OverviewWhy It's Important to Keep Your Prime Contacts EnrolledHow to Keep Your Prime Contacts EnrolledOverviewIn this article, I'll show why it's important to keep your prime contacts enrolled and how to keep them enrolled.
Why It's Important to Keep Your Prime Contacts EnrolledAlways ask permission, preferably at the end of your interview, to keep each of your contacts informed about your progress. Most likely, you'll obtain that permission -- often with a genuine sense of appreciation. In granting that permission, each contact becomes a part of your network. Each now has a stake in your success.
Most people tend to feel good about contributing to someone else's achievement. And, over time, other thoughts and ideas will occur to the people you have interviewed that they will want to share with you -- provided, of course, you have established a rapport with them in the first place.
Show appreciation to nurture that rapport. "If you experience benefit from a referral, let the other person know the referral was valuable," suggest Donna Fisher and Sandy Vilas, in their book,
"Power Networking: 59 Secrets for Personal and Professional Success Make sure your acknowledgment is sincere. Authors Fisher and Vilas write:
"When you receive support, be appreciative of the gift. It is a very high compliment and honor for people to want to support you, and it is a compliment to accept (with graciousness) the support they offer."
By receiving and acknowledging support from your contacts with graciousness and humility, you'll keep your prime contacts (those you have identified as "motivated, "involved" or "interested") enrolled in your career marketing campaign and your progress. They will help your succeed in finding the job that's right for you.
You'll also be demonstrating -- in a dramatic way and in a real situation -- your ability to establish effective interpersonal relationships, implement a creative marketing campaign, and conduct an extensive business research project. In doing so, you're also showcasing your skills in strategic planning, personal sales, business writing and project management.
I know of no better way to show your contacts, who are most likely "hiring decision makers," what you could do for them as a prospective employee.
How to Keep Your Prime Contacts EnrolledNurture your contacts who are motivated, involved and interested by keeping them informed about your progress, continuing to gather feedback from them, showing appreciation and trading favors with them.
As a first step, just staying in touch with your contacts will help your network grow and develop. Choose these nurturing ideas that best fit your situation and incorporate them into your career marketing campaign:
- Set up your contact management system so you are automatically flagged each day which contact people need routine follow-up communication from you now -- and then do it (particularly those you have identified as "motivated," "involved" and "interested"). You developed this schedule when you recorded your interview notes for each contact. Those notes included a scheduled date for your next letter, telephone call or e-mail message to that contact.
Not only thank them for their most recent help but also reinforce -- in concrete terms -- how valuable that contribution has been to your effort.
- Call at least one person each week who hasn't heard from you in the last 90 days or so. That implements an ongoing process of reactivating those contacts you have identified as "sympathetic" and "confused."
- Send a thank-you note -- or even a small gift -- promptly to a referral who has served or supported you in some way.
- Invite contacts to events, such as the local chapter meetings of your national professional association when the agenda is particularly interesting to them.
- Send clippings of articles from newspapers and magazines (with a congratulatory note saying, "I enjoyed reading about you...") to those who are featured, if they are part of your network.
- Do favors for your contact people by proposing them for recognition opportunities that they truly deserve within their communities or within their professional associations, refer potential customers or clients to them, nominate them as candidates -- with their permission -- to boards of non-profit organizations etc.
- Reverse roles by supporting the career goals of your contact people. Send them interesting bits of research you've found during your job search that they may find useful. Refer them people you've met through your networking who they may find helpful and interesting.
Even though zipping off an e-mail or using word processing to quickly produce a letter may be easier, faster and more accessible (if you have a visual impairment), a handwritten note is "still viewed as the most thoughtful and meaningful method of saying thanks," according to authors Fisher and Vilas.
They also pose these questions to consider when you're trying to decide whether to use e-mail for keeping in touch with your contacts:
- "What is the preferred means of communication for the person to whom you wish to send the note?
- "Does he or she get so many e-mails that yours may get lost or overlooked?
- "Which best conveys the image and message you wish to convey: an e-mail or a handwritten note?
- "Does your relationship with this person warrant a more casual e-mail or a more formal note?"
Nurturing rapport with your contacts, acknowledging their support, keeping them enrolled in your campaign and showcasing your skills requires a personal touch that may seem time-consuming. Yes, it takes time because it is a "high-touch," personal approach to locating your new job. But, it also gives you a golden opportunity to effectively highlight your "people skills," which are becoming increasingly important in today's business world.
