Job Search Using Your Warm Market
How to Create a List of Warm Contacts
Usually when you are looking for a job, you would ask for help
from family and friends. You would contact these people to ask
for information on current job openings, business opportunities
and tips.
Your family, relatives and friends belong to your warm contact
list. The warm contact list is the list of people with whom you
have or had some personal association. A former classmate,
officemate or neighbor may belong to your warm contact list.
Who may be included in your warm contact list? Here are a number
of selections.
* Relatives and Friends
These people are always willing to help you in your job search
or business venture. They will be able to provide you
information if they have some, or refer you to trustworthy
people who will be able to help you. If they will introduce you
to some of their contacts, they can surely provide honest
information to you regarding the person you are going to
associate with.
* Members of the church, political party, social club or
fraternity or sorority
You probably did not expect it, but people who share the same
faith, beliefs or hobbies may also help you with finding a job.
You may have a different career from theirs, but they might know
somebody who is in the same field or will be able to help you in
your career.
However, depending on your level of association with them, they
may think twice about giving their opinion or thoughts about
their contacts. Their opinion can sometimes help you in making a
strategy on how to approach and ask for help from their contacts.
* People who sell you things
You may think that your relationship with these people is purely
based on trading goods and services, then paying for them.
However, people who sell you things are also sources of
information when networking.
Since these people sell their goods to different types of
persons, they may have associated with somebody who belongs to
the same field as you do, or have heard information about your
target job from their other clients.
These people will also be happy to help you, since they know
that maintaining a pleasant relationship with you means a stable
business. Also, if you have a good job means you have increased
your purchasing power, and then it could also mean that you may
purchase more from them.
* Former employers, colleagues or co-workers
Maintaining a good relationship with previous employers and
colleagues has more benefits than you can imagine. This is the
reason that most people try their best to iron out any
difficulties with their previous employers even if they are no
longer associated with the company. Aside from the possibility
that your potential employer will call previous employers when
they review your job history, former employers and colleagues
are also a good source of information related to that field.
When you ask for help from family and friends, there is the
possibility that the information that they can give to you is
just from another source. They may not be able to give you
first-hand information or detailed information unless they also
work in the same field that you came from or would like to go
into.
This is very different when you consult former employers and
colleagues from the same sector. They will be able to provide
you with valuable information and may be able to clarify such
information and answer you questions.
* Members of your professional organization
If you belong to a professional organization related to the
field in which you are looking for a job, you can consult the
organization for current posting from the members. If you don't
belong to any, consider joining one since this will be
beneficial to you career growth.
A professional organization can provide you unbiased information
on current job openings from its members. The organization can
also give you details on the company profile and even on current
market and career trends.
These are the most important people that you should include when
creating a list of your warm contacts. It is better if you
contact them all so you can have as many options in your job
search. When you talk to them, tell them that you are actively
seeking a job.