Clever Career Networking Tip Inspired By McDonald’s Big Mac

The secret to the success of McDonald's Big Mac might just be the key to success in your job search.

This is a guest post by Leslie Drew. If you’d also like to guest post here on JobMob, follow these guest post guidelines.

Every year McDonald's sells 560 million Big Macs a year. That's crazy! Over half a billion. It would take you almost 16 years to count that high.

What's so special about the Big Mac?

Is it the largest burger in the world?

No. According to the Guinness Book of World Records that distinction belongs to Mallie's Sports Bar and Grill in Southgate, MI.

Is the Big Mac the best tasting burger?

No. According to Zagat's Fast Food Survey In-N-Out Burger holds that title.

Was it the first of its kind?

Nope. According to this article the whole Big Mac concept is a direct copy of the Bob's Big Boy burger.

So what is it?

“Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame bun. “

It's Gotta Be The Sauce, Right?

What's so special about the special sauce? Other than calling Thousand Island dressing “special sauce,” absolutely nothing.

What the special sauce did was allow McDonald's to take another restaurant's idea and wrap it in a super effective marketing campaign.

That marketing campaign is the reason you (and I) can still sing the ingredients by heart easily 10 years after the last time I can remember hearing it on TV.

And I don't even like McDonald's.

That is special.

What You Can Learn From The Big Mac

If you can take anything from the story of the Big Mac it should be that you don't have to be the biggest or the best or revolutionary to be the most successful. What you do need is a good marketing campaign to get your message out.

And the most effective marketing in the world is… word of mouth.

Word of mouth is just another way to say networking.

I like using word of mouth advertising better than networking because people grimace less when they hear it. That's because most people are career networking horribly wrong.

As a matter of fact what many people consider “career networking” is nothing more than begging.

A Quick and Easy Way To Start Career Networking Now

The bad news is without some type of career networking you will never be as successful as you could and should be by career networking properly.

The good news is you already know and do everything you need to get started.

Keep in contact with as many of the people you were laid off with as possible. They will play a key role in building your networking team. Get their email addresses and place them into a mailing group.

Many of the jobs you'll come across during your job search won't be right for you. Don't just skip by them. Most job search websites allow you to email job openings to people. Email every job you're not applying to but might fit someone else's skill set to your email group. This works best if you send specific job openings to specific people but don't worry about that starting out.

After a couple of weeks you'll start to notice that some of the people you have been sending those emails to will start sending you emails with jobs you might be interested in. If you aren't interested in those jobs then send those opening back out to your career networking group.

Soon you will notice that you are becoming a resource for people who are in the same boat as you. In return you will have created a team of people who will be directly and indirectly increasing your chances of finding a job.

It's a baby step but a step in the right direction, and infinitely better than no step at all. Congratulations- you're career networking!

About the Author

Leslie Drew offers free job search tips at his blog Unemployed Help and Facebook page.

This article is part of the 4th Annual JobMob Guest Blogging Contest, which was made possible thanks in large part to our Gold Sponsor, Jason Alba of JibberJobber. If you want Leslie Drew to win, share this article with your friends.

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