At the age of 14, due to family circumstances, I ended up being self-reliant for any money items needed. My mom was recently divorced and provided home and food, but everything else there was just no money for extras. As a result one of the biggest life blessing occurred, even though at the time it didn’t seem much like a blessing. I was forced to work full time to provide necessities like clothing, transportation, school activities, ect… Getting jobs at 14 is no easy task. It was at this time my first lesson in networking was learned.
In order to make some of my income I took on a paper route. Back in those days, that meant getting on a bike with bags on the handle bars and riding 2.5 miles to deliver papers at individual doors. Thanksgivings were the worst as the ads caused the papers to be 10 times thicker and came early in the morning. What does all of this have to do with networking you may ask? The paper route was my sisters and she was getting a job. A quick call to her supervisor and the route was mine. These routes were in high demand as they were basically all a younger teenager could do for money, but because I had a connection, my sister, the job ended up in my lap.
The paper route was great, but you don’t make a lot of money delivering papers. As a result I had to look for other work. Some of the money came from collecting aluminum cans on the side of the road, but the real income generator came from doing odd jobs. Everyone in my church knew of my family situation so when I knocked on their door asking if there was anything they needed done, there was a lot of support from this network of people. Suddenly I found myself picking up roofing off the ground and putting it in a dumpster (this was the worst job by the way), hauling hot water in five gallon buckets to a carpet cleaning machine, cutting & splitting firewood, weeding gardens & flower beds, and just about any other odd job you can think of. The work was not the best, but reflecting back it taught me several lessons beyond just how important networking is. I learned the value of hard work, these jobs taught me valuable skills, the value of self-reliance, and the knowledge that no matter what if you work hard enough you can get a job.
Finally, after about 2 years I was old enough that I could get a W-2 job. Now how do I get one? Remember that sister from earlier in this post? She ended up going to work for McDonalds. Yep, you guessed it, she got me a job at the McDonalds she was working at. Networking power once again. I still could not drive so I ended up buying a bike so I could travel the 5 miles to and from work. I live in Utah so needless to say, winter time really sucked. Luckily, I was only a few months from getting my license. I ended up having to take a short leave from work so I left the McDonalds I was at. When I started looking for work again we had moved about 15 miles away so going back was not an option. Guess what though? McDonalds franchise owners have first dibs on any new McDonalds. As a result all the McDonalds in my general area was owned by the same person. It turns out that my first job was also the owners daughter’s first job at the same McDonalds. Quick call and viola, a job at the McDonalds near my home. See a pattern here. I could share several other instances through my career, but you get the point.
So all of this ranting on comes down to my real point. Building out and leveraging your network is the fastest way to breaking into any new job or career. In a future post I am sure I will revisit this topic as it has been critical in not only my job hunt, but also in my sales career.
So how do you build out a network? You start with your circle of influence. The circle of influence are your closest friends, family, and acquaintances. These are people who care about you and will support you because they like you. After that you use their network to expand your network. Ask for introductions and referrals. Look for opportunities at parties, group gatherings, and church activities to meet new people that your friends and family are talking to. Be vocal when you are looking for work, you never know who knows someone hiring. Attend local meet-ups and networking events set up by third party vendors (Don’t just attend, you have to be active and outgoing). Essentially, put yourself out there and get to know people.
There are other ways to get a job or make a sale, but this is by far the fastest.
