Career Management Alliance Blog

Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Personal Branding

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It’s a small world. It’s been said that we’re all connected to everyone else by no more than six steps, the Six Degrees of Separation. We’re linked to our circle of contacts, and each of those people is linked to his or her circle of contacts, and as you travel through the links, you can connect to just about anyone.

Two recent client stories illustrate how this principle can be useful in your job search.

1. By Design - Michael was invited for an interview at an organization where his friend Pam had once worked, and he contacted Pam to see if she still knew anyone there. Sure enough, she knew someone in a different department at the organization. Through this contact, Michael was able to get useful background information that helped him prepare for the interview.
2. By Chance - Two days after the interview, Michael’s wife happened to mention his interview to her long-time friend, Joanne, as they caught up on each other’s news. Joanne realized that the husband of her cousin worked for that organization and she mentioned his name - it was [small world!] the very person Michael had interviewed with! Realizing the coincidence, she offered to share the “small world” story with her cousin’s husband and to put in a good word for Michael.

Interestingly, both Pam and Joanne knew about Michael’s job search, yet neither knew of this specific job lead. When they heard the company’s name, however, they knew people who knew people associated with it, and those contacts proved useful.

According to Diane Darling, in The Networking Survival Guide, each of us typically has between 200 and 250 people in our circle of contacts. If you keep your contacts informed about specific job leads as well as target companies, chances are you’ll find some overlapping circles, that you’re not far removed from someone you need to speak to or know more about. It is, after all, a small world.

posted by Wendy Gelberg

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Identity theft is a growing and worrisome issue as we hear about theft or loss of sensitive data from government and other offices containing bank account records, social security numbers and other private information.

Although we strive to be more cautious in providing our personal data to protect ourselves, there’s a new arena ripe for scammers. Millions of job seekers complete online job applications and enter their private data on federal government and private industry websites. Online applications that require entering your Social Security number may pose a risk. Collecting such data doesn’t make sense since most applications will be deemed unqualified.

There’s no problem if it’s not a required field. However, you don’t want to be passed over when completing online applications. Mark Mehler, co-founder of CareerXroads, offers a solution that sounds logical (at least for private industry): make up a number. You can mention in your cover letter that you are concerned about private issues and will provide your correct number during the hiring process.

Posted by Louise Garver

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