I’ve happened to have a few networking events happen recently that I thought I’d share, all part of trying to figure out when and how networking works best.
- I had a friend reach out to me (and this is someone I met from another friend) via LinkedIn to reach someone 2 more levels away from via the ‘get introduced’ functionality. It’s the most distant attempt I’ve seen so far. I forwarded with a note asking the in between person to forward it on, and she did so. Unknown so far if the connection bore fruit, but interesting regardless!
- The second event was from someone I had connected with at SQLSaturday #49 and spent some time discussing career moves. She emailed Jack Corbett and I asking if we knew anyone at Company X that might help her get an interview for a position she was looking at. It turned out I did, so I sent an email to my contact there explaining I knew someone that was interested in a position and some background. Again, I don’t know if it was a positive result as far as my friend being hired, but I was able to help both sides on this one, a win in my view.
- The third one relates to me, a friend I met way back at the beginning of SQLSaturday called to ask if I’d be interest in working with him at a client. It wasn’t something I’d normally have looked at, but because I knew him and he spoke very well of the client I decided to look further, and so far it’s been a very nice fit. A win for him, he was able to show value to the client via the referral and he got some badly needed help, a win for me as billable work is always good, and I think a win for the client (though I’ll let them decide that!).
You’ll note that all of that was stuff that was pushed to me – it was someone else using their network, and it worked because both sides had taken a small amount of time to catalog their network.
Make the small continuing investment in networking, it often works in unexpected ways.
