Sometimes it’s not just the people you know
➔ Whether it’s the result of networking or whatever, virtually all people agree that job seeking is very dependent on who you know. Others have said it and we’ve said it here that there is second step involved in this process.
It’s not just who you know, but it’s also those people who know the people you know. Contacts once removed. The second layer of the concentric circle, they count too.
Hold back your tears
Onions are famous for emitting a gas as you cut or peel them which causes most people to tear up and/or outright cry. The job-search onion won’t make you cry and might even bring some good news.
One strategy in the peel-the-onion approach to job seeking is researching your LinkedIn connections. Of course LinkedIn will do the easy lifting for you, telling you how many mutual connections you and a specific individual have. That’s the easy part.
Then again, there may be connections there with people with whom you should be connected but, for one reason or another, you’ve overlooked or forgotten about. Just like that, with no heavy lifting, you’ve expanded your network.
Moreover, if you peel back one more layer of the onion, you might be surprised. By perusing the your contact’s list of connections, you never know what you might find. Maybe there are people who work at a company that’s on your target list. Maybe your connection can provide an introduction.
Maybe there are people with whom you would like to connect, but lack an introduction or a reason to reach out. Now you have an “in.” Maybe it’s someone with whom you’ve lost contact with over the years.
The list of possibilities is endless. In the end, LinkedIn can provide some “hidden assets” by which you can expand your network. And, as we all know, networking is the gold standard for job seekers.