By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
I am LinkedIn member 7653.
Every day, a few times a day, I log into LinkedIn and do some work. I am a (former) headhunter and coach. I used to find people for clients to fill positions. I researched people and opportunities. I suspect many of you are doing the same thing.
I rarely request a connection; I use a tool and my efforts in person to find people to talk with. Even without making an effort to connect, as of today, I have over 28000 first-level connections despite the fact I will not accept a connection request from a recruiter or from a profile that looks to me like it is the profile of a spammer or scammer.
What is so stunning to me is that in my network, there are many people I have never heard from again after receiving a connection request!
Thus, no matter where you are in the employment space, a corporate or agency recruiter, or talent, it is no wonder you lurch from situation to situation trying to recruit people or find a job and it feels like you are starting from scratch all the time.
What you are doing with your network is treating it like an umbrella that you carry around all the time. The forecast is sunny and temperatures in the 90’s. You have an umbrella with you!
But let me offer a different metaphor.
You put $1000 in a safe and do nothing with it for 2 years.
Is it worth less to you after 2 years (YES)?
Has its purchasing power declined (YES)?
Is the money less valuable (YES)?
The value of a network decays far more quickly than money in a safe to the point of being only accidentally having value when you need it.
“But it takes time to nurture your network,” you whine, I mean explain.
Yes, that is true.
AND when you need your network, you want money in your safe, don’t you?
Thus, it is important to do things to maintain contact with people, not with stupid messages like, “Thanks for the post,” which seems to be the new vogue judging by the messages I receive after submitting an article.
Create real, regular, and quality opportunities and act on them. Those few minutes will be worth a lot to you when the next recession arrives.
© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC 2015, 2023, 2024
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS job search coaching and career advice globally because he makes job search and succeeding in your career easier.
Career Coach Office Hours: May 14 2024
You will find great info and job search coaching to help with your job search at JobSearch.Community
Schedule a discovery call to speak with me about one-on-one or group coaching during your job search at www.TheBigGameHunter.us.
What Recruiters Know That You Don’t: They Aren’t Watching All Those Screening Videos
We grant permission for this post and others to be used on your website as long as a backlink is included to www.TheBigGameHunter.us and notice is provided that it is provided by Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter as an author or creator. Not acknowledging his work or providing a backlink to www.TheBigGameHunter.us makes you subject to a $1000 penalty which you proactively agree to pay. Please contact us to negotiate the use of our content as training data
