The old maxim, “It’s not what you know, but who you know,” really is a good way to sum up the importance and relevance of networking in the life of the job-seeker. Thus, it would not be a stretch to say that networking is the most important activity for a job-seeker to get a handle on to achieve success while searching for a job.

You may have already realized during your job search exploits that there are more jobs available than are listed in your local paper. This is because a majority of job openings are simply never advertised. They are held back by the business owners or left up to the job-seeker to take the initiative and contact the HR department or some other internal contact. This means that scores of unadvertised openings can be discovered only through talking to as many people as possible and letting them know you’re currently looking for employment. Since you may know “someone who knows someone”, you could be in a better position than those who limit themselves to ads in the classified section.

The relationships that you build through networking can help you in a number of ways:

1) those in your network may have information about hidden employment opportunities;

2) you may have contacts that can help while researching your career plans;

3) you can be inspired and motivated by some of great personal contacts you’ve made;

4) if your contact works for a company you have an interest in, you could gain valuable inside information regarding in-house opportunities that have not be released to the public yet.
But a question remains: Should a job seeker concentrate more about the quality of his network or the quantity of those who make up the network?

QUALITY VS. QUANTITY

Should you keep your network small and made up of quality professional and personal connections, or go for a larger number of contacts who are relevant to your search efforts but may or may not be what you would consider quality contacts? The fact is, you should really do your best to develop both aspects of your network, but doing this is far from simple. Time is the key factor here. You must have time to both build and more importantly maintain those relationships; to make them quality contacts takes even more time. Unfortunately, most of us only have so many hours in a day to devote to this. Therefore, one aspect or the other may suffer for it.

So how can you find a clear balance of quality connections with highly relevant people and maximizing the number of people in your network? In order to make the most of your efforts, you need to find out what sort of relationship quality will be enough to accomplish your job-seeking goals. Then you can build the numbers based upon this information. Of course, there is no one right solution all the time. Your specific needs will have to be revised when the context changes. Any strategies that you find help you build those stronger, quality relationships and reach out to more people should be time-sensitive, allowing for the constraints of your schedule.

QUALITY NETWORK

Though it may be obvious by now what a quality network is, it will be good to go over a few more points. A purely quality-based network will be small and limited in scope. Many people have networks made up of close friends, family members, and occasionally old acquaintances. Your time and attention is fixed upon maintaining these intimate relationships and using them to gather information about opportunities. Even if your quality network is made up of business contacts, they will be those that you’ve invested considerable time in, cultivating them into strong relationships.

QUANTITY NETWORK

Creating a network that is based on numbers involves the extension of your contacts. A primary way that you can do this is to ask those who are already in your network if they know other people that may have relevant information that you can use on the job hunt. This works on both the personal and professional levels. Not only can you ask your friend or neighbor if they might know somebody, but you can ask co-workers as well. That’s right; you just ask them. Most people will be helpful and maybe point to some potential leads. If you’ve taken the time to develop your quantity network relationship strategically, and targeted key players who can influence many of the other lesser contacts, you can use numbers to gain a decisive advantage and find what you want much faster and effectively.

HOW TO BUILD A QUALITY NETWORK WITH QUANTITY

You should start by building a core group of quality contacts and use them as a base to expand the quantity of the network, while striving to keep the quality of contact in check along the way. This provides the best of both: the range of a quantity-based network with the strength and reliability found in quality contacts.

古语说,"不在于你知道什么,而在于你认识谁."对于那些找工作的人来说，确实是一个很好的途径来总结网络的重要和贴切.然而，并不能由此进一步说,在求职者成功的获得一份工作的过程中,上网是最重要的活动.

在你找工作的过程中或许已经意识到,实际的工作机会远比本地报纸上列出的多得多.这是因为大多数的工作机会根本就没有登广告.他们被公司老板隐藏起来,或者这些工作机会需要求职者主动联系人力资源部门以及进行其他的内部沟通.这就意味着要想发现这些没有刊登广告的工作机会,只有尽可能的与每一个人沟通,让他们知道你当前正在寻找工作.由于你能够认识"某人认识的某人",与那些将自己局限在各种分类广告区域的求职者来说,你

可能会处于一个更好的竞争位置.

这种你通过互联网建立的关系可以在如下的几个方面帮助你:

1)你在网络上认识的人或许会掌握关于那些被隐藏的工作机会的信息;

2)你有可能会接触到那些在你的职业规划中能够帮助你的人;

3)你能够被你曾经接触到的一些非常出色的人所鼓励,激发.

4)如果你有效的接触到一家你所感兴趣的公司,你就能够获得那些还没有对外公布的,关于内部工作机会的有价值的信息。

但是存在一个问题:一个求职者是应该集中关注网络关系的质量还是数量呢?

质量VS数量

你应该保持一个较小的网络圈子,从而保证圈中朋友都有较高的职业能力和亲密的个人关系,还是应该与那些关系到你职业的人广泛联系,但是这些人可能,也许不可能成为你希望接触的那类人?真确的方法是,你网络圈子的这两个方面你都应该尽力的去发展,但是要做到这一点并不容易.时间在这里

就是一个非常重要的因素.你必须有时间去建立同时更重要的是维持那些关系;还要花更多的时间去使他们变成有价值的关系.

不幸的是,我们中的大多数在一天之中只有那仅仅的几个小时去做这件事情.因此,其中的某方面我们可能没办法做好.

那么在你的网络生活中,如何能找到一种新的平衡,能够保证联系人的质量和数量?为了让你的努力保持高效,你需要找出哪种类型的关系将最有效的帮助你实现找到工作的目标.然后你就可以基于这些信息结交朋友.当然,计划需要跟上变化.当希望工作的内容变化时,你这些特定的需求也将被修改.

你制定的这种能帮助你建立更高质量关系并且能结识更多人的策略在时间安排上必须灵活,能够跟得上你的日程安排.

高质量的网络关系

虽然现在对于什么是一个高质量的网络关系的定义已经非常清楚了.但还是有必要强调一些关键点.一个纯粹意义上高质量的网络圈子应是较小并且限定范围的.许多人的网络圈子由亲密的朋友,家人,有时候还有老熟人组成.你的时间和精力倾向于维持这些亲密的关系并且通过他们得到关于工作机会的信息.即使你的高质量的网络圈子是由生意上的联系人组成的,你也应该投入较多的时间来和他们交流，培养他们成为你重要的网络关系.

高数量的网络关系

建立一个基于数量的网络关系,以此涵盖你广泛的联系人.首先要做的是去询问那些你已经认识的网络朋友,是否他们拥有能够对你的求职有帮助的重要信息.这对与个人及专业层次都有好处.你不仅仅能询问你的朋友或者邻居,也可以询问你的同事.对,尽管去问他们.多数人都会对你有所帮助并却能够对你做出一些潜在的引导.在战略上,如果你已经很多时间在数量上扩展你的网络关系,并且接触了那些具有一定影响能力的关键人物,你就可以利用数量上的优势去获得决定性的胜利并且更快更有效率的获得你想要的.

如何利用数量优势来打早一个高质量的网络关系

你可以一开始先建立一个高质量的核心关系群,然后一他们为基础在网络上进行数量的扩展,同时要始终竭力保持质量上的要求.这样做对两方面都有好处:既有数量基础同时又有可靠质量保证的网络关系.