Master Career Counselor

Networking is like the composition of a beautiful melody. You can feel the underpinning of the beat and rhythm being played to perfection. If one note is out of place or one instrument playing when it should be silent, a tension is created with an awareness that something or someone is misplaced. It is an incongruency called dissonance.

Networking dissonance or a lack of right timing causes a serious misperception. When timing is off this is what happens:

1. An eager jobseeker really wants to work as an administrative assistant. She calls back to check on the status of the job daily. Eagerness is perceived as annoying.

2. A successful professional recently laid off starts to attend monthly meetings of a young professional association even though he completely dismissed it while employed. No one takes the time to introduce himself or herself to the professional and he leaves disgruntled and isolated with feelings of resentment of time wasted and a growing dread of trying to find work.

3. A worker recently down-sized starts to connect with every imaginable friend, associate or colleague he has ever known. He gets the word out that he has been let go from his company but is terribly disappointed that no one responds to him except his retired neighbor who wished him luck.

All of these examples rest on the vitality of effective networking not being utilized due to poor timing.

Let's go back and look at these three examples if networking timing happened to be in perfect correlation with the contextual scenarios.

1. The eager job seeker follows up concurrent to the same degree follow up is neccesary in the position she is seeking. A car salesman position would demand a daily follow up to show persistence. What about a professional position? Once every 5 to 7 business days at most. Perception: Engaged, persistent but not a pestering presence. Timing is critical.

2. Timing in this scenario is simple. Be active and intentional in networking long before you need it to work for you. The time given is the response you will likely receive.

3. People are busy, schedules are full and an emergency on your part is not likely to receive triage from everyone else. Unless, you have been in an emergency mode for them. We reap what we sow. How did you respond when your neighbor lost his job five years ago? Did you return his calls? Did you introduce him to potential job leads?

Timing is everything when desiring to network because every moment counts. If you're not connected to a community of neighbors, colleagues and friendships, take the first step. Make the initial contact and overcome your fear. Otherwise, your fear will someday overcome you. When you do it right, beautiful music is your reward.