Good morning Teddy;

During our phone conversation in January 2013, you advised me to begin building new connections by Networking for Mutual Benefit. You helped me understand that this meant meeting new people and focusing on ways to help them before I asked for any help for myself. You told me to target people in the industry where I was interested in finding a new job.

Not being completely sure of how this would work, I decided to try your suggestions anyway. 

I contacted a friend of mine who works in the hospitality industry, where I previously worked as well. We talked on the phone and decided to meet for dinner a week later. During dinner we talked about lots of stuff and ended up talking about other people he thought may be able to help me on my job search. He gave me some names of good people to contact, and offered to help me any way he could.

Despite all my efforts, I had minimal success connecting to the names he told me to reach out to. I still appreciated the ideas and again thanked my friend for his time and ideas.

Fast forward to April 2013. I responded to an ad for a full-service hotel in the Triad area of North Carolina that was in need of a Department Manager. This position seemed to be written for me. It was local to me and needed a candidate with the same experiences and skills that I have.

As instructed in the ad, I applied online. I noticed that my application and resume were routed to an out-of-state HR Director. From past online application experiences, I doubted that this person would know me or consider my resume.

Knowing full well that my application was probably just one of hundreds in the pile in the out of state HR Directors office, I sent a copy of my resume with a letter of introduction to the hotel’s General Manager.

I really wanted this job, so I sent a follow-up letter to the General Manager in an attempt to keep my name fresh in his or her mind. In both mailings, I invited the General Manager to review my LinkedIn profile in addition to the enclosed resume.

Within a week, I got a call from the General Manager inviting me in for an interview. During the interview, she told me that before she called me in for an interview she contacted a friend of hers who “knows a lot of people”.

To my surprise the person she called was my friend that I had dinner with in January 2013.

Wow, I had no idea these two knew each other. What a small world it is.

The happy ending to this story is that I was offered the position and will start in 2 weeks.

Thanks for encouraging me to Network for Mutual Benefit. It is the reason I got this job.

Thanks Teddy!

BCS