77 use as tool x–xii see also specific types of network(ing) networking relationships 175 selecting 81–82 networking skills, testing xiii–xvii networking superhighway 11–12, 100, 107, 126 size and mix 33 newsletters 46 outsourcing, self-employed 160–61 overstepping the mark 33 paging service 26 partnerships 166–67 case study 10 friends and families’ involvement 175–76 pay issues 65–66

paybacks 17–18 freelancers 174 PC 22–24 peers 77–80 performance requirements 6–7 peripatetics 86–87 personal stationery 23, 24 personnel department 94 planning 21 playing safe 10–11 politics 80 involvement in 87 portfolio workers 167–68, 170 availability 177–78 conflicting issues 178 definition 167 role of networking 168 power of networking xi, 5, 37, 50, 70, 101, 105, 113 detrimental effect 80–83 employers 133 pre-employment networks 47–49 primary networks 11 proactive networking 34, 35, 100–101, 107–10, 116 professional institutions 5, 59 professional networks 1–5 beginning 47–66 building 3–4 growth of 4–5 keeping your distance 9–11 organic nature 35 proactivity 58 size and mix 7–8 sources 3–5, 44 warning 55

185

Index

professional relationships 54–55 promotion, seeking x prospective employers, information sourcing 125–26 quiet

21

reactive networking 34, 35, 100, 116, 123 where you can’t help 43–44 records 23 recruitment 94–95 consultants 96 redundancy 130 returning to companies 130 risk assessment xi, 11, 42, 89–90, 130, 137–39, 180 rivalry 80–83 role models 61–62 salary information 65–66 secondary networking 11, 39, 40, 72, 101 secondary networks 42 secrets 110–13 selection procedures 95, 116–17, 122, 142 selectivity 12–16, 172, 179 governing rule 14 internal networking 74–75 self-employed x, 157–78 building up contacts 163–64 case studies 158–59, 163–64

186

networking aims 157–58 outsourcing 160–61 overcoming being on your own 161–63 sources of work 158–60 see also freelancers service agreements 119–20, 140 shared experience 73–74 short-term assignments 173 expanding networks 172 skills development 60–61 small and medium-sized companies 94 small worlds 8–9, 104–06, 110–13 networking 8–9 social dimension 10 social levels 11 special interest group 5, 59 subordinates 77–80 switching networks 35 teachers 48 telephones 21–22, 25, 27, 30 temporary/assignment work 52, 54, 168–69, 172, 173, 176 track record 6 trade interest groups 59 training courses 59 Trojan Horse technique 52–54 two-way traffic 12, 14, 16, 20–21, 25, 32–33, 60, 126–27, 174–75, 180 unsolicited approaches from competitors 147–49

Index

usage

180

visibility 24, 34, 46 vocational education voice mail 27–30 voids 38 working parties

47, 48

59

187

Visit Kogan Page on-line

Comprehensive information on Kogan Page titles

Features include ■

complete catalogue listings, including book reviews and descriptions

■

special monthly promotions

■

information on NEW titles and BESTSELLING titles

a secure shopping basket facility for on-line ordering

■

PLUS everything you need to know about KOGAN PAGE

http://www.kogan-page.co.uk