Your Very Best Personal Contacts

Ironically, your very best network contacts are sitting there with you every day, in class, at lunch, even in the library. Your best network contacts are other students who are also in your major and seeking jobs in your field. If they are truly active in their job search, they will have access to additional first-line contacts that can greatly benefit you. The relationship should be one of give-and-take so that you are also providing them with networking contact information.

Be sure to ask who they are contacting and what kind of results they are getting. Find out if there are any companies on their list that you have missed. There can often be a great synergy between students who have worked together for the past several years. They may be seeking another geographical area and are happy to pass on their leads in the areas you are interested in. You may be seeking jobs in a particular industry and are happy to pass on leads in the other industries to them. Some students have even organized informal job search groups to provide networking support on campus. If there isn't a job networking group (either formal or informal) organized on your campus, put a bulletin board up on your wall, offer a beer to all those who stop in with "Hot Tips For Job Seekers," and watch your board (and your social life) fill to the max. Your Job Search Central may indeed become Job Search Central for many others.

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