Today we share tips on how and why to join a group if you’re looking for a job. Ellen and I have known each other forever, we both have 4 kids including a set of twins and both have taken time out of our careers to be home with kids.

Find out more about Ellen's current role at  Lazy Lizard Travel If you’re planning a trip, call Ellen!

I’m excited to have Ellen here with me today to talk about How & Why to Join a Job Search Group

We’re going to cover 3 main ideas:

1. How to find a local job search group (including benefits of doing this)
2. How to Join a LinkedIn Group (why you should do this, how to find them, how to participate once you've joined)
3. How to start your own group if you can't find one

Orville Pierson’s book “Team Up!” His research found that people who took part in “job search work teams” got employed 20% faster than those using traditional methods. 

The value of teams in general, not just job search groups: There is research that confirms that when people work together, smartly, it can unleash energy that boosts creativity, productivity, engagement, communication, and efficiency. - from Atlassian.com

Benefits of job search groups:

• Accountability 
• The camaraderie of going through a transition with others
• Motivation, confidence boosting
• Just meeting new people and having to talk about yourself and your career interests is great preparation for interviewing
• Get feedback on your resume and cover letter
• Practice interview skills with mock interviews
• Get ideas about companies or jobs you weren’t aware of
• Learn from other’s mistakes 
• You can get feedback from group members that might help you perform better in interviews
• You might be encouraged to take risks if you know you have the support of your job search group behind you - going for that stretch job for example.
• Get out of the house! Job searching can be isolating, so this is good for your mental health.

A good job search group has structure:

• speakers,
• an agenda for each meeting,
• time for members to meet each other and share contacts and ideas

Biggest benefit: You share your contacts with others in the group and they do the same for you – which can grow your network incrementally

2 good ways to make an introduction:

1.  Email both people, provide a quick background on each and why you are connecting them; then let them take it from there
2.  On LinkedIn: go to a person’s profile, click the More button, the first choice on the drop-down menu is “share profile via message” and you can send that person’s profile to another LinkedIn user via Inmail. I just did this the other day – someone I know applied for a job at a company in Raleigh and saw that I was connected to the recruiter there, so he asked for an introduction and that’s how I did it.

Examples of job search groups:

Churches run job search groups which are often staffed by people with real expertise such as recruiters, hiring managers, etc. who like to give back

MeetUps – there are job search meetups, but there are also Meetups focused on things like social media marketing, project management, and other industries or skill areas. Some bring in speakers each month, most are free or really low cost, and this is a great way to meet people in your field and get advice and introductions.

Back to Business – the growth of a community is a big goal of Back to Business, and we have been able to connect women returning to work after a career break with each other, and with employers. This year I’ve also been doing a lot of connecting people inside companies who have started returnship programs with people at other companies who want to start these programs. Total win-win! 

Conferences – you can meet people and start your own group. At Back to Business conferences we seat women at tables with others by zip code so you’re sitting with people who live near you. One woman organized others at her table to start a monthly group that met for lunch and to hear a speaker. It went on for over a year, women cycled out as they got jobs, but word had spread and they were replaced with others who were looking for a job.

Professional Associations often have job search groups. For example, in Raleigh, the Triangle chapter of the American Marketing Association has a job search group called Transitions Mastermind. They bring in a speaker each month, it’s very structured, each meeting starts with everyone introducing themselves and telling the group about their background and what they’re looking for so others can share contacts or ideas that could be helpful.

Other groups you can join:

• Your college alumni group
• Some companies have alumni groups (IBM, consulting firms)
• There is a group for everything!

LinkedIn Groups –

• Get virtually connected to others to expand your network
• These are targeted audiences 
• Stay up to date on your career field:

how to find groups: click the work icon on the top menu bar, then click the group's icon. This will show you the groups you already belong to and at the bottom will say Search other trusted communities that share and support your goals.

If you click that it will recommend groups based on what LinkedIn thinks are your interests (which is based on the companies you follow, keywords in your profile, your LinkedIn activity)

Or search for groups using a keyword in the search 

How to contribute: 

Get in the habit of commenting daily on other’s posts, posing thoughtful questions and asking for responses, and liking and sharing other’s posts that you found helpful; remember to keep your contributions relevant to the group’s purpose

Benefits: 

• you will become known in that space as a contributor, hopefully, a positive one, and that enhances your own personal brand. 
• You also can get access to people with expertise in this way and you can ask them questions and learn from them.

 Starting your own group if you can’t find one:

• Invite job seekers to join your group - you could put an invitation on NextDoor or Facebook if you don’t know anyone personally to invite
• Find a location: coffee shop, library, free co-working space
• Have a leader: to handle scheduling, securing a venue, getting a speaker, communicating with members. This could be a rotating duty or you could have 1 person handle this.
• Meet consistently: follow-through is the key to being effective!
• Set ground rules for the group: stay positive, make sure it’s a give and take.

Also mentioned in this episode: