However, here's a suggestion that applies to every job-changing activity, including every variation of Personal Contact: Don't do too much of it!
There are several techniques to advance your career, and we'll look at all of them. Since the amount of time you can devote to career development is necessarily limited, it's important not to spend so much time on any one activity that you neglect the others. Take advantage of the most obvious opportunities that all the techniques offer, and don't pursue any to the point that your time could more productively be spent on something else.
You see what to do. But, sadly, you've lost contact with some of the former colleagues you should be talking to. Let the Internet come to your rescue!
What to do is clear. Ask for a reference, rather than a job. It's an amazingly helpful and versatile technique... absolutely the best way to approach the people you know from all your years in business who may be in a position to hire you into-or recommend you for - the ideal next step in your career.
Unfortunately you - like me and just about everyone I know-haven't kept in touch with all of your former bosses, subordinates, peers, customers, fellow board members of civic and charitable organizations, etc. whom you'd now like to phone.
Make that doubly unfortunate. Not only do these folks merit recontacting because of the warm mutual respect you vividly recall, some of them-since you last talked - have risen to far higher and more powerful positions. Today their opinion of you is just as favorable as ever. But now they're much more able to help...a pleasant surprise that awaits, if and when you can reconnect.
But your Roll-O-Dex has been comatose for 7 years, and your BlackBerry hasn't yet been introduced to these people. How do you find them?
Personally, I'm amazed at how easy it is to locate lost friends using even the most basic tools available on the Internet.
Search Engines and Their "People Finder" Functions
Your Internet browser is probably Internet Explorer or perhaps Netscape Navigator. Both have search facilities that will help you find people who've disappeared from your radar screen.
On Netscape, click "People Finder." On Internet Explorer, click "Search." Then choose "Find a person's address." Put the person's name in the slot and click. The first report you get will be what has been found using Big Foot. If that result is unsatisfactory, click "Next." Info Space will then be queried. As you see, with very little effort you have engines ready to search the white page listings of every listed phone in the U.S. and Canada. Just fill in the blanks on a questionnaire.
However, here's a tip. You may need a bit of creativity and experimentation to find your person. For example, let's say I input the name of my high school classmate Dick Vanner, plus WI, our state in those days. Nothing. Then I try Richard Vanner. Bingo!
But when I input Ralph Lauren and NY... nothing. Why? Unlisted residential phone. But then I try the business listings. Bingo! Of course. His name's included in the name of his firm. Might your lost person now be in business as an independent consultant?
Your "Wild Card"
The more specific your information input is the better. However, there's even a way-called "wild card"-to use fragments of information. Put in as many letters as you're sure of...and then an asterisk. Say you're looking for Richie Delgado. You don't know if he's Richard or Ricardo. Maybe he's even switched to Rick, which he once mentioned wanting to do. Try Ric* or Ri* Delgado. Or could it have been Delgado? Try Ric* Delga*. With a name as distinctive as RD's you're likely to find him if you specify the right city or even the right state. Try several possibilities. Cinci* serves as well as the perfect spelling of the Ohio city, whereas a wrong spelling of Cincinnati will defeat your search.
What about unlisted phones?
So far, so easy. But the game will get far more challenging. Many of the contacts you and I will want to locate have unlisted phones. Creativity must come to the rescue. Think up questions to ask yourself.
Does the person have children who would now be 10 to 19 years old? Do you remember their names? They may have a phone and it probably will be listed.
"Is your dad there?" Or an older child, as you recall, became a lawyer or an MD or a DDS and is likely to be living and practicing... where? Professionals will have listed office numbers.
Do you remember a close friend of your lost contact, whom he or she may have kept in touch with? The friend's phone may be listed.
Or try for an e-mail address.
Most of the sites that check phone listings also search for e-mail addresses. Some folks who'd never list their phone don't even try to hide their e-mail address. Often it's their last name, plus maybe a first initial or some other prefix to make it unique at the mail server that follows their @ symbol. The different search sites vary widely in finding even the most obvious clues in e-mail addresses. Try several. And at each, besides first naming as requested, try for the last name alone as your clue, using an * for first name, or an initial, or whatever your left brain and your right brain tell you to try.
