Making It Big Monday

Networking Is Still The Best Way To Find A Job, Survey Says

Despite the explosion of online job search tools, from job boards to networking sites like LinkedIn, the conventional wisdom among career coaches holds that most people still find jobs through networking. But whenever I’ve asked coaches for evidence of this, they demure, failing to remember where they read that statistic.

So it’s interesting to get some concrete numbers, from a new survey from Right Management, an arm of Milwaukee-based staffing giant Manpower Group, that offers outplacement services and career coaching. The survey analyzes data from 59,133 clients Right Management advised over the last three years. In 2010, 41% said they landed a job through networking. Here is a chart showing the survey results:

Source of New Job

	2010	2009	2008
Networking	41%	45%	41%
Internet Job Board	25%	19%	19%
Agency/Search firm	11%	9%	11%
Direct Approach	8%	8%	8%
Online Network (2010)	4%	na	na
Advertisement	2%	7%	7%
Other	10%	12%	14%

 Only 8% said they found a new position through a direct approach, a technique I’ve recommended here. However, it’s possible, and increasingly easy, to enhance direct contact with networking, especially if you combine online tools with an old-school personal approach. Through LinkedIn and Facebook, locate friends and contacts who are connected to the company where you want to work. Reach out to those contacts through personalized emails and phone calls. Ask if you can mention them in an email or call to your target. If your connection is willing to put in a word for you with the target, all the better.

Carly McVey, Right Management’ Vice President of Career Management, comments on the rapidly blurring lines between traditional and online networking. Says McVey in the release from Right Management: “Online social networking may not always be separate from traditional networking since one so often leads to the other. A job seeker uses the Inernet to track down former associates or acquaintances and then reaches out to them in person.”

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