by Steve Gagnon
Let’s talk. Being unemployed is one of the hardest things we can live through and it can be a very rough and humbling experience. A lot of us tend to live in denial when it comes to unemployment and many simply don’t know how to cope. Let’s face it, unemployment is by all accounts one of the most stressful experiences anyone can ever endure. Unemployment used to carry with it a stigma of sorts that seemingly indicated a certain level of failure on our part. Countless people try to keep their situation to themselves or to their immediate family and close friends. This is absolutely the worst thing they could do. In today’s economic climate being unemployed is by no means a reflection of who you are as a person. It is, however, a reflection of our dire economic times and circumstance.
This is most definitely not the time to go into hiding and is by no means the time to withdraw from the world. It is the time to get out there and let the world know you’re looking for work as well as what kind of work you’re looking for.
A lot of folks work real hard at job searching, but feel like they’re just spinning their wheels. They send out resume after resume, fill out application after application and never seem to get that interview. A lot of times they find out the job they thought they were perfect for got filled right after they sent in their resume. They never seem to hear about job openings until after they’ve been posted in the papers or on the internet. What are they doing wrong? It usually boils down to one word; networking or more specifically, the lack thereof.
Webster’s dictionary defines networking as: “the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions; specifically: the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business.”
The more people you have in your corner, the more eyes and ears you have out there, the better your chances are of finding your next job or career. It means you will hear about job openings before they become job listings.
Consider this, all the jobs posted on the internet and in newspapers represent only about 20% or less of the available jobs on the market today. The other 80% are part of the hidden job market and the only way to tap into this rich job market is to network. Networking can be one of the single most effective means of job searching you can use in your arsenal of job searching tools and techniques.
Keep in mind, if you hear of a job opening not listed anywhere except “in-house” within a particular company, you’re competition is with the employees of that company. If that job gets listed in the papers and/or on the internet, your competition suddenly becomes the world.
Here’s something you could do to help you establish your network. Develop a business card indicating who you are, how to contact you as well as having a list of your job attributes and the job categories you’re interested in obtaining. When you’re talking to someone and they say “You know, I think I may know somebody who can use your skills”, you can give them something tangible to take with them. If you need help putting something like that together, bring in some card stock to the CareerCenter. We can help you design and print your cards so you won’t waste any of it.
Again, you need to ‘get out there’. Develop your contacts and establish a strong network. The Presque Isle CareerCenter is located at 66 Spruce Street across from the Aroostook Centre Mall. For more information or if you just have some questions, call 207-760-6300 or 1-800-635-0357.
Steve Gagnon is the Aroostook County veterans’ representative for the Maine Department of Labor and is responsible for identifying and removing, where possible, significant barriers to employment, developing job opportunities and meeting the employment and training needs of veterans. He has over 11 years’ of state government experience, having worked with the Unemployment Office, the Reemployment Eligibility Assessment Program as well as providing services as a CareerCenter consultant. He has expertise in resume preparation, interviewing and job placement. He can also assist veterans applying for jobs through online applications as well as provide help in honing their computer skills in MS Word or MS Excel. His military background includes four years as an aircraft hydraulics mechanic and 20 years as a personnel specialist having retired from the U.S. Air Force as an E-7, Master Sergeant.
