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By Selena Dehne

If 90 percent of the people who bought a lottery ticket won, would you hesitate at all to buy a ticket too? Probably not! Imagine all of the things you wouldn't think twice about doing if you had a 90 percent success rate on your side.

Some research has found that networking accounts for up to 90 percent of all jobs landed at the executive level. Yet, it's often the strategy that everyone from recent college graduates to top-level executives finds the most awkward, humbling and challenging to master in their job search. These feelings can lead them to avoid networking all together. Richard Beatty, author of The Ultimate Job Search, believes a great deal of people's networking anxiety is due to the fact that the strategy has developed a bad reputation amongst job seekers, despite its effectiveness.

Because many job seekers mistakenly believe that networking requires them to ask strangers for a job, they either botch networking conversations or refuse to use the strategy in their job search. Beatty reminds executive job seekers that asking for a job lead is actually the last thing to do early in the networking process!

"What happens when you ask someone for a favor that they are unable to grant? They feel somewhat awkward and embarrassed that they cannot grant your request. This typically puts a strain on the conversation. The same thing happens during a networking call," says Beatty.

Instead of asking contacts for a job, Beatty encourages executives to take a back-door approach and ask for general job search advice, what they know about various industries and current job trends, and who they know who is an upper-level contact within a company.

As executives begin to call networking contacts and ask these questions, they would be wise to follow a structured format that allows them to introduce themselves, learn more about the person they are calling, and receive strong referrals that will help direct them toward promising job opportunities. In The Ultimate Job Search, Beatty walks readers through the following seven steps of an effective networking call:

Step 1: Introduction and Referral Statement

There are three things to do in the first moments of a networking call. Simply introduce yourself, inform the networking contact how you were referred to them, and make small talk. There's nothing to it! It's no more difficult than the beginning of any conversation amongst two people who have just met.

Step 2: Statement of Purpose

As the small talk comes to a close, begin to explain the reason you are calling. Job seekers should be careful not to lose the friendly tone developed during the small talk, but to move the conversation forward and say something, such as:

"Peggy, I am in the process of making a career transition, and Linda felt you might be a good person to speak with. She said you recently went through a career transition of your own about a year ago, and might have some good ideas and suggestions for me."

Step 3: Qualifications Summary

Next, explain your past career experiences and future goals. This is an opportunity to provide the networking contact with brief highlights from your education and work experience.

Step 4 and 5: Primary and Secondary Requests

This portion of the networking call should be devoted to gathering background information that would be useful to your job search. This is not an appropriate time to ask for a job lead. Instead, seek advice, suggestions or information pertaining to an industry or a company. Structuring this conversation can be tricky for many job seekers, so you may wish to follow a format similar to this:

"Joan, as an executive in the food industry, I would value your perspective concerning some of the current trends and events that might impact my job search. I'm thinking here about your knowledge of such things as company expansions and contractions, new product rollouts, expanding or contracting market segments, new problems and challenges, and the like. Where do you see the greatest opportunity for someone with my skill set? I would greatly appreciate your thoughts and ideas on this subject."

Step 6: Getting Referrals

At first, the goal of a networking call should be to gather general information that will help move forward in your job search. Ultimately, however, it would be very beneficial to develop strong referrals to people within your target company or industry.

Step 7: Closing the Networking Call

The hard part is over! Now simply thank the networking contact for speaking with you and lending their suggestions and advice. If the contact has gone above and beyond your expectations of being helpful, a follow-up phone call and thank you letter would be very appropriate. Don't be afraid to e-mail the contact every once in awhile to update them on your job search progress and let them know the outcome of their referrals.

At no point in the structured conversation that Beatty recommends did the job seeker ask the contact for a job, eliminating one of the main insecurities people have when it comes to networking. The job seeker simply has to request information that will help him or her gain a much-needed edge over their competitors. With 90 percent of jobs being filled through networking, job seekers can't afford to avoid it!

Selena Dehne is a career writer for JIST Publishing who shares the latest occupational, career and job search information available with job seekers and career changers. Her articles help people find meaningful work, develop their career and life plans, and carry out effective job search campaigns.

One week to consider job offer. More than six in ten recruiters (62%) agree that anything more than one week is too long for a candidate to consider a formal job offer, with almost a third (29%) indicating that the appropriate amount of time is even shorter. (Executive Recruiter News, August 2006)

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