Check out this post from John Touey titled Don’t Be “That Guy.”
He’s talking about the guy who only reaches out when he needs help (like, during a job search), and then “seems to forget you exist the moment he finds his next job.”
This happens WAY too much.
Networking really has to become a part of what we do regularly, not just when we NEED.
Change the word “networking” to “relationships,” and this type of behaviour seems much more disrespectful and rude, right?
Maybe you do it because networking is hard and uncomfortable, and when you have a job you are consumed by that job.
But if you think of it as a real relationship, it is pretty lame to only show up when you need, and then to never be around to give thanks or help in other ways.
I agree with John Touey: Don’t Be That Guy.
I have lived in Austin for 33 years. I have worked for large companies like IBM and Lucent, a couple of startups and even taught high school for a couple of years in the last decade. What I found is when people work for large companies like IBM and Dell (two major employers here) the environment is totally consuming. They put there heads down and work and work and work and…. When they get laid off, which they will eventually, they pop their heads up and go oh sh*t. They start to network find a job and “usually” go back to their old ways.
Oh well. I have met some where the layoff changed their lives. They found networking brought new friends and a new life.
I just wrote a whole series on strategic networking that can be found at https://www.careercoachaustintexas.com/?p=420
Marc, great thoughts, and thanks for the link. Here’s a response I just wrote to your comment, but on another blog (to be posted in a couple weeks):
I agree. Work is all-consuming. I was consumed in all of my jobs. But I didn’t network because I didn’t get it, not because I was consumed.
Knowing what I know now, which is how important a real network is for my career, I would absolutely make time to network. Whether it is within a company or in the community or somewhere else, I would definitely make the time.
Not just because I don’t want to be “that guy,” but because I know that I need my network ready to help me, and between those times of need, I want to help them.
If you disappear between job searches it is only because you don’t understand what networking is, or how to network. If you did, you would make the time to do it.