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While I realize that networking is not for everyone, I don't believe that
networking to hire and be hired necessarily leads to the formation of an
"old-boy's network" which would bar entry to newcomers neither old nor
boyish...
I would consider networking within professional or special-interest groups
a sort of "long-form" interview.
I don't know of any job where there isn't at least one person who has to
know something about you. As far as I know, the Organization Man is
dead-dead-dead... ya gotta talk to *somebody* 8-)
Possibly it depends on the market you're in (Boston being different from
Phoenix which differs from Silicon Valley), but in most places, and many
career paths I know of one needs to know and be known to those in the area.
F'rinstance, here in Phoenix, there are/were three or four companies a
professional contract communicator needed to work at to build a
reputation/pay their dues/cut their teeth/punch the right tickets. Get a
couple of contracts with each of them and you can write your own ticket for
the "journeyman" part of your career (assuming you haven't burned all your
bridges with those folks you've been networking with over the last couple
years ;-)
Garret Romaine said:
>>This involves going to a lot of extra meetings every month,
>>having lunch with old friends and new acquaintences, and putting a little
>>effort into staying in touch.
Notice the bit about "new acquaintances"... and a little effort: the effort
one chooses to expend on making new acquaintances will determine what doors
one can open... "NOPE: Haven't heard from her in years, dunno *what* she's
been doing lately" makes for a troublesome reference).
There were no bars to entry [in those groups I've networked in] other than
that one had to show up and network with the people who work at those three
or four companies to become known to them: otherwise to them you're just
another unknown and less likely to get noticed when your resume crosses
their desks... after a couple of years, you hear about some jobs before
the general populace do, and you know the people who are either the hiring
managers or can influence the hiring managers ("Hi, Ralph? I know this kid
in the Phoenix Chapter who'd be great for this opening...").
Diana's question about measures-of-worth and quality goes to the heart of
much of the traffic on TECHWR_L: how do they know what you can do if they
don't know who you are? No amount of certifications and degrees in the
world are gonna help if everyone in town already knows I'm a complete
jerk... and the lack of certifications and degrees isn't gonna hurt if the
person doing the hiring knows me and likes my work.
Both the interviewer and the applicant need to find out about one-another:
that can be either a long-and-discouraging process or a remarkably simple
one -- yes there have been times when I've been asked to interview for a
position based on my reputation alone, and we find that I scared the
interviewer to death... that's okay.
" I thought I knew everybody in this racket... how come I've never heard of
you?"
It's *much* easier to become a solitary talent if you've already had those
tickets punched ("Well, she's worked at the Big Three, Pete and Steve and
Ellen have great things to say about her, maybe she knows what she's doing"
beats "I've never heard of any of these companies! What do ya suppose they
had him doing? Let's give him a Myers-Briggs and Minnesota Multiphasic just
to be sure we don't get some brittle loner").
Of course, I know several fellow TCs who went about it in completely
different ways, and never were part of STC, didn't know the last five
chapter presidents and still consider themselves successfull, and I myself
have dropped off the STC career track in search of doing something else
that I thought would be more interesting... Your Mileage May Vary....
[NOTE that I am not one of the security-conscious -- I never intended to
work at the same place doing the same thing year-in and year-out -- there
*are* times when I'm concerned that I'll never-work-in-this-town-again, but
the consistent answer to that worry is "Find a New Town." Concerned that
your network is being taken over by red-pencil fuddy-duddys? Find another
network... can't stand all those evangelical nut-cases clustering in the
break room planning to take over the World with their
paradigm-of-the-month? Don't like FrontPage? Don't work on FrontPage...
Disillusioned with corporate techwriting *and* being the default
techsupport Bob in another startup? Write an article in "rec.models.scale"
about bare-metal finishes on model airplanes and see all the replies you
get from movers-and-shakers in *that* community 8-D]
Which brings us to the final point: the "TC Community" is not some
monolithic entity controlling entry and progression through various career
paths... Don't like the direction everyone else is going in? Go in a
different direction... maybe that's easier-said now that I've punched a
lotta tickets and burned a coupla bridges and am in-between gigs, but
standardized career-tracks or not: you'll eventually have to face the
"going in a different direction" anyway.
Best regards,
dan'l
On Wed, 13 Jan 1999 , "Gutierrez, Diane" <Diane -dot- Gutierrez -at- WESTGROUP -dot- COM> wrote:
>In response to Garret Romaine's remark that he hires only those he networks
>with, it would delight me to see that thread flamed so thoroughly that
>people think twice about the whole situation. Do we want to see formation
>of an old-boys network impossible for newcomers and solitary talents to
>break into, or do we want to see an equitable, worth-is-measured and
>quality-is-rewarded system of hiring? Sheesh!
>
>>>>>I like to network so intensely that I already know who I want to hire
>before
>I have the opening approved. The interview then consists mostly of "How are
>the kids?" This involves going to a lot of extra meetings every month,
>having lunch with old friends and new acquaintences, and putting a little
>effort into staying in touch. But at least I don't have to ask a perfect
>stranger about their innermost fears and inadequacies.<<<<<<
>
>------------------------------
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Dan BRINEGAR, Info Developer/Research Droid
CCDB Vr2Link Performance S u p p o r t Svcs.
