Getting the Most Out of Networking Groups

So, you have an active account on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, Digg, YouTube, and all of the other social media tools and forums. You have a blog that you submit content to on a regular basis (hopefully more often than I do to my personal blog). Is there anything you’re missing? You bet your sweet patootie!

If you are not taking some valuable time to rub elbows in your local community, you’re doing yourself a gross disservice. People are much more likely to go out of their way for people they have met in person than those they have only talked to over the phone. Whether the end result of your networking is to garner more business, find a new job, or even just learn something new for your hobby or profession, people who you physically meet are more willing to invest their time in your efforts.

If a person you physically network with doesn’t personally hold the keys to what you are looking for they are more likely to recommend someone in their network who might. They might even do you the favor of forwarding your information on to this other person and put in a personal introduction to boot. This is especially true if you are able to make a personal connection to that person that tells them, “Yeah, this person is like me in some regard.”

Almost every community has some form of social and professional networks in place. They can be at a town level, a county level, or even a state / metropolitan city level. They can be general networks, such as an area “Professional Networking Group”. These types of groups will be for business professionals of varying background to meet because they live in the same area. They can also be more focused networks, such as a “.NET Developer Group”, where the topic of discussion is pretty much set and people with the same interest(s) gather to discuss said topic. Town softball leagues are a social networking group for the most part, although I’ve seen business relationships forged from these groups as well.

Let’s talk about three things in this article. How to locate a networking group, what you should bring to a networking group to make the best of your experience, and what form of etiquette you should follow to be taken seriously at these things.

Finding a networking group is not all that hard, especially when you have the internet at your disposal. For town level groups, what you can’t find online you should be able to locate via the local library or town hall. For more regional and focused networking groups, searching Google for a “user group” on a topic will often net results on group meetings. I find Meetup.com to be a very good resource for finding people who share my interests and the groups that are in my area for specific topics.

On the topic of what to bring to a networking group event, I have a simple checklist that I run through before any event.

#1 – Bring your business cards (and plenty of them).

Don’t count on the people you will be talking to on having a pen and paper. You want them to have a card that gives them your name, title, company (if applicable) and contact information.

#2 – Bring a pen that you know will write.

Since impressions are part of the game, try to bring something that states you are a professional. I’m not saying you have to go out and buy a Waterman, but make sure it’s not a pen you’ve recently chewed on.

I recommend that any time you receive a business card you write notes from your discussion with that individual on the back of his or her business card. What better way to make sure you can add a personal touch to future discussions with that person?

#3 – Bring a notepad.

This will be for the few people you want to take down information on who didn’t bring a card (or ran out of them). It will also be a good place to take general notes if something you discuss is worthy for follow up (a website you want to look at when you get home, for instance).

Some key points of etiquette for networking group meetings are:

#1 – Arrive on time, not halfway through the event.

I even like to arrive early if possible. This makes sure I get a chance to introduce myself to everyone as they arrive. When you show up late you are often going to find the group has broken into several discussions. You will find it harder to break into a discussion already underway than you will to contribute to a discussion that started when you were there.

#2 – Seek to learn something about the person you are talking to before telling them about yourself.

First off, people feel comfortable talking about themselves at these types of events. They then tend to be more receptive to listening to you if they feel like they’ve been heard. A good ice breaker is to ask them flat out, what their name is and then follow up with why they are at the event.

#3 – Don’t perform a hit-and-run.

The people who get the least out of networking events are generally those that float around from person to person selling their goods or services. They walk up to you and say, “Hi, I’m Bill. I’m selling this product. Do you want this product? No?!?” (moving on to the next person) “Hi, I’m Bill. I’m selling…”

Once you’ve fired off the big gun there’s very little reason for someone to want to learn more about you if they’re not interested in what you’re bringing to the group. I find it a lot more useful to participate in a discussion, even if it’s more social than goal oriented, and show I know what I’m talking about to my level of expertise. The topics of why you’re there and what you do will come up. It always does for me.

A true test of whether you’re doing this right is to measure how many people ask for your business card versus how many people you have to offer it out to.

#4 – Don’t drink to excess.

Remember, you are looking to keep a professional image at these events. It’s ok to have a drink or two, but if you’re starting to feel a little bit buzzed it’s time to take your foot off the gas. Don’t run the risk of giving the impression that you’re a slurring drunk (even if you are one in real life).

#5 – Follow up the next day with a personal email.

Make sure you try to connect with the people you talked to the following day. This is where those notes you wrote on the back of each business card will really come in handy. If the person mentions that they have to work on the yard this weekend in idle conversation, wish them luck on completing it. It shows you were listening to them (big bonus points). Ask them to connect with you on LinkedIn / Facebook / etc.

While many of us put a lot of importance on our social media network, it is at least equally important to make sure we spend time “pressing the flesh”. You are more likely to interact on a consistent basis with the people in your community, whether that’s to garner more business, find a new job, or even just learn something new for your hobby or profession.

If you’re interested in learning more about networking groups near you, please feel free to drop me an email at ghabrecht@gmail.com. I’m also on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/ghabrecht.

Why Consulting Works

To consult or not to consult, that is the question...

Since I am not William Shakespeare, I will not attempt to protract that statement with any flowery or witty prose. This is, however, a question I need to talk to candidates about just about every day.

Other than those people who are (or want to be) career consultants, many people are reticent when considering contract assignments. Their reasoning for not wanting to consider consulting runs from the fear that consulting might make their resume look like they’ve be job hopping, to worrying what will happen if a full time offer comes in right after they’ve taken a consulting role, to believing that taking on contract work means walking away from the desired benefits of a full-time job.

I can see the remarks right now. You’re saying to yourself, “Great, here’s a recruiter telling me why I should let him use me as a consultant!” and yes, there is some desire to make candidates feel better about working with me and my clients. The truth of the matter, and why I feel I am able to give this advice, is that I was once you.

From 1991 until 2005, I worked in the field of Information Technology (IT). Over that career I worked with several recruiters. Some of them were good, some of them not so much. I had the same fears (maybe fear is too strong a word); let’s say apprehensions when I started consulting. What I am writing comes from personal experience, not from that of the many consultants I have worked with.

First off, let’s dispel the rumor that taking a short-term consulting position will make you look like a job hopper and therefore a flight risk for future employers. When I moved from the small mom and pop computer shop out in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey into the corporate world I broke in with consulting. There were some short-term and longer-term opportunities I worked on. All of them gave my great exposure to many different technologies, methods of doing business, and industries.

As for how this all was received when I put it on my resume, it was all in the way I presented it. You can portray consulting positions on your resume in one of two lights:

“This is what I was doing while I was waiting for my next full-time employment.”

Treating it as a negative and begging the question of why you were forced to take something you didn’t want

“These are the different environments and industries I have had exposure to!”

Treating it as a positive and positioning it as a reason you should be employed

Employers will understand when you’ve worked on multiple, short-term projects. Simply put it on your resume that the job you had for three months was a contract and rarely an eyebrow will be raised. As long as you can honestly say that you completed the project successfully, your experience should prove valuable. As an employer, what better indicator can I have that you will get up to speed quickly at my company? You’ve shown, via your experience, that you were brought into an environment and were off and running the moment your boots hit the ground.

So now, what happens if a job offer comes in just after you’ve taken a consulting assignment? This question comes from a risk that is real. It could happen that you accept a consulting assignment, only to finally get a call back from someone you interviewed with a month ago who offers you a position. More often than not, when this reason comes up, the wisdom of the old proverb proves true; a bird in hand is better than two in the bush.

The hiring processes for many companies can take several weeks. If you’re not already in the final round of interviews with a company, you have to ask what your chances of getting the job are. Make sure you are honest with yourself. You’re not always going to get the job because, well, you’re you.

A good indicator of a company’s interest will generally be how they react to the news that you are also interviewing with other companies. If they don’t ask you about the opportunities they are in competition with, there is a strong possibility that they are actively pursuing another candidate and are keeping you in reserve until they have a decision from that person. Most companies will tell you how many people you are up against for a position if you simply ask. With this information you can decide how real your chances are of getting an offer.

It’s also been said that the easiest way to find a job is to be working. This is true for more than just the obvious reasons. While I would recommend meeting your obligations to the client (if they said it was going to be a three month assignment, don’t leave at two months), I would also suggest keeping in communication with your recruiter at least a month before the scheduled end date of an assignment. This is the time for you to start your job search anew. If you land a job with two or three weeks left in your assignment, simply state that you need to complete your engagement. It’s the same as giving two weeks notice to a full-time job. I am suspect of someone who is willing to jump off of any job without proper notice or completion of duties. Logic dictates that if that person will do it for me, they will most likely do it to me some day too.

A contract is a great way to expand your network as well. Every time you land in an environment, you are injected into a whole new group of professionals in your field. You can sometimes land new opportunities through this network. I landed my job with Reuters after a consultant I was working with came back from an interview with them. He was passed on for the opportunity and shared it with me. I got the job and never saw a single job posting for it.

Being at a client site as a consultant can also lead to a full-time role within the organization. I make an analogy to being invited to be a walk-on for a sports franchise. You get to show your skills to the hiring authority at the company. Many a consulting opportunity ends with what is called a conversion, where a company picks up the consultant to be on their payroll. I’ve even seen multiple instances where the client “made” a position in order to keep an individual. Unlike the walk-on for the sports franchise, you actually get paid for your time “on the field”.

The last point I want to touch on is that many staffing firms offer comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans for consultants. Some companies offer plans that are better than others, and you should probably shop around for what an agency offers before signing on with them if it is of the utmost importance. Some agencies also offer extended benefits, such as 401k and group life insurance. Again, ask what benefits a specific firm offers before signing up with them. A good agency should be able to present you concise information on what they provide so you can make an informed decision on whether or not you want to work with them.
I am always happy to field questions, so feel free to drop me a line if you have any. If you have any other thoughts or concerns, please post a response and I will see if I can offer any additional advice.

Talking Salary with a Recruiter

During an interview with a recruiter (it doesn't matter if it is over the phone or across a table) the topic of salary is usually going to come up. Salary is always a sticky point for most candidates and many people approach it the wrong way.

A common misconception is that a recruiter will manipulate the information given and do wrong by the candidate. For the most part this is the farthest thing from the truth. Many (if not most) recruiters work on contingency from the client. This means they don't make a dime from you and they don't get paid by the client until they fill a position. Generally the fee they receive is based upon a percentage of the salary that they get for you, the candidate. In other words, the more money you make the more money they make.

Candidates also assume they are interviewing directly with the client, at which point it is usually a good idea to differ the topic of salary until both parties know the job is a good fit. With a recruiter, you are often not going to be presented to a client unless they know what numbers work for you. They will start at the higher points of the salary range for the position and your experience, but knowing if there is wiggle room during the negotiation with the client will greatly help the cause leading to the ultimate goal; a quick close ahead of the competition.

Another mistake is that candidates assume that if they quote an astronomic number they will receive the highest salary possible. This is the reason that many recruiters will ask for the salary you were making at the last one or two positions on your resume and may confirm that number during a reference check.

It is perfectly alright to want to make a bump up from your last salary. Just remember that if you ask for too much you will generally not receive a fair representation and will, in most cases, price yourself out against competition for a position. A common practice will be for a recruiter to "back burner" you, after trying to tell you that you might be too high. The recruiter will check in with you in a couple of weeks to see if your pain threshold has brought you down a little closer to reality.

If you are contracting, and have a rate that is 10% higher than the other candidates in the market, you might have to sit for several weeks until you find a company willing to pay your rate. If you're not making a paycheck it will take you 10 weeks to make up the difference for every week not worked.

Example A:

A contractor agrees to take market rate of $30/hr and lands a job immediately:

$30/hr x 40 hours a week = $1,200 / week

In 10 weeks he has made $12,000

Example B:

A contractor holds out for one week until his rate goes up to $33/hr

$33/hr x 40 hours a week = $1,320

At the end of the same 10 weeks he has only made $11,800 (one week no pay, 9 weeks paid).

It isn't until the 11th week that both candidates pull up equal and the candidate in Example B starts to make more money. That's ten weeks of work that has to be done for every week's wages lost to holding out.

At 15% the number comes down to 7.5 weeks per week with no pay, but I've seen people stay out of work for three months waiting for that higher wage. At the end of the year they end up making less total income than if they had just gotten back to work at the more reasonable rate. Many times the candidate is forced to bring their expectations down after sitting those weeks and settle for the original rate anyway (bills don't pay themselves). Who knows, maybe the candidate would have gotten a pay raise within that year if they'd proven that they were as valuable as they thought (or knew) they were...

Lastly, I've seen candidates quote a low price for their services only to request more once they get a company interested in employing them. Outside of the ethical issues this posses (which most times will lead a client company to withdraw any offer and pass entirely on the candidate) there are negative consequences for this "tactic" as well.

Most times the salary you require is as much of an indicator of your skill set as the information on your resume. If your salary requirements are too high, people will assume you are ready for a position that you may be over your head on. This will usually come out during the interview, so you probably won’t get that job anyway.

The inverse is also true. If your salary is too low, a client may assume that you are not the right fit for their role because someone with the skill set they need would be currently making a salary somewhere in the neighborhood of the market rate. Trust me; for the most part clients know what they should expect to be paying long before they speak to a recruiter.

It is best to do some research on what the going rate is for someone in your field before starting your job search. Remember, when you find the range for your position to be $50,000 to $70,000 that you might be doing yourself a gross disservice by waiting until that $70k role comes in. Be honest with a recruiter (maybe me). Tell them what you have been making and what range you would like to be in going forward. You might just be pleasantly surprised. After all, I can’t force you to take a job…

I hope this information helps you. If you have any questions or concerns I would like to hear them. My email address is george.habrecht@charter.net.

Initial Post

I figure what good is a modern day IT staffing specialist who does not embrace social media this day in age? For the first couple of posts, I am going to re-post some of my prior writing here. I will then work to decommission the old sites. This will be my "unifying body" if you will.

Although I understand Web Design and Web Development, having worked in both IT and recruiting for a combined 16 years, I must admit I am fairly new to the world of SEO and PPC. Well, new probably isn't the word for it. I've been on the Internet since before Mosaic and Alta Vista came into existence. I remember when Excite and Yahoo! were the main players for search (and white text on a white background was the prevalent way to get yourself up on the results). I also remember when Google grabbed my attention first (I loved being able to look up images). I knew there were ways to market a brand online, it just wasn't my focus to do so.

While I've been using social media for a couple of years, it wasn't until recently that I truly understood the power it can bring to a marketing campaign for a site, product, and/or an individual.

Times change, skills in demand change. There are several goals to this blog site:

• You learn something better when you practice or teach it
• I want to put my own sail into the marketing/branding winds
• I want to educate some of the people I have been working with in the development arena as to additional skills they can add to increase the value of the total package they bring to the market

I hope I am able to share as much with you, the reader, as I am able to learn on this adventure. The first lesson I have learned in Blogging is that it is a dedicated effort. You need to practice time management and make sure to add information, even if you don't think anyone is reading it.

Please feel free to leave comments. It's all part of the learning process.

All the best,
George Habrecht