Keeping Track of Your Contacts for Your Job Search
by Kathy Condon

Your job disappeared. You are supposed to be out looking for work meeting people so you can find your next job. Yet, the thought of it makes you want to stay in bed and pull up the covers. You stay in bed "trying" to convince yourself that meeting new people doesn't need to because you are going to look for a position on online.

You may be right. You might not need to go out to the networking event this week for you have a box of full of contact cards (formerly called business cards) that you have not done anything with since you got them. They are collecting dust and adding to the clutter in your den.

If the truth were told, these contact cards are a gold mine. That is, if you had remembered to write a note on the back of them to help you remember where you met them. If you were really on top of things at the time you met them and if you would have written something about your conversation with them. Better still you; you would have a notation on it that you had sent him a handwritten note. (TIP: Do not print anything on the back of your contact cards so you have room to write notes.)

Let us track the path that a contact card "should" take:

1. Make sure you take your own contact cards to EVERY event you attend. (I am assuming that your cards are totally up-to-date. Looks unprofessional if you have to say "I have a new email address, let me add it first.")
   
   When looking for a position, do not put the job title on your contact card. List only your name, address, phone number and email address.
   
   
2. When you are ending a conversation at a networking event and shaking a person's hand as well as saying good-bye, ask for her contact card.
   
   
3. Immediately write a notation on the back about where met her and something about the conversation.
   
   
4. When you get back home, write that a person a handwritten note, and enclose your own contact card.

Now this is where the system often breaks down. You think, "Good, that was nice meeting them, and I sent a note". Networking done. WRONG!

The next step is to enter the information from the contact cards you collected into a contact management program. Since I am an international speaker and trainer, I meet people from all over the world so I prefer a management system that allows me to make different groups. In my case, I have named a group for each state and the larger cities within subgroups. This makes it easy for me to access information for me to see who is in the city when I traveling there for a gig.


STAYING IN CONTACT WITH PEOPLE YOU HAVE MET

1. If you said in your handwritten note that you would be calling them, do it. People are very willing to help people they like and know so get to know the person.
   
   HOW? Ask them questions and listen to the answers. The answers will help you develop the next question. Remember you know everything you know, now you want to learn from them.
   
   
2. Ask the person you met for advice and ask her to go out for a cup of coffee. In advance, find out which coffee shop is near her office. She will appreciate the opportunity to get away from her desk.
   
   
3. You met someone three years ago and you feel it has been too long. You feel you cannot call her. Wrong, it is never too late to call people.
   
   Imagine how you would feel if someone called you because he remembered you and said, "Kathy, we met at the conference in Atlanta. You were the speaker and I came up to afterwards and talked to you about…" You would be pleased; someone had remembered you three years ago. Of course, you would be pleased to talk to them.
   
   NEVER THINK IT IS TOO LATE TO CALL SOMEONE AND ASK FOR HELP
   
   
4. Ask for help. It is important to look at all the resources around you.
   
5. Have you clearly defined the kind of position you are looking for? Work with another person to help you clearly identify what kind of position you are seeking.
   
   
6. Was there a vendor that you worked with that might have some great ideas for you?
   
   
7. Have you told your friends and neighbors that your job is gone?
   
   
8. Have you told your cleaners, your doctor, and your dentist?
   
   
9. Remember your contacts have an 85 percent chance of helping you find your job. So ask for help!

About the Author: Kathy Condon