net·work·ing (VERB)

What is your Dream Job?

In all honesty, if I could choose any job in the whole wide world, it would hands-down be movie star. Sure, I’m doing a Bachelor of Media and Communications in the small city of Wollongong, but who doesn’t want to be the next Marilyn Monroe?

Okay, so head out of the clouds, I’ve chosen a fairly sensible degree that will hopefully allow me to incorporate my delight of being on-screen with a career that I do actually have a real shot at - something along the lines of PR organisational spokesperson, or TV/news presenter.

But is this career choice really any more attainable than dreams of Hollywood stardom? The harsh reality of it is that Public Relations is an overly popular, glamourised and female-dominated profession.

The website PR Daily (2011) states that over 70 percent of PR jobs are held by women, and yet these women are still earning roughly 60 percent of what men do.

So how do you manage to score one of these highly sought-after, underpaid jobs? Perhaps networking is the key.

You know what they say: it’s not what you know, but who you know.

At the beginning of last year, I decided to take the plunge into amateur acting. My brother, being a professional filmmaker in Sydney, decided to cast me in the lead of his short film alongside three amazing (and professional) actors: Home and Away’s Axle Whitehead; an extremely talented lady named Jane E. Seymour; and a quirky, familiar TV actor by the name of Greg Eccleston. Although the short film has not, as of yet, found success, the whole experience was an excellent networking opportunity.

Both Jane and Greg are avid Facebook users, and we keep in regular contact online. As professional actors, they each have their own star-studded industry contacts, although until recently, I had never thought that that would have any impact upon myself.

Recently, I had a Facebook friend request from an older gentleman named John P. Shanley, and our only mutual friend was Jane E. Seymour. Usually I don’t accept requests unless I know the person, and I was about to click ‘Ignore’ when I thought to myself,

“Jane being Jane, I should at least Google this guy.”

It turns out, he is a Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award-winning writer and director – one whose movies I have recently watched and loved. A few months ago, I was home alone and the 1987 film ‘Moonstruck’ came on, starring a very young, very sexy Nicolas Cage alongside a pre-fantastic-plastic Cher. Well, this guy wrote it!

I have no idea why he decided to add me, but 5 minutes later, a mutual friend of his who owns his own film company in Los Angeles added me too. Now I realise that being Facebook friends with someone doesn’t mean I’m about to jump on a plane to Hollywood and become the next big deal (just yet), but it’s nice to know that I at least exist in a small part of this creative and successful man’s awareness.

And I think right there is the crucial point of networking: creating an awareness of yourself within the mind of your chosen industry’s successful and influential people – and if you’re motivated and driven enough, following it up with effective communication to move yourself forward in their world.

From a professional level, Facebook connections are not an ideal way to meet your future employer. It can be extremely useful (as in my situation above, being introduced through a mutual friend), but unless you already know someone who knows someone who knows someone else…it’s not going to be particularly helpful or professional.

And that’s where employment-networking sites, like LinkedIn and The Loop, are ideal.

The fact is, according to Kibbe (2009:9), employers inundated with resumes are taking down job postings and instead using these platforms to search directly for candidates.

But this is where it gets interesting: networking can go both ways.

Week Seven’s guest lecturer, Matt Fayle (2011), founder and director of the creative networking platform ‘The Loop’, pressed heavily on the fact that online networking allows not only the employer to choose the employee, but for the individual to directly choose and approach their prospective employer.

By having everything that you want a prospective employer to know about you widely accessible on a personalised profile, it’s both easier for you to promote your personal brand, as well as for the company to scour websites looking for prospective staff – you.

This in itself is vital: promoting yourself to the right people.

For this reason, it is important to promote oneself in the right environment.

While LinkedIn is a great networking tool for traditional industries, The Loop was created to facilitate communication between creative individuals and creative industries. In this way, the online environment is already filled with the types of companies that you would choose from. The whole idea of networking is to discard traditional means of human resource management by meeting individuals within the company first, and promoting your brand from there.

On the other end of the scale, having a valuable network can not only get you a job, it can also be the reason that you get the job you want.

“Your network is what the employer is going to want – it’s what makes you valuable.” - Chris Gilbey (2011)

And this brings me back to my original point: it’s not what you know, but who you know.

So, perhaps Hollywood isn’t so far off?

REFERENCES:

Fayle, M 2011, The Loop, lecture, ARTS301, Arts Internship/International Studies in Practice, University of Wollongong, delivered 1 September.

Gilbey, C 2011, lecture, ARTS301, Arts Internship/International Studies in Practice, University of Wollongong, delivered 22 September.

Kibbe, C 2009, ‘Social networking:the job-seeker’s best tool: the changing face of New Hampshire’s workforce’, New Hampshire Business Review, Volume 31, Issue 26, p.9.

PR Daily 2011, accessed 22/09/2011.

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/PR_women_New_data_show_genderbased_salary_gap_is_w_7468.aspx

Editorial Advice and Input (by email and blog comments) provided by:

Gabrielle Brown

Lewis Isaacs

Nicola Rushton

Najla NoureddinFaker

Jenna Thirtle

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