EditorialsBy Matt Bud, Chairman, The FENG

I think that anyone conducting a job search would agree that to be really effective and have any chance, one must know how to read.

Like anything else, reading skills exist at many levels. The purpose of tonight’s editorial is to clarify the nature of the job leads in our evening newsletter for those of you who are new to our organization, and also for those of you who think you know. It is also to ask you to read them carefully!

All job leads in our newsletter are personal. They don’t appear by magic. They appear because SOMEONE in our membership took the time to send it in, and in many cases took the time to BUILD A RELATIONSHIP.

Many members of our networking group enjoy good relationships with members of the search community. Job leads posted from those members usually begin: “Please use my name in contacting.” When there is a relationship involved, not only do we want you to enjoy the benefit of that relationship, we also want to RESPECT it. That means, when it says “qualified members ONLY,” it means just that. If you wouldn’t hire you for this golden opportunity, consider not responding. I don’t mean to be harsh or disrespectful to our many members who play by the rules, but in these cases, “buying a lottery ticket” provides you with nothing and tends to ruin it for everyone else.

Then we have various other kinds of jobs that grace the pages of our newsletter. Some are rumors, some have been over heard in hallways, and some have been pulled from public job boards. (As an aside, we don’t post jobs from paid subscription services as that would violate their typical rules. Hey, we hear about everything sooner or later, and we don’t really need to.)

These kinds of jobs usually indicate that “using my name” WON’T help, in fact, it will only confuse matters. There is no relationship. Sure, the member providing the posting has his name associated with it, but he doesn’t know anyone personally involved with this opportunity and they don’t know him. You make yourself look silly or worse to mention his/her name or The FENG. In addition, calling him/her up to discuss the posting won’t add anything to your life or his/hers.

Friends, it is easy move at hyper speed and just click and shoot. I would ask you not to do that. Sure, you can’t spend a lot of time on job postings when you are so busy networking, networking and networking, but try to focus and understand that you need to take SOME care with postings from our newsletter.

You will get better results and as a group we will all get better results if you read above, below and between the lines.

Like I said, reading is an important skill. Take the time and do it.

Regards, Matt

 

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