Geoscientists without Jobs, Part Five
In a previous edition of this column, I discussed strategies for growing one’s network. While it is necessary to expand one’s network to prosper, maintaining the network is the more important and difficult task, especially if you wish to remain in good standing within it. There will come a time when you need your network (as any unemployed professional will tell you) more than it would appear to need you. How your network responds will be largely determined by your actions as they relate to two basic moral principles: reciprocity and altruism. Most have an implicit understanding of these concepts, but taking the time to think about them explicitly in the context of the job seeker (whether you’re a consultant or someone seeking full-time employment) is a useful exercise. You cannot control someone else’s behavior or judgment, but you can model the behaviors you wish to see in your network and try to create positive feedback by doing so.
Most geophysicists know the term reciprocity as it applies to seismic experiments, but the relevant usage here is from moral philosophy. In Western societies, we call it the “Golden Rule”, and it is axiomatic that we should treat others the way we wish to be treated. We also expect people to help us when we are in need without apparent or immediate benefit to themselves. This is altruism.
I’m sure that each of us can cite numerous examples of fruitless efforts to make connections and manage our careers: emails and phone calls that never get answered, job interviews where you never hear from them again, or that headhunter who mysteriously disappears after three phone calls. While we are not always treated as we wish to be treated by HR personnel, recruiters, hiring managers, potential clients, or even our friends and colleagues, the only choice we have is to act as though we are.
After setting up a website for my consulting business, I have received a steady stream of inquiries and résumés targeting non-existent vacancies. Because the percentage of people who respond to my own inquiries is always lower than I hope, I have empathy for anyone who makes the effort to contact me. I know too well what it’s like to be on the other end of that conversation, and I know the effort to respond is minimal. Even if the response is not positive or encouraging, I always respond. If you don’t take any other lessons from my columns, please take this one: any response is better than none. Your time is not more valuable than anyone else’s.
Being altruistic as a job seeker is often a harder proposition because it can seem counter-intuitive. Sometimes, the best way to respond to a job opportunity is to decline. In one case, I was asked if I could perform a task that was well outside of my particular skill set. Being a bit desperate for the work, I seriously considered how I could study up in my “spare” time (a laughable notion to someone trying to grow a consulting business) and fake my way through it. I quickly decided to decline the work and suggested another consultant who I knew was better qualified. One does not have to believe in karma to realize that my value in the network grows by acting altruistically in this regard: one person gets a better result, another person gets more work, and they both can point to me as the enabler of that. This benefit far outweighs the risk of reputation damage likely to occur by me attempting that work myself. I may not ever derive any further benefit from this interaction, but I would rather live in a world where such behavior might not be rewarded than to live in one devoid of this possibility.
In some fields (far outside the oil business), I have friends and family members who built careers by responding to job postings and never having known someone on the inside who could refer them to a hiring manager. The oil business does not work this way, so building a career in this business depends on your ability to grow and maintain a network of people with whom you can collaborate. I have no idea how long this downturn will last, but I recognize that when the time for growth and opportunity comes again, the first people to get phone calls will be those with whom someone else wants to work. If you can demonstrate your value to your network in the worst of times through reciprocity and altruism, you stand a good chance of getting one of those calls. Alternatively, you can view job searching as asymmetric warfare, but in my opinion, “The Hunger Games” should remain a work of fiction and not a model for how to succeed in business.