Success in Networking – A True Story of Innovative Effectiveness

Full Blog link:

http://recruiterpoet.wordpress.com/2010/11/06/success-in-networking...

On Thursday morning at a regional Payroll Conference, I was approached by a committee member to step in and fill thirty minutes of presentation time. Given my background in Human Resources and Social Media, I did not have the immediate expertise to speak on Payroll policy or legislation so I agreed to step up and discuss effective networking on Social Media platforms.

Without a slide presentation or even so much as a visual, I was hoping my spoken content and warmth would win over the 170 registered guests at the event. Fortunately, I had a trapped audience, except for the six exit doors behind the seats.

I began with a survey on the utilization of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. As expected, nearly the whole population had Facebook and 98% had their hands down as the Twitter question came forward.

I spent time discussing tips and advice on why and how each community has professional value whether one is seeking a career opportunity now or in five years.

The next day, a participant approached me and asked for a few minutes of my time before I departed the event. About an hour later, I went over to her and she told me an amazing story of how one tip may have changed her family’s life in such a positive way.

Her husband’s company lost a major contract in the airline/aero industry and as a result, hundreds of associates including himself would be out of work by December 31. He applied for a similar role with the competitor who got the contract and given his ten years of experience and the most recently in a lead capacity he was very confident. Over two weeks have passed and not even a correspondence letter acknowledging receipt. Based on a tip, they went to the website of the company and found a contact email for the CEO. The CEO? Why not.

They emailed the CEO, gave a strong convincing elevator speech paragraph with a resume that spoke for itself and sent it off. She told her husband to keep an eye on his email for the next few days in hopes this would lead to something positive.

One hour later….Yes one hour later….The Director of Staffing called him up and scheduled a formal screen with him for a career opportunity.

I am going to stay in touch with this individual to see how this story plays out but all I can say is that was the best way I could have ended my experience at this payroll conference.