Are You Really Plugged-in to Your Network?

Man-oh-man did I get schooled on networking this week. Wednesday I had three networking meetings scheduled consecutively throughout the morning. While it was a bit of a scramble to get to the different networking meetings, it is not what I got schooled on. It was what I heard from one of the people I met with. Jobs that never hit the public street are out there and are being filled every day even in this economy.

The first networking meeting of the morning was with a senior Hi-Tech HR colleague that I have been acquainted with for a few years now. We occasionally run into each other at HR events. During our meeting we covered several topics and had a really good discussion. In our conversation I learned that she was considering hiring a friend and former co-worker of mine to help with a recruiting project. I gave an endorsement of my friend for the project. It was project work, which was no big deal to me. I frequently hear about project opportunities. Near the end of our meeting the conversation turned in a different direction. She shared with me that she had been quietly looking for someone to fill a particular HR specialist role in her organization. She had already identified her candidate. I was surprised that I hadn’t heard that she was looking to fill the role. It was never advertised or posted anywhere. I tried to keep my facial expression the same, but inside I was feeling shock at what I had just learned. We talked about what precipitated the search and what connections she used to find her candidate. I learned quite a bit about the opportunity with just a few probing questions. I finished up our meeting and went on to the other two networking meetings for the morning.

Wow, I could not believe what I had learned in that networking meeting. A job in my space had circulated in the community that I thought I was well plugged-in to. Well come to find out, I am not quite as plugged-in to it as I thought. While the role would not have been a match for me, it was the fact that it was in my backyard and I should have known about it that surprised me so much. I sat back and thought about what I had missed and how I could plug the holes to insure that I would be connected for the next time. I reexamined my industry connections, the frequency of my following up with my connections, and what I need to do to open new connections.

That evening I received an email on a similar situation through the metro area HR Network group that I belong to. The HR Network is a Yahoo group for area HR professionals to post questions to the HR community. This particular HR practitioner was looking for suggestions and tips on how to quietly search for candidates for a position. I don’t know what the position was that she was looking for but I passed along some suggestions to her on how to recruit for a position on the QT. What do you think was my number one suggestion? You got it, put out the word through her and the hiring manager’s network.

So ask yourself, how plugged-in to your network are you?