There’s a compelling case that networking shortens a job search. Anecdotal evidence from Morris County Career Network alone supports what other experts are saying (or blogging.) So what happens when you exhaust your social and professional contacts?
You either get discouraged and withdraw, or you rally and find other contacts. Not all of us are suited for working a room at a charity event, bringing up the issue that we’re “looking for our next opportunity.” It’s a lot easier to do that in a professional group setting.
The next question is: how do you identify suitable professional groups? Well, there is a database available through the public library. The Encyclopedia of Associations is a searchable database of not-for-profit organizations. One of the search categories is area code.
I experimented with a search for networking venues for those in the health care profession. This is what I found:
- American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants, Morristown New Jersey Chapter
- New Jersey Association of Healthcare Access Management
- New Jersey Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administrators
- Society for Healthcare Risk Management, New Jersey
Likely not all of these would lead to invitations to a dinner meeting, but one might. Other contacts might lead elsewhere.
Time and chance happen to us all. Yet that’s not a negative fatalism. I love the advice in Ecclesiastes:
Sow your seed in the morning,
and at evening let your hands not be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed,
whether this or that,
or whether both will do equally well.
MORE CAREER TIPS FROM BETH KUJAN
Beth Kujan helps run the Morris County Career Network on second and fourth Mondays at St. Peter’s in Morristown.
