Surviving The Assault: Out of Work, Out of Leads, Need a New Professional Network?

DJH: There is so much going on these days in the world of economics and politics, it’s easy to forget that one of the original objectives of my web site “Who Stole My Career?” is to help private sector workers survive the mounting assault from big government and unions thugs. Today I want to get back to my roots and serve up the first book review that I believe will help people under assault.

For most of 2009, I hosted a talk radio show called The Career Mechanic. The show was a lot like this web site; I ranted about politics and economics and then interviewed worldwide experts to help people advance their careers or simply cope in this terrible economy. In fact, I’d say that over the course of that year, I interviewed close to 100 career experts!

My first guest on my first show was a fellow named John Davies. John wrote the book $100,000+ Career: The New Approach to Networking for Executive Job Change.

Interestingly enough, he was not a career professional or an author; in fact, this was his first book. John was (and is) a business guru specializing in Emerging Green Industries. But before that, he was a high tech executive who actually started his own company. At some point, he found himself unexpectedly unemployed and created the strategies in $100,000+ Career: The New Approach to Networking for Executive Job Change in order to find a new job.

Okay, let’s get into the book.

Who is it for?

I think the name is a little misleading. This is really not a career book; it’s a job search book for someone who has been a little sloppy about building a professional network. You know, someone who is out of work, has called everyone they know, and is fresh out of leads for a new job. That’s why I’m writing about John’s book today. This recession has hit the private sector very hard. There are a lot of people who have been unemployed for months and need a new strategy to rejuvenate their job search. John’s book is for them.

What’s it all about?

The book is really a “how to” guide for creating and exploiting a job search network “under fire.” If you read my book Career Secret Sauce: 9 Winning Strategies for Building a Great Career, you know that I believe we must build our job search network when things are going well. That means every day, even if we love our current job and never plan to leave. Unfortunately, too many people don’t follow my advice and again, that’s where the book $100,000+ Career: The New Approach to Networking for Executive Job Change fits in.

John begins by shining a light on many of our misconceptions about networking. Most of us have networks that are either too small or too shallow to find us a job when times are tough. We also erroneously assume that the people in our direct network will have a job opening we could fill when we call them and that is seldom true.

John’s book — $100,000+ Career: The New Approach to Networking for Executive Job Change walks you through a process to rapidly expand your job search network by using the people you know to introduce you to the people they know and so on and so forth to help you find job leads. The principles behind John’s strategy are simple. People may naturally want to help you, but if you ask them for a job and they don’t have one, you quickly become a human pain-in-the- neck. Instead, John’s advice is to ask them for something they can always do – introduce you to to someone else who might have a job; 95% of the time they’ll gladly assist. Using this method, you will quickly shake every tree in town and find any job that’s out there. There are plenty of other great network building tips in John’s book, but that’s the big idea.

What makes it so different?

First of all, everything in this book is seated in real world first person reality. The book was written by John Davies as he journeyed from unemployment to a job as a Vice President in a great firm. I can tell you that half of the so-called career experts I had on The Career Mechanic were academics who wrote books based on theories and hearsay. This book is based on reality.

Second, John’s rallying cry — “it’s not who you know, it’s who they know”, is both fresh and unique. I remember him telling me that your mailman might be a very valuable member of your network, because he knows so much about so many people. He also said your aunt might be a great network partner, because she cares more about you than some guy you worked with 5 years ago and she’ll work harder to get you a quality introduction.

Third, one of my pet peeves about networking has always been the absence of any serious discussion about the importance “relationship quality” plays when it comes to building one’s network. John really nails this issue in $100,000+ Career: The New Approach to Networking for Executive Job Change. In fact, he devotes an entire chapter to something called “The 5 Levels of Networking.” This is yet another building block in his very sound and practical strategy for digging yourself out of a very deep career hole.

Fourth, I am a huge pragmatist and John’s book plays right into my biases. He has a chapter called “Tools of the Trade,” where he spells out specific procedures, techniques, and tools to use to build and expand you job search network as fast as possible.

The Bottom Line:

I give $100,000+ Career: The New Approach to Networking for Executive Job Change three hearts. I love the topic, I love the strategies John shares, and I love the book itself. If you, or anyone you know, are out of work, buy this book immediately. And, if you’re doing well at your current job, but you’re worried about the strength of your professional network, get a copy and learn these techniques before you need them.

Dave