Careful networking strategies deliver career success within complex markets

Mentoring

By David Thatcher

The concept of networking is often misunderstood and frequently interpreted as attending as many group gatherings as possible and being somewhat over zealous in the distribution of business cards. Well if other people’s objective in attending these events is to muster business, how interested do you think they will be listening to your problems?

If networking is a powerful process, then why does this approach fail?

Networking is only effective if it is treated as a tactical device and as part of a system to get in front of hiring decision makers. This access to what is sometimes referred to as the “hidden job” market is very powerful and often leads to new roles being created to accommodate someone’s special abilities. Herein lies a conundrum.

It becomes increasingly difficult to move within a market where many companies do not recognise what it is that the individual has to offer. What is worse is that it may become a problem for the organization when they are unable to align available talent with business needs.

This “conflict dichotomy”, often underpins a recruiting campaign that draws people that have the wrong work credentials for the hiring criteria will demand relevant experience within a similar industry. Experience developed within one functional role has components that are transferable and of relevance to others and this is the “duality” that makes career transitions workable.

In the past we have addressed issues surrounding the complexity of the human component within a company and business context. Of note, is the fact that the value of a particular individual to a business in start-up mode or within a complex and changing market is difficult to determine, and hard to quantify.

Often the hiring criteria are incorrect as they do not recognise business needs and neither do they understand the qualities necessary in the right person for the job. Unfortunately, many companies face serious difficulties and need to recognise that they must align talent contribution to the functional requirements of the role. This means avoiding the age-old tradition of seeking out someone with a similar background in the false belief that this is best for the company.

Past performance can be a good indicator of how someone may perform in the future, but it is the analysis of the experience and its relevance to the needs of the business that is the key to success. One of the problems faced by many, especially in the Middle East, is the practice of recruiting from within the same industry or company type. For some reason, credence is given to industry specific experience as opposed to situation relevance.

It becomes increasingly more difficult for you the career seeker, to move within a market that misunderstands what you have to offer and particularly so when business pressure impedes the decision making process. Often this translates to the practice of engaging recruiting firms to dip into the market and try to match background and experience often against poorly thought through hiring criteria. So what will the recruiter do? They will play safe and short-list people with directly linked past experience, which is understandable.

Another problem that has a detrimental effect on business and the individual is the fact that often, companies believe that they can attract high calibre staff and will try to recruit these people paying as little as possible. They mistakenly benchmark the value of the position against talent available from a comparatively lower cost-base country. This becomes a dilemma, for how can you get away with hiring on “the cheap”, staff who are often below the mark as they may not have the “relevant experience” and, then expect them to perform? Another drip-line to commodity based hiring.

Recruiting models can be inaccurate and this leads to hiring unsuitable people or those whose aspirations and expectations cannot be fulfilled under the existing business structure.

This point is not surprising when you look at the variety of business forms and role functions within many organisations. Add to this the somewhat nebulous nature of many job titles and, we can see why the hiring process is so difficult.

The key to success starts at the hiring stage. One of the dilemmas faced by anyone who is looking for a career challenge, is being sure that the new employer is in the game for the duration and that they are able to offer career advancement, professional and personal growth and job enrichment.

This is where a well thought through and skillfully delivered networking strategy can be of real value. By getting in front of a decision maker with a well thought through line of questions, you stand a much greater chance of opening a purposeful dialogue that is specific to your needs. This market has another flavour too, success at senior level is increasingly based on who you know.

Preparation for the network interview is vital. Get this part right and you go a long way to aligning business need with deliverable benefits, that is, the benefits that you bring to their business. Become the solution to a business problem and you have the basis for discussing a new role.

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Based in Dubai, David Thatcher, (CareerPartners@ameinfo.com) is the principal of career management and mentoring specialists Career Partners in the Middle East.