When I ask jobseekers how they plan on reconnecting with old contacts, I usually hear this: I will let them know I am no longer at company X, and I will ask them to keep their eyes and ears open for me.
Yikes!
How would you feel if someone you hadn’t spoken to in a while reached out and the first thing they did was ask for help? Put upon? Used? Rushed?
Yes, lots of people do this (but it’s still annoying).
Yes, this is a tough market, so it’s more understandable why people are asking for help (but it still feels intrusive).
The first time you reconnect, it cannot be about your job search. You cannot ask for anything that first time, except how the other person is doing. The point of reconnecting is to reestablish the relationship. The other person is the focus and by listening to them and being interested, you actually help yourself because you will learn about what’s going on in the market and what people care about and you can act on this LATER.