Social Distancing & Networking

Photo by Phix Nguyen on Unsplash

If you’re like me, you’ve likely been talking to your neighbors from a distance, and possibly through a mask. It’s times like these, where I start to wonder if this is how our future will like, drive-by “hellos’ and walks on the other side of the street.

While this may be what our future looks like, it doesn’t change the need for us to communicate and network. I watched a video recently that explained how six degrees of separation originated. Letters were sent all around the world, and they measured the number of times it took them to get to their intended destination. It seems the letters had to be mailed 5 or 6 times to get to the person to whom it was intended. Jobs work similarly.

I spoke to someone recently who was in a job search. This person had seemingly done everything correctly. Dotted all the “I’s” and crossed all the “T’s” when it came to reaching out to their professional network to conduct a job search. I shared with him something I learned from the 6-degrees video. The insight was that the people who know us best will already be thinking about our situation and will have already shared any information and job leads with us. It’s the people that don’t know us that provide us with the best new information in our job search, providing us with a higher rate of success!

It means that if you genuinely want to create the greatest opportunity in your job search, you’re going to have to get comfortable with networking with people you may not know. Ask your network to provide you with another name of someone who may be able to help. Then contact that person and tell them who sent you. Soon you’ll have an army of people, some you know - many you won’t, acting on your behalf. That’s the power of networking. Don’t let social distancing stop you from connecting.

Your Career Coach,

Ha-Keem

You’re Worth It! Navigating Your Career in Corporate America - coming Summer 2020