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May 31, 2008

My advice to the recent college graduate still looking for a job...

Build your Business Social Network NOW.
Along the way Find your Life’s Passion.
And then Give yourself a Job.

Recent college graduates still looking for the perfect job might want to humor me and take a few minutes and read my following proposal. While I can’t guarantee that this proposal will work for everyone, or even most people, if I had a chance to apply something I know now to someone looking for a job today, this is how I would approach the situation.

Build your Business Social Network NOW

One of the things on my mind is why wait until you are you are in your mid 30s to have deep set of business contacts to reach out to? While you were in college how much time did you spend on LinkedIN building up your set of industry contacts? How much time did you spend on twitter during the past 12 months connecting with people working in areas of your business passion? How many people did you connect with on Facebook who are involved in the area of your interest? How many comments have you left on the blogs of the people you read on a weekly basis? What have you done to stand out and have your voice heard in your area of interest? How many local Meetups have you attended in your area of interest? How many conferences have you attended during the past 12 months where you could meet people whom you share a common passion? And while leaving comments and being heard, are you using a single social identity?

One of the best graduation presents you can give yourself is a business social network that you can reach out to for help. Generally speaking these are support networks and people are willing to help their friends. But you need to create a credible presence for yourself so you have a platform to ask for such help.

Today is May 31st. Spend the next 30 days expanding your business social network. Start by identifying the 30 supernodes / connectors in your area of passion that you want to meet. Reach out and meet these people. Think about the questions you would like to ask these people if you had 15 minutes of their time. Put yourself in the same location where you can find these people. Be creative. Think outside the box. And if you can’t get yourself there in person, try using Skype Video. Along the way. Document the process. Create a blog and write about the experience. Take pictures. Use video if possible. Interview the people you choose who are your personal building blocks. Remember to ask the questions that will mean the most to YOU. Do your research and Don’t be shy to ask to be introduced to ONE of their friends. 30 days Reflect back on your experiences and publish your own guide on how YOU built up your business social network in 30 days.

Along the way Find your Life’s Passion

There is a story to be told here. After meeting these thirty people it is my belief you will discover your life’s passion. At long as you were honest with yourself when you started your journey, chances are you will meet some pretty amazing people, each of which have a story to share and each of while will point you one step closer in your discovery of what it is that you really want to be doing. What you will end up doing. At least for now. And whether you are able to do this in 30 days or 60 days or 90 days the point is to make the effort to just do it.

I’m not someone who believes that we go to university to send the rest of our lives working in the profession we choose when we were forced to declare a major. I’m a believer that what is important is for someone to discover their “Life Major” and to give themselves a chance to pursue their Life Major.

And then Give yourself a Job

There is a book or two to be written. You benefit because you will become a subject matter expert and you can lecture about your experience and teach others how to become a social networker.

All that it is required is for you to believe in yourself.

Look, if you are looking for a job and haven’t found one yet, it might be because you haven’t been able to convince a prospective employer to believe in you. Instead of complaining about your situation to your friends, NOW is the time to take control and invest in the best thing you can ever make an investment in...yourself.

And if you decide to take me up on my suggestion, please feel free to contact me. I’d like to read about your journey and learn from YOUR experiences.

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Readers of my blog are invited to join me on both twitter and Facebook.

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Posted by jeff on May 31, 2008 11:33 AM | Permalink

Additional resources: Watch PrimeTime TV Shows | Watch the Jeff Pulver Show | Jeff's Qik Videos

Comments

Helpful comments. By the way, Jeff, I used to be active in VOIP in Asia/Pac and Europe and attended and delivered seminars at several of your Voice on the Net conferences over the late 1990s - early 2000s. Enjoyed the conferences very much.

Now as I have recently started my own consulting business, I find that it has become easier to reach out to people with whom I share common interests, certainly in line with your blog post.

Posted by: Paul Orlando at June 6, 2008 04:59 PM

As a recent graduate from Boston College I can attest to all of this.

I was fortunate enough to start building my network of contacts through facebook and my personal network starting at the beginning of my junior year.

The results I have already achieved through doing this have been better than I would have ever expected.

Opportunities have fallen out of the sky that I would have never thought were possible for someone my age.

To read more about my networking endeavors feel free to click my name to check out my blog on "Networking Effectively"

Posted by: Scott Bradley at June 5, 2008 10:38 AM

I am graduating college in two months and this advice is dead on. One of the main things I have seen already as I search for jobs is how valuable it is to have an "in" with a company. For most jobs, except for ones that require years of highly technical math and science training, everyone has the same credentials. Having an "in" can make you search a lot easier.

In addition, many sales jobs require a large SOI (sphere of influence) to be successful, especially if you want to be successful out of the gate. Obviously it is possible to build up you SOI over time but if you have a job that is all or largely commission based you don't have the luxury of time to build up your SOI. One one hand you can't make sales without that SOI, which requires a large amount of time to build up, but on the other hand if you work a 2nd job you're wasting time there that you could be spend building up your SOI. And at the same time you have bills to pay. Not having a solid network puts you in a difficult spot.

Posted by: Philip at June 4, 2008 05:11 PM

Social networking has help me start own my business. It is good to surround yourself with professionals.

Posted by: techcat at June 1, 2008 10:18 AM

This is very sound advice, Jeff. Great to hear that you're still helping up and coming generations to find their passion and execute on it. You certainly did a lot to inspire me during our time together. Here's wishing you well from Boston.

Posted by: Chris Brogan... at June 1, 2008 08:17 AM

Good advice, Jeff. I spent the summer after grad trying the typical job search techniques. I "accidentally" created a socnet in my commiserating about not finding a job. This led to a lead that turned into an opportunity. Lesson learned? Start the search with a network - and don't diss the parents of ur friends-they have a bigger network then you!

Posted by: randy at May 31, 2008 12:42 PM