Research: Job Seekers Doom Chances Through Poor Networking

PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Poor networking habits are dooming short-term job prospects for active job seekers, according to new research from Upwardly Mobile, Inc. (UpMo.com), an online career management service based in Palo Alto, Calif.

"Job seekers focus on all the wrong areas," says Allyn Horne, Senior Director of Research and Methodology at UpMo. "They are spending all of their time on job boards, but nearly 8-in-10 jobs are landed through someone you know—and, disturbingly, today's job seekers are neglecting their connections."

UpMo's research is based on data from its Job-Hunt Readiness Evaluator, a proprietary assessment tool developed in conjunction with Robert Half International, which helps each job seeker identify his or her critical needs in the job search. The research found that active job seekers—those who are unemployed and looking for work or those who plan to find a new job in the next 90 days—hurt their chances through:

• Sporadic communication: Job seekers only talk to—or email—an average of 8 people outside of their current organization on a monthly basis.
• Failure to expand the circle: Job seekers are reluctant to ask for introductions, with fewer than 4-in-10 (38%) asking for an introduction in the past month.
• Small networks: On average, job seekers have a network of just 29 colleagues, defined as peers they have interacted with in the last 18-24 months.
• Misplaced priorities: Jobs seekers spend 68% of their time looking at online job postings—and less than one-third of their time reaching out to others.
• Insufficient time investment: Generation X job seekers (those who began their careers between 1980 and 1982) and Millennial job seekers (those who began their careers after 2002) are the biggest offenders of not investing the time required to land a job quickly. Millennials spend just 12 hours per week on job-hunting activities, while Generation Xers spend 15 hours—far less than the 30 hours required to achieve a short job search.

"What's troubling," says Horne, "is that Generation Xers are mid-career professionals, at a turning point in their career, and should be nurturing their professional networks to stay ahead. These professionals really need to re-focus on the right priority: their connections."

How UpMo Can Help

UpMo offers four powerful ways that today's job seekers can strengthen impactful connections immediately. Recently, UpMo added new functionality that allows users to upload their LinkedIn connections in under 30 seconds. As a result, as an UpMo user, you can now:

1. Immediately see all jobs connected to your network: With your contacts uploaded, UpMo's Intelligent Job Hunt™ identifies specific job opportunities within your network, allowing you to target the exact places where you have an inside edge.
2. Separate high-value connections from the pack: UpMo allows you to specifically identify your most influential contacts and group them in your Inner Circle, helping you focus on relationships that can catalyze your career.
3. Get expert analysis on strengthening bonds: In 10 minutes, UpMo's analytical assessment, the Network Readiness Evaluator, takes input you provide and gives you an expert step-by-step plan for making the most of your networking.
4. Build your personal brand from one hub: With UpMo's community messaging service, My Musings, you can automatically update your Twitter account each time you post a message on UpMo. If you then elect to have Twitter update your LinkedIn status, you're now gaining cross-site brand consistency by updating one source: UpMo's My Musings.

Starting January 21, UpMo is offering a 30-Day Money Back Guarantee for their career-building service—as well as a limited-time-only $5 monthly subscription price and a free book from personal branding expert Rajesh Setty on thriving in a down economy—to individuals who sign up by January 31. For more details, visit http://www.upmo.com/guarantee.

About UpMo

Founded in 2008, Upwardly Mobile, Inc. is a privately-held company committed to taking on the difficult challenges that help people appreciate their most valuable asset—their career. UpMo.com's always-on solution is an intelligent, personalized career service that uses expert insights and patent-pending scientific tools to empower business professionals and job seekers to confidently get the job they want faster and stay ahead in their career. For more information, visit the website http://www.UpMo.com.

Upwardly Mobile is located at Palo Alto's renowned 165 University Avenue, a historic Silicon Valley office building that once housed Google, PayPal, Logitech and several other successful tech companies.

SOURCE Upwardly Mobile, Inc.