Never Apply for a Job Again!: Break the Rules, Cut the Line, Beat the Rest Read Free

of networking and what people have been able to achieve, not only in business, but also in life by simply building their personal network and making connections with others. I know of a million-dollar referral that was passed from a dentist to a logistics company after meeting at a networking event in Thailand, a couple who credits the successful adoption of their child to networking, several marriages that resulted from networking (including my own—I always say that my wife Elisabeth is the best referral I ever got!), and hundreds upon hundreds more stories testifying to the amazing results that networking can bring.
    With this book, Darrell Gurney has painstakingly and effectively tailored networking’s key concepts, strategies, and insights specifically to the needs of career professionals— individuals in the fields of accounting, marketing, operations, engineering, programming, and so on. Whereas entrepreneurs are often very inclined to get out and network, as they depend mostly on themselves to keep their business alive and thriving, career professionals can often adopt a false idea that they will be taken care of by a company and therefore don’t always recognize the value of networking for their own advancement.
    Never Apply for a Job Again! teaches not only entrepreneurs but also the honorable and necessary professionals called employees how to gain the top-of-mind awareness, affiliation, and opportunities that exist in abundance in our world—even in challenged economic times. A job is a job is a job, whether it’s paid for by a salaried paycheck, a consulting fee, or a year-end dividend from the expansion of an enterprise. We all need our next “job,” and Darrell Gurney’s face-to-face method for climbing into the hearts and minds of people who matter is good, solid people sense. It’s about high- touch when high-tech is all the rage.
    People do business with people they trust, and they recommend these businesses to their friends. This same principle goes for career professionals, be they accountants, marketing folks, operations players, and even so-called “pocket-protector” techies such as engineers and IT experts: people stay connected to people they trust, and they recommend these people to others who can use their expertise by hiring them. Networking is, hands-down, the most time- andcost-effective strategy for landing your next opportunity, be it a long-term job or a temporary gig.
    Stealth networking is the mainstream career management technique of the future. Career professionals who invest in themselves by learning how to stealth network like a pro will be rewarded with a long-term, sustainable, and stable career. As you peruse these pages, pay close attention to what is presented about stealth networking and building social capital—focus on building relationships and offering information that could be helpful to each contact you make, not in looking for a job. This way, there will always be a “somebody” out there who knows you and is referring you. The fact is, we’re more interested in people who seem interested in us… it’s a symptom of our me-centered culture. This is what Darrell teaches in Stage 1 of The 5 Stages of a Stealth Meeting— your complete and total focus should be on asking questions and being intimately interested in the person you’re meeting with, his background, her industry history, and so on. Call it an act from the referral gods, but when you do good things for others, those good things have a habit of making their way back to you—even if from a different person or group of people. Build “relationship equity” just to build it and the universe responds. Take note of all that just arises “out of the blue”: the former employer from years ago who just happens to call; the neighbor who tells a friend about you; the volunteer opportunity that has you working beside a CEO in your industry. By getting out and connecting, you fertilize and water your