RE: Re: Looking for new jobs/dealing with agencies (Long)

["Murrell, Thomas" <TMurrell -at- alldata -dot- net>]

> From: 	anonfwd -at- raycomm -dot- com[SMTP:anonfwd -at- raycomm -dot- com]
> 
[Major SNIP]

> Also, I think my experience highlights the importance of networking.
> Talking to agencies is usually much better than "cold calling" but
> sometimes no more effective. It depends. Consider all avenues. I work
> full-time and I have children. Evenings are for homework. I found it very
> tough to look for a job while working; to make the calls, to follow up, to
> take my precious vacation hours to interview. That meant I was a long time
> looking. In the end, it was networking that got me in the door. The party
> I was at (a Christmas party for another writing group of which I'm a
> member) was one of a bare handful of social events I've attended in the
> last year or so... I just lucked out. If I'd networked more, I most likely
> would have lucked out sooner.
> 
This post made for excellent reading on a number of levels.  My thanks to
Andrew Plato for pointing out the agency side of things as well.

What really caught my eye was the poster's realization of the importance of
networking.  Probably most of us are not extroverts; many of us are, I'm
sure, but most of us are more introverted.  Networking, meeting and
establishing some sort of relationship with actual people, is not what we're
most comfortable doing.  I know this is true for me.  However, I believe
that fully 80% of the jobs out there, even in a wide open market, are not
openly advertised and not readily accessible via postings on the web or
postings on lists such as TECHWR-L or even through agencies.

Most jobs are available through networking.  Somebody knows somebody who
knows someone who needs a writer.  No matter how good our resumes are or
what associations we belong to or what job sites we check religiously or
even what agencies we work through, we still need our network of contacts.
That network is worth the time it takes to keep it alive and flourishing.

My thanks to Anonymous for reminding me of that truth.

Tom Murrell