When I met Randy he was trying something new; networking! Up to that point he had been doing all the typical job search activities: submitting resumes on-line, responding to advertisements, and going door to door.

During the summer of 2008 he recognized that what he was doing was not working. Randy's first change was to attend a networking meeting. While at the networking meeting he was encouraged by one of the organizers to contact Larry, the Regional Employment Resource Manager. Randy followed through and met with Larry; during the meeting Larry encouraged Randy to call me; again he followed through.

Randy and I met for lunch to discuss his situation and so I could get to "Know Him". Following our lunch we worked on his resume to make some changes that put his accomplishments as the lead-in to his resume. Randy had achieved much success during his 20+ year career in manufacturing and his resume started just that way using the common verbiage of "Over 20 years experience".

The problem with that lead-in is that it does not tell Randy's story of accomplishments. Randy had many successes in reducing costs, increasing productivity, and implementing new technologies. He had percentages and dollars to go along with the accomplishments that were in his resume, but not highlighted in his accomplishements.

We changed his resume and his comment to me was that his resume really sounded like a sales promotion. The fact is that is exactly what your resume is; it is a sales document and he was selling himself.

Approximately one and one half months after our lunch I received a call from a friend, Elmer, telling me about a person he knows, Dave, that had a client in need of welders. I called Dave and asked him about his client. In addition to welders, he identified several other positions that they were looking to fill and one was plant management. Immediately I connected the dots from a need for plant management to Randy, whom I had met a couple of months previously.

I told Dave that I thought I had someone for him and that I would call Randy for permission to forward his resume. I sent the resume and confirmed with Dave that he had received it. Dave was interested and as his schedule cleared he met with Randy a couple of weeks later. As the meeting concluded Dave told Randy that he wanted to present Randy for the position.

A few days passed and Randy received a call for an appointment with the President to discuss the position. The meeting happened and then nothing. After a couple of days, Randy called to follow up and again talked to the President. The President told Randy that he wanted to hire him; not as a plant manager, but as the VP of Manufacturing. Randy would be responsible for running the entire operation; something that Randy had not even considered and far more than he expected. Randy's first thought was that they had not discussed salary, benefits, or any other details.

Those things were worked out; but more importantly Randy's job search was over.

If you were to reread this experience you would see that it started with:

1. Randy attending the Networking Meeting.
2. Randy being referred to Larry.
3. Larry referring Randy to me and our subsequent meeting.
4. Dave's client contacting Dave.
5. Dave contacting Elmer.
6. Elmer contacting me.
7. My calling Dave.
8. My calling Randy.
9. Dave and Randy talking.
10. Dave and his client talking.
11. Dave's client talking to Randy.
12. Randy calling Dave's client back.

This is a great story of networking success and the importance of people getting to "Know You". If Randy had not become a networker; most likely he would never have heard of the opportunity. This position was never advertised; it was all word of mouth.

If you want to learn more about networking, how to develop your networking skills, how to build your network, and how to get people to "Know You"; we need to talk.

Contact me for a FREE consultation on how, together, we can get your job search moving forward.