Usually, when you are looking for a job, you would ask for help from family and friends. You would contact these people to ask for information on current job openings, business opportunities, and tips.
Your family, relatives, and friends belong to your warm contact list. The warm contact list is the list of people with whom you have or had some personal association. A former classmate, officemate or neighbour may belong to your contact list.
Who may be included in your warm contact list? Here are some selections.
* Relatives and Friends
These people are always willing to help you with your job search or business venture. They will be able to provide you with information if they have some or refer you to trustworthy people who will be able to help you. If they introduce you to some of their contacts, they can surely provide accurate information to you regarding the person you are going to contact.
* Members of the church, political party, social club or fraternity or sorority
You probably did not expect it, but people who share the same faith, beliefs or hobbies may also help you with finding a job. You may have a different career from theirs, but they might know somebody who is in the same field or will be able to help you in your career.
However, depending on your level of association with them, they may think twice about giving their opinion or thoughts about their contacts. Their advice can sometimes help you in making a strategy on how to approach and ask for help from their contacts.
* People who sell you things
You may think that your relationship with these people is purely based on trading goods and services, then paying for them. However, individuals who sell you things are also sources of information when networking.
Since these people sell their goods to different types of persons, they may have associated with somebody who belongs to the same field as you do or has heard information about your target job from their other clients.
These people will also be happy to help you since they know that maintaining a cordial relationship with you means a stable business. Also, if you have a good job means you have increased your purchasing power, and then it could also mean that you may purchase more from them.
* Former employers, colleagues or co-workers
Maintaining a good relationship with previous employers and colleagues has more benefits than you can imagine. Relationship-building is the reason that most people try their best to iron out any difficulties with their former employers even if they are no longer work with the company. Aside from the possibility that your potential employer will call previous employers when they review your job history, former employers and colleagues are also an excellent source of information related to that field.
Additionally, many companies provide a salary bonus incentive to their employees if they refer to a potential candidate that they eventually hire. So building relations with employees of companies you wish to target could be mutually beneficial.
When you ask for help from family and friends, there is the possibility that the information that they can give to you is just from another source. They may not be able to provide you with first-hand information or detailed information unless they also work in the same field that you came from or would like to target.
It is very different when you consult former employers and colleagues from the same sector. They will be able to provide you with valuable information and may be able to clarify such information and answer your questions.
* Members of your professional organization
If you belong to a professional organization related to the field in which you are looking for a job, you can consult the organization for current posting from the members. If you don’t belong to any, consider joining one since this will be beneficial to your career growth.
A professional organization can provide you with unbiased information on current job openings from its members. The organization can also give you details on the company profile and even on the current market and career trends.
These are the most important people that you should include when creating a list of your warm contacts. It is better if you contact them all so you can have as many options in your job search. When you talk to them, tell them that you are actively seeking a job.
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