The Smarter Approach to Your Contacts

Right now, more than ever, is the best and most urgent time to access your network. With the economy in a recession, everyone is trying to do his or her own thing in order to stay afloat and not be part of the jobless demographic. Even people who thought they have fairly stable jobs and statuses like bankers and lawyers are now finding themselves part of the ever-rising statistics of the jobless people in the nation. And for those who have been lucky enough to actually stay afloat, they are currently hoarding their money out of fear of being next to go. For the younger people and the more revolutionarily desperate crowd, the best thing to do is to whip out that old list of files or your mental Rolodex. There are probably a lot of people there who might be useful to you in terms of business.

The Wong Way of Sending Letters

These people are sent out messages that sound like: Hey There Friend-I-Need! How have you been? I know I have not written you in such a long time but it is because I have been really busy. However, I have been keeping you on my mind – especially now. I’d tell you more about me in a later email but for the meanwhile, I was wondering if you have a prospective job or referral or way to help me out? I am kind of in a rut at the moment. I have also attached a copy of me curriculum vitae, you might want to check it out! So yeah, let me know when you have something for me and then we could work on catching up! Your friend, Desperate Seeker.

Say What??

It may sound a bit eyebrow-raising, but a lot of people actually phrase their help letters that way. For those people who have received letter like this, the reaction is not so much because they are not happy to help but more of the tone that was inflected in the letter – which is pretty much detrimental when you consider the cause of that person. It is probably because of lack of social graces, which a lot of people do not have. While this may be a bit understandable it is still essential to know the best way to go about such a thing. You can urge your work connections especially now during this recession but in a better tone.

The art of writing letters is still much rooted in terms of basic common sense as well as good manners, which are both applicable in any situation – even through email, sending a Facebook message, a smoke signal, through a singing telegram or even in an actual formal letter. For you to maintain network dignity, you may want to work on being honest and phrasing your letter in a more humble tone. Do try to inject a bit of news about yourself and do not sound off as if you just want that other person for a job connection. In summation, networking with your contacts will mean making the human part of it a lot more vital.