Leveraging your Personal Network - Jobs, Tech Help, Connections
For a long time, I've worked my own personal network - I've posted before on this topic, and it still pays off in multiple way. I like to go to trade shows and conferences, for example, and scan the list of attendees to see who I've met before. Last week, I scored a nice laser pointer pen because I recognized a company that is in my home town, and struck up a conversation. I also connected directly with a number of FMCG companies, facing the same challenges we are with some new technology, and got some excellent insights into what's really happening in the industry - meaty stuff that I cold take back to work and get some projects moving forward.
It's not just free swag and conversations ... a few years ago, I reconnected with an old acquaintance at a user conference, and that resulted in a large amount of billable hours for his firm and a number of stunning project successes on one of my critical systems. That, plus another link in the network that paid off again in a different way ...
.. as I've used the network to research job opportunities, for myself and for others. Last time I was in major search mode, I got wind of [what I thought was a] terrific opportunity - large, public company, close to home, similar technical challenges. However, 2 hours and 3 phone calls later, I had the gory details on the company's existing infrastructure (on it's last legs), IT budget ("owner can squeeze a nickel 'til the buffalo [poops]"), IT talent (all the good ones have gone), and near-term IT strategic projects (they just completed a horrible Oracle implementation, whose failure was why there was an opening for CIO). Plus, I had the hiring executive's personal email and direct phone number, and was able to electronically drop my resume right to the top of their stack. Needless to say, the "inside" info I got from the outside was unbelievably valuable, and allowed me to identify how real and [un]attractive the opportunity was - in an amazingly short amount of time. I got the first callback, but after all my research, politey exited the conversation as quickly as possible.
I also like to work the network for other folks, and am often asked who I may know in this company or that. I will freely admit to pointing folks to others more deeply networked than I - hey, whatever it takes to make the connection. I'm glad to note a number of folks I've helped make a connection, or just refocus their search for a better result.
I've also experienced some interesting network effects with this weblog - I've received cold calls and emails trying to "get in" to current and former companies through my connections, and multiple job opportunities (of varying quality). I'm in the LinkedIn network, and have made some cool connections over there as well. Yep, I read about the "network effect" years ago (see Kelly's New Rules for the New Economy, especially Chapter 5, for the best, simplest write up of this powerful concept) - and I have plenty of real-life stories that illustrate the impact.
Which brings me to the latest addition to the left bar on this page - the Jobs Board. The guys over at the Daily WTF have a new idea for leveraging the power of interconnected blogs - the HiddenNetwork job board network, and it's Yet Another riff on the power of the web. It's definitely in the early stages - I've done the minimum amount of coding to get the connections working, still need to clean up the look / feel of the thing - but I like the ideas behind the effort, and I'm glad to contribute any traffic I can.
Employers - if you like what you see, and do go thru the process to post a job from the links on my pages, know that you need to be succinct - the ad space is rather small. Yes, I do get to participate in the revenue, but that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone - I've had AdSense on these pages for a long time. It's nothing to write home about, just another piece of my own experiments in the power of the web ...
posted by James P. MacLennan at 11:18 PM
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