When Is it Too Soon to Tell Them?

When networking to get into the hidden job market, I think we’ve all had the question “When do I tell people that I’m looking for a job? Is it rude, inappropriate, or stupid to mention that early on?”

I think that’s an interesting question and there is some disagreement, there’s a lot of discussion about when is the best time to tell people that you’re in job search, and there have been articles and blogs that I’ve read recently that say you mustn’t tell anyone that you’re in job search until you’ve had several meetings with them or you’ve done something that provides value to them.

And I’m going to take a different stand on that. I think that it is perfectly appropriate to tell people very early in a conversation that you’re in job transition. 

The reason that a lot of people are concerned about telling someone too soon is because they are not saying it in the right way. If you’ve meet someone and you tell them you’re in job transition and you immediately go to a typical job seeker statement, “who do you know” or “do you know any jobs that I might be interested in,” then clearly, that’s inappropriate.

But the solution is not to wait until you’ve known someone for weeks or months before you even tell them that you’re in job transition. That to me seems like a guaranteed way to slow down this whole job search process and I thought we were trying to accelerate it.

Since you are following the scripts, you will be able to let people know in the right way at the right time. That will help you accelerate your job search.

To get your copy of my free terror-free 17 word for word networking scripts, click here.

So pick someone to call, get your script out, and dial.

Let me know how it is going, and never hesitate to give me a call if you have any questions.

Wishing you the best!

Katherine