How to Network Internally

When doing a career search internally, within your place of employment, remember that no one cares more about your future than you, not even your supervisor. This might seem to be common sense, but it is surprising the amount of people that I have spoken to that actually thought a supervisor really cared more about their career than they did.

Of course, there are supervisors that want to see their employees get better and possibly go to the next level within the organization. However, these supervisors are a rare breed. Ultimately, the purpose of the supervisor is to ensure that the department or team that they are responsible for is doing a great job and delivering results. Obviously, there are very subjective reasons for this.
First, the supervisor will be commended by her manager and secondly, this can lead to a pay increase got that supervisor.

In order to do a career search internally, you have to be willing to go on your own and do your own networking. You might want to start out by having lunch with decision makers of departments or teams that you want to be a part of. It wouldn’t hurt to have about 20 questions memorized that you would like to ask during those meetings.

How do you find these decision makers? You can either be introduced to them via other coworkers, which is the best option or send an email to them stating your interest in the department and that you are interested in learning more about their individual department. This might seem very uncomfortable, but please remember that to be successful you have to get out of your comfort zone.

You have to be very active in your career search. Do not expect your supervisor to assist you with going to another department. If you are an excellent worker, more than likely your supervisor will want to keep you in your current position. True success lies in ensuring that you take your career search by the horns and ensure that you direct your career the way that you want it.

You and Your Economy

The other night I was watching the Democratic National Convention (DNC). During the DNC, many of the president’s supporters stated that he has given 4.5 million jobs to the economy. Without any other facts, this is very impressive! However, if you look at the actual details, the jobs that he has given were primarily from the private sector.

This is not a post about political views, actually I like this president. However, I want to instill in you that only you can change your economy, not your mom, dad and certainly not a president. If you sit down and do nothing, guess what, you are going to have nothing.

The government is great for many things, but not for helping people find employment. How do you find jobs? You have to network, post to job sites (sparingly), and get out of the house by being productive.

Get out there. What are you waiting for?