‘Outplacement Outtakes v.12’ – Josef’s Lesson in how Relationships he Built in the Past, can be Helpful to His Future.

Several years ago, we worked with a tier 2 automotive components manufacturer whose finance team was being relocated to the US.  All of the candidates we were asked to work with through our career transitions program were highly motivated to move forward into the next stage of their careers, although generally anxious as expected.  The same was true for Josef.

Once his goals were clear and his résumé written, Josef worked with his CMS program coach through the process of résumé marketing.  Applying to online job postings, connecting with recruiters and accessing the ‘hidden job market’ were all part of our efforts, but we found him reluctant when encouraged to connect with his personal and professional contacts.  Perhaps it was pride, or his innate desire for personal privacy, but Josef needed our help to change his mind set in how proactively reaching out to people who already knew him, could easily change the direction of his search.  It was a chance to find opportunities where he had an inside track – and an automatic reference.

Networking of course is the exchange of information among people with similar interests, and often begins with a single point of common ground with the ability to grow exponentially from there.  Josef had a long history in the field of accounting and when he put his mind to it, was able to develop a long list of former colleagues who worked in various finance departments across the country.

Once we helped Josef to change his view on asking others for their help, and he finally took the plunge, he was amazed and quite frankly heart warmed at the positive response he received from his network.  Most of whom responded to him with concern and acted on his behalf connecting him with potential opportunities that they knew of, or other professionals in their field who could possibly help him in his search for a new job.

Networking can take on a variety of forms in a job search.  Asking one’s personal contacts for assistance, building and reconnecting with social media networks, and joining industry specific networking groups are all easy ways to advertise that one is open and available to new job opportunities.  And as Josef found out, it’s also a lesson in how people truly want to be helpful to others that they have common ground with.  It also has to be said that networking has a powerful cyclical effect and help such as Josef received, will most certainly be paid forward by him to someone else down the road.

It may seem like an obvious résumé marketing avenue to take for some, but for others networking can feel uncomfortable and awkward.  Helping job seekers like Josef to overcome those preconceived beliefs and to see how networking can easily work to their advantage is just another way CMS program coaches help their candidates move forward in their careers through our outplacement programs.