Finding Jobs Where the Headhunters Roam - Jobs

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There's more than one article in Fast Company that discusses how smart but newly-unemployed folks are solving their "no job" problem. They're starting businesses. Ah, but that it were that easy! Start a business! Become a consultant! Freelance! Sell yourself to the highest bidder! Get some funding and launch something new under the sun!

This is indeed the time to take a risk. But smart business people don't pursue just one path out of failure. They leverage every opportunity to create more opportunities. They use every meeting not just to accomplish their stated goal; they use it to open new paths to even more opportunities.

Consider how headhunters work. We do a lot of work gratis. We are glad to share our insights and contacts to help anyone we think is worth helping. I might spend a few hours with an entrepreneur, helping her figure out how she would staff a start-up. I might let a banker buy me lunch so he can pick my brain about how he can help a company he's helping refinance--to hire some key people.

None of these are search projects for me. But all create an opportunity that I cannot buy. They give me access to people I might otherwise never get to meet. And any one of those people might lead me to my next assignment.

I got a note today from someone I met recently. He's a successful sales executive who has never had a problem finding a gig--until recently. His network has dried up. That is, none of the people he's known all his life are in a position to help him land a job or a consulting contract. So he's pursuing almost anything that comes along.

Here's what he just wrote to me:

I am off to Chicago this week. I am talking to a former colleague who has started a company. Unfortunately, he isn't funded... one of those--you know the story.

Yes, I know the story. I've invested a lot of my time with people like that. Why do I do it? I'll explain--just as I explained to the sales exec above. Here's what I wrote back to him:

There may be an opportunity for you with this start-up. But while you're meeting with your old buddy, try to meet with others connected to this project. Offer to help him talk to any potential investors he's got lined up. Offer to help him talk to vendors, distribution channels, even competitors he's studying.

The contacts you make while doing these things may help your old buddy launch his new business... and all of them are potential sources of jobs for you, too. This is one way to get access to people who otherwise might never talk with you: bankers, lawyers, technical people, investors, real estate brokers. These are folks who know executives in companies that need help, too. Execs who are--or will be--hiring.

Going to meet with an unlikely start-up "founder" need not be just about helping him start his business. It's about job hunting, too.

This is the territory that headhunters roam, exploring the business landscape for opportunities. Not just one opportunity. All opportunities. All those people you read about in Fast Company who are trying to launch businesses--they know many of the best sources of funding, raw materials, distribution channels, real estate, legal advice... well, you get the picture.

Opportunities come from meeting as many movers and shakers as you can. But you can't do that from behind a pc, sending out resumes. It's far better to go do some work for someone, even if it doesn't pay. More than once I've helped out an entrepreneur gratis and in the process I've met people that I could do business with. That's where I find clients.

That's also where jobs come from.

Nick Corcodilos is the author of How Can I Change Careers? He also writes the free weekly Ask The Headhunter Newsletter. Ask The Headhunter is a registered trademark.

Page Personnel

2011年8月3日星期三

Finding Jobs Where the Headhunters Roam - Jobs

Finding Jobs Where the Headhunters Roam - Jobs

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