Time for another Venn Diagram: Job hunting & coworking

I’m such a fan of the Venn Diagram that I think my friends get sick of me citing this handy illustration of overlap. But you know, if something lends itself well to the discussion I’m all in favor of trotting out the device repeatedly. That said, let’s take a look at my latest cross section, shall we?

I was just reading a recent piece by Alina Tugend, who writes the Shortcuts column for the business section of the NYT. This latest installment, When Job Hunting, Be Your Own Salesman, is ostensibly about improving job-finding odds. I, however, viewed the article with my coworking goggles on and, despite the fact that coworking is neither presented as a word or concept, saw evidence of the movement written many times between the lines.

How so?

Thanks for asking. Basically the column is about networking, and was an unintended part two to an earlier column Tugend wrote about using the internet to find a job. As the writer reports regarding feedback to the first piece:

“While many people agreed with the premise of the article (and some vehemently did not), one question popped up several times. It was about my assertion that searching online was great, but that nothing beats face-to-face contacts. Easy to say, I was told in a number of e-mail messages, but awfully difficult to do.”

She then goes on to offer some very basic advice — basic but very practical and useful to go over — on how to network both F2F and not. As I read, I kept wanting to yell, “Alina! Alina! Over here! It’s me, Spike. Let’s get 2.0, honey. Let’s tell them about COWORKING!”

Now, don’t misinterpret. I am not suggesting that folks park themselves in coworking spaces in hopes of fostering some icky, artificial, ongoing schmoozefest. On the other hand, those of us in the know do know that a really big potential perk of coworking is, as we like to put it, working smarter. Which includes, among other possibilities, working with and around others who may know about leads and opportunities you can use whether you’re seeking a flat out job or some contract gigs.

Or, even if your coworkers have no leads for you on a given day, there’s always that other perk: valuable feedback. One expert, John Rossheim, whom Tugend quotes, suggests practicing your pitch on peers and asking for honest feedback. Hello — can you see coworking all over the place here?

So there you go, my latest Venn Diagram. Pretty lovely, eh?