Six Degrees from Dave: "One Need Not Be the Loneliest Number" - Thank You Dave Perry

By Dave Mendoza
* In Response to "Job Hunting Case Study: Kevin Watson – Supersizing your LinkedIn Network" by Dave Perry

Last Week on the last day of ERE, only a few hours before checking out of my hotel - I received an email from my Canadian blogging friend and colleague, Dave Perry. The email itself simply had a link, the subject header was simply stated thus, "Dave this article is really about you. Kevin sends his thanks."

Dave is renown at a level all his own, having been written about in the Wall Street Journal and authored several books, one of which I was honored to contribute too on behalf of his Guerrilla Job Seeker book series.

With that background understood, I can say honestly every two or every third conference I attend, I am pleasantly surprised to see Dave and even more fortunate if he joins our circle of fellow travelers for dinner. Last week and the days since, Dave has been on my mind because he surprised me with the focus of a recent article post. Essentially, Dave Perry featured a job seeker and his own personal success story utilizing the networking resources of "Six Degrees from Dave" - The Networking Engine.

I can state with all due candor, that never has anyone so clearly articulated the ethos of our efforts, nor the personal effects at sch a sincere and heartwarming degree as my friend Dave Perry. And to add emphasis, I had no forewarning, .. no expectation that one man's career journey took the highway of SixDegreesfromDave the group would be told and done so eloquently. I was in all earnest, moved. It was a poignant reminder of community and how the power of many can help the one.

"....Dave Mendoza’s mission is to help others connect to people he ...

In this economic climate, the veteran's of the last recession tell tales of their plight and lessons learned, for those without perspective since ... we huddle together and we tell them there is a path and it is an emotional one as much as one of Reason. John Sumser calls such tribulations "Opportunities." It's true, to a large degree, economic strife reawakens the 'back to basics' approach to rediscovering why we are in this business.

I have told good friends that in times, both good and bad, I overcome the temptation of hubris by recalling actual instances years past and months after 9/11 when I experienced the effect of giving an offer to a candidate. Upon confirming an offer, in at least two occasions within as many weeks of each other, I could hear the successful candidate lower the handset and start to weep. Still clearly audible, I heard an announcement to their respective families, "We're gonna make it - I got the job, honey." Little did they know I was thinking the same emotion silently knowing this placement just bought me and mine - more time.

We are ultimately all job seekers at some point, and the endurance factor is where we are best suited to be labeled, survivors. It is in such moments that we ultimately come face to face with understanding the power of "Why."

"Why did we choose this path? Is my vocation an honorable one?"

It is in those days, when the lights are out at night and we succumb to our grievances and allow financial concerns to haunt the darkness as we feign slumber as our spouses are unaware - that we hopefully understand. An 'honorable' career is one of the more valuable attainments of how we perceive our personal success.

I made my peace years ago. To be a recruiter is to ...READ MORE HERE