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Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Job hunting: A contact sport

When it comes to looking for a job, there's a lot of unavoidable grunt work involved. One of the first and most important elements is to compile your contact list, if you haven't already, said Ford Myers, author of "Get the Job You Want Even When No One's Hiring." If your list is in scattered places like mine is, then it can be a ridiculous, albeit necessary grunt job.

I interviewed Ford in Monday's Philadelphia Inquirer. Click here to read it. I'm now adding more of the interview -- focusing on contacts. Contacts are key because networking is key and obviously, you can't network without contacts.  (Please excuse any typeface weirdness.) 

Jane:  You mentioned in your book making a tremendously long list of contacts. Should you include the people you network with in this list?

 

 

 

Ford: Well, sure. You’re going to add that person and everyone they referred you to into your database. Now, your database includes the person’s name, email, and phone number. We don’t really need so much the street address anymore. But certainly email, name, and phone number.
 
    Now, the database for your contact list needs to be consolidated, needs to be organized. For example, if you’re like most people you have some of your contacts in your address book next to your phone, some of it’s in Outlook, some of it’s in your Palm Pilot, some of it’s in old manila folders, some of it is stacks of business cards. 
Jane: Exactly. That's me.
 
Ford:  Now’s the time to slow down and get it all organized. Even if you have to hire someone for $5 or $10 and hour — it’s worth it. You’ve got to get that thing organized.  
  
     Your list of contacts is your single most valuable asset in your career. There’s nothing more valuable. Not your education, not your wardrobe, not your brains. It’s your contact list. That is your single most valuable asset. 
Jane:  Now should you have—you know how your contact lists have categories? 
Ford:  Some people insist on putting into categories. But—to me, honestly—I don’t think that’s necessary. I almost don’t want people to categorize. I’ll tell you why. When people start categorizing their list, what they do is they start prioritizing. And they say, “Well, this person knows about my business and this person’s really well-connected, so I’m going to focus on them and call them first.” But I don’t believe in that. I believe that everybody—whether it’s your mechanic or your hairdresser or your real estate agent or the chairman of a gigantic corporation—has people to introduce you to. I don’t want people to pre-judge the people on their list. You can’t assume who people know and who they don’t know. 
 
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Posted by Jane Von Bergen @ 11:35 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
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About Jane M. Von Bergen
Jane M. Von Bergen covers workplace issues, health insurance and organized labor for the Philadelphia Inquirer. A longtime business writer, she is now covering her second recession. Von Bergen began her reporting career in fourth grade and then married into it, falling in love with a photographer she met working while working for her college newspaper. They have two college-age sons, neither of whom is studying journalism.
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