Thursday’s Thought: “It Takes a Village” to Get Me a Job?

It might not take a Village, but you certainly don't want to be the only cheerleader for Team You. You need to network and establish relationships with people in your area of interest if you want to have a team of willing supporters of You.
And I don't mean by inviting them to connect on LinkedIn (or any other social media) just to "collect" another name that you have no intentions of networking with (or at least no immediate plan to do so).

Most people still feel uncomfortable in reaching out to individuals and nurturing a relationship. Have we gotten so busy that we have turned into a "Right Here and Right Now Society"? Most of the people that attempt to network with me are not interested in a true professional relationship. They want to skip all of the "building" and want to have the finished product immediately (ie. me giving them a contact, or help in some other way). Now don't get me wrong, I am willing to help! And I do help a lot of people. After all, this is the business I choose to be in. But I worry that if you are treating other people like this, you are not going to get very far. Most of them are not recruiters or career counselors, and they will smile and you, tell you that they will "look out for you", and then we you walk away, they will forget about you.

If I were to put out a million dollar challenge for the Best Use of Networking, would you be able to enter this contest? I don't think you would. If you want to prove me wrong, send me your story and although a million dollars is officially off the table, I will give you my R-E-S-P-E-C-T more than Aretha Franklin would think about giving you!

So the next time one of your "peeps" hears about an opportunity in your area of expertise, will they call you, refer you, or somehow assist you? If not, get busy and fill up your Team. Note: I will be your cheerleader.