Looking for work

With the down economy, we know an increasing number of out of work professionals. Peter Bregman at the Harvard Business Review has posted a nice blog entry with some nice tips about job searches. He says that you should spend less time reading ads and working on resumes and more time meeting people:

Spend all your hunting time with people: at lunch, on the phone, going for walks. Finding a job or new clients is all about human relationships.

Because:

It's highly unlikely, with all the people who are looking, that someone will hire someone they don't already know (or someone they know doesn't already know).

I am not yet fully convinced by the technology, but we have created a RU LA group on LinkedIn that may help you build a network more quickly. But, be careful. As the HBR note points out, it isn't about shallow networks, but building real relationships. And the harder you work at finding a job, the harder it can get to find one.