NETWORKING CRUCIAL IN NAVIGATING JOB MARKET

The Sunday Business Post asked two career management experts for advice on securing a Sales or Marketing job in the current environment, writes ELAINE O'REGAN.

According to Anne Moore, senior sales and marketing recruitment consultant with Berkley Recruitment, candidates hoping to progress their career must now take steps to proactively manage its future direction.

"FAS has recently announced that approximately 100,000 people could sign up for unemployment benefit over the next twelve months. With this in mind, it is essential for people to fully analyse any potential job move they intend to make over the coming months and years," said Moore.

Making your way up the career ladder in one industry is difficult in the current environment but, according to Moore, switching to a new industry is almost impossible right now. "It is extremely difficult to change industries at this time. You will find yourself pigeon-holed by potential employers and recruitment consultants alike. Be realistic about your salary expectations. You may have to take a drop, particularly if you are looking to get out of the IT and telecommunications industries where salaries were ridiculously high," she said.

Although Moore conceded that employers are currently calling the shots, she added that candidates should be equally thorough in their approach to the recruitment process. "When changing jobs, look at the company carefully. Make sure that you understand all the elements of the job; what is expected of you and that the proposed targets are realistic and achievable. Register with only one or two recruitment companies, you don't really need any more than that as you may find yourself over-exposed."

Marketing professionals in particular should consider networking as a means to proactively manage their future career prospects, according to Rowan Manahan, MD of outplacement and career management firm Fortify Services.

"Effective marketing is all about gathering intelligence and making robust decisions on the basis of accurate information. The same holds true for job-hunting. Networking will enable you to find out what is really going on. If you are not plugged in to the grapevine - if you are not aware of emerging trends - you will not be prepared for dramatic or unfavourable changes in the marketplace," said Manahan.

Describing networking as a "basic survival skill" in the career management arsenal, Manahan added that the practice could be particularly useful to marketing professionals hoping to move to a new sector. "You need to talk to people in order to find out what is really going on. The media can be a useful resource and it may start you looking in a particular direction or bring a few extra morsels of data your way, but you have to be careful about relying on it as your sole source of information," he said. "Talk to people who are in the know, or you risk ending up in a role you hate, working for a boss you detest, in an organisational culture that you cannot stand."

According to Manahan, candidates should begin the networking process on paper - compiling a comprehensive list of "People Who Matter."

"Start thinking about them in terms of their 'usefulness' and 'connectedness'. If you have thirty people who care enough about you to take a call or better yet, to make a call; you are immediately able to tap into their networks," he said. Candidates should also be ready to return favours or juicy bits of information if they are given a valuable lead, added Manahan. "Symbiotic relationships are fine," he said. "But no-one will tolerate a parasite for very long - make sure you give and take."

"For the most part, a job-hunter's network is a data-gathering enclave and, if you manage them well, some of them may do a degree of marketing on your behalf," he said. "Rarely does a network directly procure a job for you, but it will give you access to knowledge that can ultimately lead to a position. It can mean that you will find out that a target organisation of yours is expanding, which allows you to get your CV, addressing the right things, on the right desk at the right time."