Larry Wilson, MSW, LSW | Social Worker, Career Counselor
The idea of networking with strangers carries the risk of rejection – which is enough to cause many job seekers to use other methods instead. The stories in this series illustrate what can happen when job seekers take that risk. It’s important to keep in mind that the goals of this type of networking are to 1) expand the network of people you know, and 2) obtain advice, information, and direction. The information you get from a networking interaction often won’t lead you directly to a job opportunity; in fact, it may steer you in a different direction. Either way, it will help you to advance your search. When it does that, it surely counts as a success!
These stories are real, although some details have been altered to protect identities. I hope you find them useful. If you have a networking success story you’d like to share with this audience, contact me at larry@wilson-consulting.net, or use the contact us feature elsewhere on this website. Thanks!
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
Themes:
Family contacts
Keeping your options open
Listening for potential fits
Erin had worked with freight brokers and carriers early in her career. Since then, she has worked as a consultant for a major firm, and had then struck out on her own. At this point, she wanted to re-employ in the public transportation sector, where she could have a more direct impact on the lives of people, especially those who had to rely on trains or busses to get to work. She preferred the idea of working for a transit agency, but was also considering a consulting firm, or maybe an advocacy organization.
Erin had a family member who suggested she talk to a senior manager at a non-profit that worked on transportation issues. So Erin called him and secured an appointment for a face to face meeting.
Erin met the manager, and briefly outlined what she was interested in doing. The manager was engaged and interested, and in fact had served on the board of one of the transit agencies in that city. However, he did not have any good ideas for Erin about where there were openings for meaningful work to be done.
Erin thanked the manager for his time. On her way out the door, the manager mentioned that if Erin knew anyone with an extensive freight transportation background, he would love to talk with them about an upcoming project.
Erin turned around and went back into the office, and outlined her background working for freight industry actors and stakeholders. This led to a nearly hourlong discussion.
Ultimately, Erin signed on with the manager’s non-profit for a two year project manager assignment, working on freight transportation issue areas and potential improvements!
TURNING AROUND BEFORE REACHING A DEAD END
Themes:
Leverage prior contacts
Seek informed advice
Getting answers you don’t want to hear – but should
Jaylen had an undergraduate degree in business, and had worked in various planning and administration roles for a large company for 7 years or so. His family of origin attended church regularly, and Jaylen had continued attending church on his own after college. He was looking for a change where he could get out of the large company environment and work in a smaller organization where he could identify more directly with the organization’s goals.
Among the possibilities Jaylen wanted to explore was church administration. In order to learn more, Jaylen contacted a clergyperson whom Jaylen had met when they came to his church to talk about transitions in pastoral leadership. The upcoming transition at Jaylen’s church seemed to be causing a lot of conflict. The clergyperson agreed to set up a meeting at the offices of the church denominations area headquarters.
Jaylen met with the clergyperson. Jaylen explained that his skills in organization, IT and communications seemed to be something that would be really useful to a medium- or larger-size congregation. Then he asked the clergyperson about their knowledge of congregational administrator positions, and whether his skills would in fact be transferable to such a position.
The clergyperson responded that Jaylen’s skill sets and experience could in fact be useful to some congregations. However, there were not very many such openings within the area they served. Congregations were generally not growing, and the ones that were tended to fill positions from within. In addition, the politics and unresolved conflicts within congregations could easily make an administrator job difficult to navigate. The clergyperson advised Jaylen to look in a different direction, perhaps to other non-profit organizations with specific missions.
Jaylen was surprised to get this feedback, but took the advice to heart and eventually crossed that option off of his list.