Prepare for Your Next Job - Now

by Nicole Hooper

Many of us like to forget the horrors of the job search while we are happily (or even adequately) employed. But career management means a continuous ongoing passive job search - positioning for advancement even when you are not actively seeking a job, explains Geoff Champion, Korn/Ferry International partner. Champion suggest passive job seekers include the following critical components in their career management plans.

Network, Network, Network

Continuous networking helps you evaluate your skills and understand the skill development you need to be effective in your current and future roles. It also enables you to stay abreast of trends driving your industry, which enhances your current firm's and your individual value. And networking ensures that when it comes time to search for a job, you're not scrambling to identify your previous contacts.

Eighty to 90 percent of us do not fully leverage our network of business associates, friends, relatives and acquaintances. We all need to nurture our network on a continuous basis, whether for a job search or simple "market intelligence". Champion divides the ongoing process of networking into three key tasks:

• Manage your Network Assets
Keep a list of all of your acquaintances, friends, relatives, and associates. Do not let brief, but relevant contacts slip away.

• Leverage your Network
Understand the tertiary contacts you may have through your network. Someone you know may be able to act as an intermediary to a particular key executive. Such connections can be valuable.

• Nurture and Develop your Network
Assist members of your network with advice, career opportunities and information as often as possible, but only when your assistance will provide real value. Good help is remembered and rewarded; useless help is likewise remembered and avoided. As a useful and willing connection for your acquaintances, you will find them far more eager to help you, and more likely to keep you in mind when opportunities arise.

To illustrate the importance of networking, Champion shared a story about David Rockefeller. Mr. Rockefeller employed a personal assistant solely to manage his network of contacts. His assistant kept track of everyone Mr. Rockefeller met and informed the contacts of relevant information Mr. Rockefeller could supply them. When Mr. Rockefeller later approached members of his network, they appreciated the previous assistance and ongoing contact and were eager to help. While networking is time consuming and most of us cannot hire a personal assistant, this is an outstanding example of how and why we should network.

Market Yourself Effectively

An active job search adds new responsibilities to long-term career management. Champion shared two pieces of advice for a productive job search:

• Build a Personal Marketing Campaign
Your job search is an ongoing effort to market your most valuable product - yourself. You must position yourself carefully and then maintain your course. A marketing campaign would not reposition a product for each customer, but job seekers often try to adjust themselves to any available job. Know and seek out your interests and strengths, rather than jumping at the first viable opportunity. As in any marketing campaign, in a job search you will experience a slight up-tick prior to a full market surge. Wait for your surge, then make your best choice.

• Remember Employment Decisions are Business
Job searches are personal for the job seekers but they are business decisions for those hiring and even recommending us. Approach each opportunity with a professional attitude, objectively evaluating your strengths, weaknesses and appropriateness for the position. This demonstrates a quality that will be remembered when the right position becomes available.