Job Search

Personal connections land jobs; everybody knows that. Hence, “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” Indeed, in surveys, it’s typical for roughly half of employees to say that they found their job through a friend, family member, or other type of social network contact. But not all connections are likely to be equal. In a job search, talking to people and networking is clearly important, but who are the best people to talk to?

How social networks matter for getting jobs—and all other sorts of life outcomes—has long pre-occupied sociologists and networks researchers. The classic answer to the question of which contacts matter for finding a job starts with the work of Mark Granovetter, who in the late 1960s and early 1970s interviewed a few hundred Boston-area job seekers. To his surprise, Granovetter found that people were much more likely to land jobs from information passed on by people they weren’t particularly close to. In interviews, Granovetter asked people whether a friend had told them about their current job, and time and again people said things along the lines of, “Not a friend, an acquaintance.”

Granovetter began systematically tracking the “strength” of the social tie between job seekers and the people giving them employment leads, and found that of those who found jobs through contacts, only 17% saw their contact “often,” while 56% saw the contact “occasionally,” and 28% saw him “rarely.” The punch line: the people in your life who you don’t know too well are the ones who often matter the most when it comes time to find a job.

Plenty of other studies since have backed up the importance of what Granovetter dubbed “weak ties.” The general interpretation is that people you don’t know too well tend to belong to social groups that aren’t your own. They therefore have access to information—including about jobs—that you wouldn’t otherwise come across. The people who you’re closest to, your “strong ties,” typically move in the same social circles as you do. Most jobs they can tell you about, you could have found out about from someone else anyway. As painful as it can be to talk to people you don’t know too well about the fact that you’re looking for work, those could very easily prove to be the most fruitful conversations.

Read More: https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/personal-connections-matter-hired/

If you are looking to relocate your job to another state, you’ll most likely need to get a new job. Don’t assume this, though—if you are currently employed, consider checking with your employer to see whether it might be possible for you to work remotely.

If you can’t work remotely or if you’d prefer not to, then the hunt for a new job begins. That can be challenging; you may not be familiar with local companies, and you may not have as strong a network of connections in the area, either.

Below are strategies you can use to search, apply, and interview so you can prepare to relocate your job to another state.

Talk About How to Relocate Your Job With Your Current Employer

If you are currently employed, reach out to your Human Resources department to see whether any offices are located in your future locale or if there would be an option to work remotely.

You’ll only want to do this if you feel comfortable alerting your company to the fact that you plan to move.

If you don’t wish to share this information, this strategy is not recommended. Instead, you could start by looking on the company intranet for any potential job postings.

Where Do You Want To Find A New Job?

Are you moving to northern Connecticut, for example? Jobs in Hartford, Worcester, Boston, and other cities may be feasible—even though only one of those cities lies within the state of Connecticut. When you enter locations in job search engines, go beyond the new state to neighboring ones if they are nearby.

If possible, spend a weekend in your new destination to determine which cities and nearby company locations may be an option. Think through where you’ll want to live, and how long of a commute you can handle.

If an in-person visit isn’t an option, take to the internet—online maps can be helpful and you can also use social media to gain insights into commute times and favorable work locations that may be hard to discover using a map alone.

Inform Your Network

Reach out to your contacts to tell them about your planned move—this includes friends, family, and current and past colleagues. If you’re still in the exploratory stages and haven’t yet given notice, hold off on telling your current colleagues.

Ask contacts whether they know of any open jobs or have connections in the new location. If they do, ask for an introduction and set up informational interviews with these new contacts.

On LinkedIn, look for contacts who are working in your future state. A friend from college might wind up being a good lead. You can also use LinkedIn to learn more about companies in the area.

Read More: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-to-find-a-job-in-another-state-4783432

What Makes an Effective Leader

Effective leaders have the ability to communicate well, motivate their team, handle and delegate responsibilities, listen to feedback, and have the flexibility to solve problems in an ever-changing workplace.

Employers seek these skills in the candidates they hire for leadership roles. Strong leadership skills are also valuable for all job applicants and employees because they can lead to workplace success.

Whether you’re starting out in an entry-level position and looking to move up the career ladder or you’re seeking a promotion, your leadership skills will be among your most valuable assets.

Workplace Success Leadership Skills

Here are some leadership skills that can help lead you to workplace success.

1. Communication

As a leader, you need to be able to clearly and succinctly explain to your employees everything from organizational goals to specific tasks. Leaders must master all forms of communication, including one-on-one, departmental, and full-staff conversations, as well as communication via the phone, email, video, chat, and social media.

Leaders should establish a steady flow of communication between themselves and their staff or team members, either through an open-door policy or regular conversations with workers.

A large part of communication involves listening. Leaders should make themselves regularly available to discuss issues and concerns with employees. Other skills related to communication include:

• Active listening
• Clarity
• Facilitating group conversations
• Public speaking
• Reading body language

2. Motivation

Leaders need to inspire their workers to go the extra mile for their organizations; just paying a fair salary to employees is typically not enough inspiration (although it is important too). There are a number of ways to motivate your workers: you may build employee self-esteem through recognition and rewards, or by giving employees new responsibilities to increase their investment in the company.

Leaders must learn what motivators work best for their employees or team members to encourage productivity and passion. Skills related to effective motivation include:

• Allowing employee autonomy
• Asking for input
• Mentoring
• Open to employee concerns

3. Delegating

Leaders who try to take on too many tasks by themselves will struggle to get anything done. These leaders often fear that delegating tasks is a sign of weakness, when it actually can be a sign of a strong leader.

Therefore, you need to identify the skills of each of your employees, and assign duties to each employee based on his or her skill set. By delegating tasks to staff members, you can focus on other important tasks. Some skills that make a good delegator include:

• Allotting resources for employees
• Assessing employee strengths and weaknesses
• Defining expectations
• Teamwork

Ream More: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/top-leadership-skills-2063782