For everyone who doesn’t understand the picture I chose, that is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek: Next Generation; only not as his normal self… that is the Captain as one of the Borg. The Borg was a race of advanced cybernetic humanoids (robot people) that captured the Captain and made him into one of them; one of the collective.
The reason I start with this is that I feel we all have become one of the Borg, but without externally showing it. Straightforward, we have forgotten how to communicate with each other. Instead we are a part of the collective that hides behind a computer. We no longer have real human interaction and we are okay with that.
So very often I speak with new clients who are looking for help in job searching, interviewing or networking and I am more than happy to give them pointers. Almost all of the pointers or tips that I give involve some sort of human interaction and with most of them, I receive push back from the individual.
Why have we chosen to seclude ourselves from reality when job searching?
Technology, more specifically social media, is a great tool in job searching and I would absolutely recommend it to anybody job searching, but it is only a means to an end, not an end itself. Unfortunately, today’s society views social media simply as an end. That, if I “talk” to enough people on Twitter or if I have enough connections on LinkedIn, then I am well-networked and thus, I am conducting a great job search.
I ask you, how many of those connections and “friends” do you actually know or have you even met… once?
Right now, I feel that we have all been captured by the Borg and we need to escape! We need to get back to human interaction and actually meeting people face to face.
I challenge you to meet one new stranger a week and learn something new about them. No hidden intentions and no strings attached. I challenge to build a new network of people you don’t know!
You might be asking, well how will this even help me in job searching?
Once you can speak to a complete stranger about something you are unprepared on, then speaking to a relevant person about your profession will be a breeze.
The people who are going to hire you, don’t want to know you through the internet, they want to know you in-person. So, I’m am okay with you using LinkedIn to uncover new connections, but ask to meet them in-person to speak and if they are far away, then use Skype.
Technology doesn’t have to be evil if we don’t let it consume us like the Borg. It is an aid, nothing more.
