Out of Network

I've always been uncomfortable with networking. This probably comes from my overall dislike for talking on the phone and the feeling that I'm usually bothering others. At this juncture, I really have no choice but to grow a pair and network.

Last week, In Transition Working Girl posted about her best kept secret - networking. She offered excellent advice for reaching out to the people in your network.

Like In Transition Working Girl, someone gave me the advice to start networking when I was in college - my dad. When I began looking for jobs in media and publishing at the end of my senior year of college, my dad sent me dozens and dozens of his contacts to reach out. First, he broke the ice for me and emailed these people, letting them know they would be hearing from me. Next, I had to follow-up. I emailed them all subject "Introduction to Working Girl One," a brief description of what I was looking for in terms of a job and asked if they had any advice, openings or time for an information interview. Several people got back to me and I learned a lot at the time. And that Working Girls, was the last time I really networked.

As I look for a new job, I'm finding I need to work on my networking. I have friends and old co-workers who are already looking out for me. They are checking in on my search, letting me know if anything is opening up at their companies, sending my resume to their HR contacts, etc. I didn't have to do much to enlist their help because they all offered it the moment they heard about my job loss.

While their help is great (I couldn't ask for better friends), I have to do more in this job market. I've got my list of contacts that In Transition Working Girl talked about but I'm stuck on the next step - reaching out to them. Here is why. If I call, am I bothering them, what should I say? If I email, how to do I explain my situation? Do they already know? I haven't spoken to them in months, should I feel bad about reaching out now that I need something? What exactly am I asking for - a job, advice, a recommendation?

I was often annoyed and didn't have the time when people reached out to me at my old job (definitely won't feel that way next time someone reaches out to me). So I guess I'll start with reaching out to the people I'm most comfortable with and figure out what I'm asking of them. Once I reach out, I'll definitely be using some of In Transition Working Girl's tips. Wish me luck!

So, Now What?

When everyday consists of eat, sleep, work, it's fun to dream about what would do if you had all the time in the world and could do that you loved.

Three weeks ago, my position at my company was eliminated and now I have all the time in the world. Prior to this big change, I was beginning to think about what I wanted to do next. I'd looked into wedding planning courses, reached out to local event planners and started applying for jobs, even had a few interviews. Through all of that, I kept asking myself, what do I really want to do?

Did I like what I was doing? Yes, but I was very unhappy. My unhappiness made me question whether or not I liked managing events and whether or not I was even good at it. I think I had this feeling because I knew this change was coming, by "knew" I mean "had a very strong feeling," and something just felt different every day at work for a few weeks.

Now that I have all this time, I'm thinking more and more about what I love to do. Do I want to start my own small event company one day? Do I want to focus on Working Girl and finally implement all the ideas WG2 and I have discussed for the last couple of years? Do I want to move to another city?

I love planning events and I'm ready to work on events for a new company.

I also love blogging and working on Working Girl. But that isn't paying any bills.

But while I'm taking the time to figure this all out, I'm applying for every event related position in New York that I can find. It's hard to feel like you have a ton of time and freedom when you've gotten your last paycheck and you're biting your nails waiting to see how many taxes will be taken out of your severance.

Suing Mad

As reported by the Huffington Post, a woman filed a lawsuit last week against Monroe College where she received her bachelor's degree because she can't find a job.

The woman, 27-year-old Trina Thompson, claims that the Bronx school has failed to provide her with what it promised her when she first enrolled - help from the Office of Career Advancement to provide her with leads and career advice. Because she hasn't found a job and has claimed to not have received adequate attention from the college, she is requesting that the $70,000 she spent on her information technology degree be returned to her.

A lot of this lawsuit seems to be tied up in what Thompson feels is false advertisement. If you peruse Monroe College's website, you'll see that they promise a "focused, career-oriented, quality education" and state that every student will receive a Career Advisor who will provide them with one-on-one assistance. The site goes on and on to tell them just how they can help them - resume writing, job search strategies, and even boasts that they have an E-recruiting tool where you can find job postings. So Thompson's lawayers are going to have to prove that she was pulled in by a lure of a false promise that wasn't delivered on.

I guess I'm having a hard time thinking how they're going to prove that Thompson didn't receive adequate attention. And if Thompson's lawyers manage to win this case, then is our country (and world) going to go suing mad? Couldn't I just as easily sue my own college for not finding me a job after I graduated?

Personally, I believe that our educations and the services our colleges/universities give us are just tools. We then use these tools to procure employment. Essentially it is up to us to find jobs, but we can choose to utilize places like career centers and people like career advisors to assist us in finding that job. They can't just magically make it happen for us - we have to do the legwork ourselves.

What do you guys think?