Are you prepared to answer honestly?
It’s a given among most job experts that networking is an essential component of your job search. Some even say that it’s the most important part of your search.
The good news for the 50+ job seeker is that, with your many years of experience, you’ve most probably accumulated far more networking-worthy contacts than your younger counterparts. It stands to reason then, that the more people you know, the more opportunities you have to network.
Although most of your contacts will not result in a job opportunity, you only need one. The bad news is that you never know which one that is, or when that one will pay off. But you have to keep reaching out and contacting them.
Given that most contacts do not result in anything concrete, it’s not unusual for your contact to leave it with you saying, “Why don’t you call me in (time)?” Could be three months, six months, or whatever.
This is good. They see some value in you and they know that things may change in only a few weeks or months.
There is giant potential pitfall here. When you do circle back with them, it’s very likely that they will ask something like: “What have you been doing the past three months?” And that’s a legitimate question.
And you’d better have a good answer. Because if you don’t…