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The Law of Weak Ties

Locate people that already work in your target organization, then pick up the phone and talk with them

We live in a society that communicates non-stop. We write, call, text, twitter, email, Facebook and Linkedin to stay in touch with our family, friends, communities and networks.

The modern job seeker simply has to come to grips with the new technology. You are going to use it on the job once you are hired, so why not use it to land your next job?

One of the rules of social networking is the law of weak ties, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpersonal_ties

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The law concludes that you are more likely to find a new job position through someone that doesn't know you well. Make up your mind now to target organizations where you think that you might want to work. Then use the internet tools, like Linkedin, to locate people that already work in your target organization, then pick up the phone and call these people that you don’t know. Leave them a message that you sent them an email, so they will look for it. Once you establish a relationship and you have something meaningful to share, then try a text.

The more you embrace the concept of calling people you don’t know, the easier it becomes. As you add these new friends to your job search network, you will discover job opportunities that you never knew existed. The real research is done by talking to people and you must be interesting when you do talk with them. It starts with being interested yourself and then developing a strategy to research your interest.

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