Andrew Hibel, HigherEdJobs: David, in 2001 you founded OperationsInc (OPI), Connecticut’s largest HR outsourcing and consulting firm. Will you please explain what led you to the creation of OPI and where you are professionally today?
David Lewis, President/CEO of OperationsInc: I started out in the head hunting field back in 1986 and spent about six years doing that. I decided it was a profession I could not continue doing. I enjoyed a lot of what I was doing, but, to a great extent I didn’t think like the industry. One of my clients was a major mail order pharmaceutical company called Medco and I wound up working for them as one of their first HR/recruiting professionals. From that point I started sort of a mixed career – part recruiting, part HR generalist work, and some operational management work. From 1991 until 2000, I held several positions in HR and operations that led to the formation of OperationsInc. In 2000, I was with a company that was shut down. I was offered some consulting work, something I’d never considered before. I decided to try consulting while still looking for a full-time offer. One client led to another and I realized that this niche was underserved. So I went out and became the HR outsourcing guy for small business. At that point it was just me in my guest room. Thirteen years later we’re 42 people supporting 800 clients throughout the country.
Hibel: That’s a great introduction to look at the network you’ve now created of clients and contacts. The word “network” is often used when talking about a job search, and obviously what led you to your consulting. What types of people and/or groups should job seekers consider or include in their network, and what are the boundaries of who you should not consider in your network?
Lewis: Job seekers underestimate what kind of a network they really have. I find that when I coach people on how to go about finding a new job, they don’t think of the obvious people that really are part of their network. Your network includes people you used to work with and had a good relationship or rapport with, even, in some cases, people to whom you reported. Individuals you went to college with and even high school. Tools like LinkedIn offer you an opportunity to be able to expand that network very rapidly. I think the people that you tend to want to stay away from are people that you’re working for right now. I’ve seen some major faux pas where you go ahead and link with your boss or someone in a managerial capacity at your present employer, unaware of the fact that each time you’re pushing messages out about the fact that you’re looking for a new job you’re tipping off the people with whom you’re presently working that you’re out on the market. To some extent, you have to be careful about who you do that with, as part of your personal circle. It’s good to network with friends and associates, but you can overdo it. I think it’s important to be somewhat selective when it comes to your personal friend circle.
Hibel: What changes have you seen, specifically in the past five years, as far as how people can use their network while applying for jobs? How has the importance of networking changed, if at all?
Lewis: In short, the presence and availability of LinkedIn, and to a much lesser extent Facebook, have completely and totally obliterated anything that we used to do or thought of doing. From a networking perspective, it has completely changed the model. Twenty-five years ago the people you knew were written in a book along with their telephone numbers and the ability to contact or connect with them was tied to how much time you were willing to pick up and dial. Today, you can efficiently and effectively connect with hundreds if not thousands of people that you know directly or indirectly through maybe a couple of hours’ worth of dedicated and strategic work on LinkedIn. So I think the networking exercise, especially for anybody who’s in a professional position or a white collar position is an absolute necessity if you’re going to go out there and do a job search. If you’re not on LinkedIn, you are reducing your chances of finding your next job by 80 to 90%, and you are making the process 10 to 100 times slower by virtue of not leveraging the technology available to you.
Hibel: What advice do you have on joining and participating in groups on LinkedIn while you’re actively seeking a position?
Lewis: I’ve seen cases of new people on LinkedIn (and even those people that are not new) trying to be everything to everybody and join everything they possibly can. It’s one thing to be a member of something important to you, but in a real world analogy, I’ve been to a trade association meeting that gives you a ribbon to indicate the different things in which you’re participating. So maybe you’re a member of the board of your local chapter, or maybe you’re a national member, or maybe you have a certain certification and those two or three ribbons on your name tag would indicate, essentially, your core focus and your core interest. Then you see people who have so many labels and ribbons that they are tripping over their name tag because it extends down past their ankles. You kind of laugh at those people. What’s the point?
I think on LinkedIn it’s the same thing. You can be overexposed. You can be seemingly over involved and as such you can be seen as having little if any discretion. You’re just sort of pushing yourself out there. You have to be selective. You have to find the groups that really matter to you. You then have to do more than just click “join.” You have to follow what the group is doing, and you have to be a contributor if you can. Otherwise, I’m not really sure what the point is of being a member of 20, 30, 40 different groups.
Hibel: There can potentially be a fine line between effectively using versus abusing your network. What are some common pitfalls job seekers should avoid when using their network?
Lewis: The level of follow-up for one. It’s appropriate for a job seeker to reach out to someone and ask for help making an introduction or submitting their resume or researching an opportunity to see if they’re a good fit. But, you can’t chase responses to those requests. Over-persistence takes someone who was doing you a favor and turns them into someone who thinks you’re a royal pain. Continued chasing implies that they aren’t being responsible enough to handle your request. If you do that, you turn your network against you. It’s a major, major problem. You have to understand how the system works. I can’t tell you how often I get an email that says, “Hey, I see you know Bob Smith. Would you mind making an introduction for me because he is at a company I’m trying to do business with.” I’m asking myself, who is Bob Smith? I have no idea who Bob Smith is, and I go into my LinkedIn and I type in Bob Smith, and I see that Bob Smith is essentially connected to me through a connection of mine’s connection. It demonstrates that a lot of people don’t understand how LinkedIn works.
Hibel: On the other side, how do you encourage people to reach out and actually use connections that they do legitimately have? How does someone know if their request is appropriate?
Lewis: Sometimes people lose track of what they’re asking a connection to do. It’s one thing if you want me to make an introduction. It’s another if you want to ask me to endorse you for an open position. Most of the people that I’m connected to on LinkedIn are people that I have some knowledge of their work, their ability and their skills. But do I really have enough of a feel for them to make them someone I would recommend to one as a potential employee? Probably not. It’s important to recognize what you’re asking for and also recognize what a network is really about.
At the beginning of my LinkedIn existence I was shooting for a number I wanted to get to… the 500 plus category. Then, it quickly dawned on me that I connected myself or accepted invitations from people I didn’t know and I had no relationship with! I started questioning why I wanted a connection with them. The connection got me to my number but it didn’t get me the clout level that I wanted. Most people are not very discerning about their LinkedIn connections.
So again, that means that when you go and reach out to people and ask them for an introduction you must start by finding out what their actual relationship is with the person that you’re asking them to target. Don’t get presumptuous and ask them to make an introduction. Instead, you could take the approach of, “I see you’re connected to Bob Smith and he is someone I’m looking to connect with but before I even ask you to make an introduction, can you give me some sense of why you have this person as a connection, what that relationship is like, etcetera?” That’ll help your network have a greater level of respect for you, and that will help your network actually work for you.
Hibel: Do you think there is any different advice that you would give a person on the faculty side versus somebody working administratively at a college or university on how to build their network?
Lewis: Most people will not do favors for everybody with whom they come in contact. There has to be some level of reciprocity, even if that reciprocity is down the road and vague. There also has to be a level of appreciation. You might approach a former manager in a different way than an old school friend. You have to know your audience and you have to cater your message appropriately to that audience.
Hibel: A colleague recently contacted me, asking about networking during an active job search. This candidate was applying for a position where he had some contacts within the search committee. He wanted to know if after meeting with the search committee it would be appropriate to reach out to his contact who knew the search committee members. Does how you use your network change with different steps of the process?
Lewis: The best advice the job seeker can receive is to take a deep breath, take a step back, and not allow their own desperation and eagerness compromise what they know to be professionally correct. So often, good, qualified, professional individuals cross that line, and turn themselves into their own worst nightmare. Instead of helping themselves in their search they wind up sabotaging their search. They turn their network against them.
Once you have an interview scheduled, you’re done networking. Your network is there to help you get to the point of the interview. Once you have an interview it’s up to you to be impressive and win the job on your own merits.
Hibel: Lastly, what are the best practices in how to effectively and appropriately utilize your network when you know someone at a college or university at which you are applying for a position?
Lewis: If you network in a precise, strategic, and selective fashion, you will get the best results. Be respectful of those people in the network, and do your best to sympathize and empathize with them. Put yourself in their shoes, about whether or not you would do what you’re asking them to do. Would you make blind introductions? Would you go the extra step to do those types of things you’re asking them to do? Also, keep track of what you’re doing. I can’t tell you how often it just looks like people are throwing things against the refrigerator door to see what sticks with no sense of how much they have thrown or where they have thrown it. Manage your networking like you manage any good project and business. Good management will keep you from being annoying and will keep you in a better place of knowing your opportunities and timing your follow ups and communications accordingly. It will almost certainly lead to a shorter stint in the job search exercise because the organization of that information will make you a better candidate on so many different levels in the process.