Your resume alone is not adequate to accomplish these networking ends. Without something additional from you that they can use as a guide, you will be relying on them to determine who you are and where you could go with your education and experience. You never want to put your contacts in this position. Often, they will not have any idea of how your background translates into a new position or career direction and, thus, will give up quickly and not exert themselves on your behalf. Or, they may make erroneous assumptions and send you down an entirely wrong path, feeling that they have satisfied their duty to you by referring you to someone or to an organization for which you are completely unsuited.
Supplementing your resume with a Contacts Roadmap obviates both potential problems. It provides a clear path for your contacts to follow. Instead of having to devise a plan for communicating with your potential employers themselves—which is a burden and a reason why so many contacts are unproductive—the Roadmap does their thinking and planning for them. Moreover, they’re certain to be impressed with your sophisticated approach to networking and legal job hunting, so much so that they’ll exert themselves enthusiastically on your behalf once provided with a Roadmap.
The Contacts Roadmap provides the clarity and direction that your network needs in order to advise and assist you effectively in your career transition. It removes the ambiguity and confusion that often negates their ability to serve as good conduits to both a wider circle of good contacts and actual job opportunities. I have yet to encounter a networking contact who was not impressed by the concept of the Contacts Roadmap.