How one worker survived Wall Street's downfall
For those adrift in a sea of job seekers, calling on thousands of contacts can help.
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| Ebony Blue is ecstatic her seven-month job search is over. |
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- When the financial storm sent shock waves through Wall Street and the broader economy, millions of people lost their jobs. Workers in New York City were particularly hard hit.
Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), alone, has announced over 100,000 job cuts worldwide since 2007. One casualty was Ebony Blue, a young financial analyst in the investment banking division, who was laid off in December of 2008.
There weren't many openings in the financial industry. And with so many people still looking for work, Blue had plenty of competition. With only two years of experience under her belt since graduating from Ithaca College, Blue, 24, like many other young analysts, found it difficult to differentiate herself from a sea of job seekers in the industry.
"What became apparent was that I wasn't moving forward in my job prospects," she said. "It was still saddening to know that no matter how much effort I put out, I wasn't able to get a lot of leads."
So Blue took a break, traveled to Ireland and Hawaii, considered returning to graduate school to earn her MBA, but ultimately decided to give her job search another go.
"I had to think about another game plan," she said of her renewed efforts. This time, Blue devoted 10 hours a day to her hunt and expanded her parameters to include London, Atlanta, New York, Boston and several cities in Texas.
She also relied on a large network including college contacts, colleagues and, most importantly, fellow members of the Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) group, a nonprofit that aims to assist African American, Hispanic and Native American professionals become the next generation of business leaders. Through MLT, Blue gained access to an extensive network of professionals from around the world.
"Every time I saw a job online that I really liked, I would reach out to my MLT network," she said. When she saw a posting for a position at New York-based consulting group Ipreo, MLT provided her with access to the group's database and she located a single MLT member who worked at the company.
"I sent him my résumé and that same day I got a call to interview. The next day I went in and had four interviews. The next day I got an offer," she said of the process that ultimately ended her seven-month job search with employment.
Since June, Blue has been a senior analyst in the Global Market Intelligence Group, providing investor relations for blue-chip technology companies. Though she makes less than she did before, Blue says her new job is going very well. Most of all, she's relieved her job search is over.
Altogether, Blue says she applied to over 700 job openings. But ultimately, it was one person in her network that led to a new position.
There are over 1,500 alumni in the MLT network, according to the group, and 90% of their job seekers were able to land jobs in the last year despite the recession.
But non-members are not left out in the cold. According to career expert Cheryl Palmer, an executive career coach at Call To Career in Silver Spring, Md., there are plenty of other robust and active networks that job seekers may already be a part of, without even knowing it.
"This is a good model and it doesn't need to be restricted to MLT," she said.
Palmer explains that job seekers often underestimate the extent of their own network and should think beyond just the people they know personally.
Connecting with friends of friends or second- and third- level contacts on social networking sites like LinkedIn, as well as college and university alumni associations, community associations or houses of worship can add an exponential number of contacts to your network, she said.
"Extend your connections above and beyond the people you immediately know," Palmer said. "It's a win-win for the job seeker and very easy to do." 
