Finding a job is linked to networking, and this is going to be seductive.” With this phrase, Rosaura Alastruey, an expert in promoting the values and usefulness of professional networking with the reinforcement of powerful digital tools such as LinkedIn, began her intervention in Bizbarcelona. According to Alastruey, networking is “going with your antenna on”, and even more so if you take into account that 85.5% of job offers are distributed and found through the “hidden market”, which works through contacts.
Today networking goes far beyond participating in events, exchanging business cards or adding followers on social networks. Well planned, it expands opportunities to exchange relevant information, experiences and knowledge, and makes it easier to find employment. “Networking has always existed, we have always related. What we have to do is work on the network of contacts, take care of it and build trust, to find out about the opportunities that arise,” highlights the expert, who recommends establishing contact with the company in which we are interested in working. “Once we are in relationship with the person responsible for recruiting or another department, we must build, maintain and reinforce the relationship so that when a vacancy occurs they remember us.”
Rosaura Alastruey also recommends having few, well-established contacts and trying to help through social networks whenever possible. “Encourage double-direction so that, when we need to ask for help, we get a positive response.” Julia Borrego, senior consultant at Lee Hecht Harrison, division of the Adecco Group, shares Alastruey's recommendations, and adds: “When there is no interest, the relationship flows and when you give something without expecting anything in return, the feeling is gratifying. It is an altruistic act that will make you feel very good and with which you will expand your network of contacts.” Borrego also considers it important to share contacts with someone, work on empathy and have a positive, collaborative attitude: “'How can I help you?' is a phrase that conveys confidence, opens doors wherever you go and will make you feel very good,” adds the expert, who emphasizes the importance of being proactive. “Decide to incorporate new ways of doing things into your daily life.
Get out of your comfort zone, use the power of language to move emotions and to get closer to people who can guide you and take you to the right contact,” he remarks. Both experts emphasize the need to seek differentiation to ensure that they remember us “with an interesting question or presentation, for example,” says Rosaura Alastruey.
