Network with the Well-Connected for Faster Results

by Peter Vogt

MonsterTRAK Career Coach

With so many negative misperceptions circulating about networking, it's not surprising that many college students and new graduates want to pursue strategies that offer the most bang for the buck.

One such high-return-on-investment strategy involves talking to people who, almost by default, are well-connected. These folks tend to know a lot of other diverse people, often through their work. As you begin or continue your own networking efforts, think about approaching such people, even if you don't know them personally. Here are some professions that may not be on your networking radar but should be:

• Clergy. If you're involved with a religious organization (or even if you're not), talk to clergy who work on your campus or in your community. After all, think of how many different types of people clergy know and the wide variety of fields and industries they represent. If a clergy member doesn't personally know someone who can help you, he or she will almost certainly know someone else who does.
• Politicians and Their Staffs. No matter where you live, you have access to politicians who represent you locally, at the state level and even at the national level. You may even have helped elect some of these people. So take advantage of their wide-ranging personal connections, not to mention their duty to serve you. A quick phone call or email to a politician or one of his or her staff members can easily result in one or more solid leads to people you can talk to in your chosen field.
• Newspaper, Magazine or Television Reporters. Every day, reporters interview a variety of people to gather the news. The typical reporter probably talks to several new people each day, and has likely developed solid working relationships with key leaders in the community and elsewhere. So after you read interesting articles or see something intriguing on your local TV news, contact the reporters responsible and ask them for potential networking leads.
• Professional Organization Leaders. Someone has to guide the professional groups in your field, be they on the national, regional, state or local levels. The people who rise to these high-level positions tend to be the ones who know many other people in their field and who are the most relationship-oriented and willing to help others. You can tap into the natural goodwill of professional organization leaders by asking them if they can refer you to people who can guide you in your job hunt or career-related research.
• Health and Recreation Professionals. Consider the number of people a health club fitness instructor interacts with. Think about the wide variety of people a golf course pro deals with every day. These professionals and others like them can't help but meet people in various careers, including one that may interest you.
• Career Counselors. Whether they work on your campus, in your community or even in a faraway state or country (thank goodness for the Internet and email), career counselors are among the most well-connected people you'll ever meet, because it's part of their job to be so. In addition to working with a wide array of clients, they also develop relationships with employers in various fields and in diverse geographic locations.

Networking will never be easy or fast. But you can make the process more efficient and productive by talking to the people who know the most people.

© 2008 MonsterTRAK