Job Search Letters For Dummies

Chapter 5

Getting Help: Networking Letters

In This Chapter

Tuning into networking letters that turn up job leads

Looking beyond who you know to who you can know

Avoiding detours and heading straight for the hire

Using personal relationships and human contacts to your advantage is the essence of networking. Successful job search networking pulls back the curtain on what’s known as the “hidden job market” — that is, the jobs that aren’t advertised publicly through print ads or online posts, or mentioned in social media for the entire world to see.

Networking techniques also score hits when a job is advertised but attracts a tidal wave of resumes. Smart networkers shop for an edge by finding human links to the people who call the hiring shots.

Today’s networking concept reinvents the “who you know” school of job finding by extending it to “who you can meet and convince to help you.”

In this chapter, I concentrate on identifying connections that matter most to your career path, pinpointing networking spots, and presenting excellent letter samples that help others know you and clear roadblocks for you.

Zooming In on Purposeful Networking

Executive talent agent Debra ...