Friday, April 25, 2014

Thoughts on Networking

Networking is an amazing thing.

If you’re a regular reader of our blog than you are probably aware that Jesse has had a hard time finding a job in the human resource field. We were very certain he’d get this one job a few months back and he didn’t and it was an extremely frustrating experience. However, it really gave us the motivation to kick this job search into high gear.

The first thing we decided to do was to send out a Facebook post asking for all the help we could get from our friends. Whether it was a job opportunity or even someone they knew, we knew anything at this point would be helpful in our search.

We’ve had SO many good leads. So I just want to say to everyone that’s given us advice or offered to take Jesse’s resume, THANK YOU! You've given a tremendous amount of help! I cannot even thank you all enough!

After the Facebook post, we started by talking to every single human resource person we knew or could get to know.  The idea was to ask them how they got their job. The majority of them gave us the same two answers: being in the right place at the right time and knowing a lot of people. Thus we began our journey networking.

It’s really simpler than I thought it would be. I’m a shy person and was not looking forward to putting myself out there more but more often than not the opportunities came to us. While Jesse and I were at RC Willey we ran into a family friend of Jesse’s who happened to work there. He was talking about his wife’s new job and how they’re a growing company and such. I took it upon myself to ask if they were hiring in our specific field and he gave us some information. Or you know those times when your visiting teachers or your home teachers ask if they can help you in any way? Instead of our usual “no but thank you” response we instead said “yes, actually…” and asked them to keep an ear out.

Possibly are greatest two leads came just recently. Our bishop told us that his daughter just married a man who works in Human Resource… at Progrexion…the very same company my husband works for. We have plan on emailing him pronto.

Our next lead is such just one of the billions of reasons I love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (networking is especially amazing within the church.) Jesse’s mom was talking to her friend from the temple about our situation and her friend suggested that Jesse meet with her husband. Her husband is the CFO at his company and was very willing to help Jesse in any way he could. We didn’t really know in what ways he could help but we figured not only was another contact never a bad thing, we also realized that you can never know too many CFO’s. They’re basically living proof of success in the career world and so when they offer to give advice and help, you never turn it down.

Well, they talked. And after getting to know Jesse he asked Jesse to write up an introduction of himself and that then he would then send it out to some friends he has at other companies. He sent it out to a total of seven people. Seven people who were either SPHRs, CFOs, or CEOs of various companies. Nearly half have already responded and it's been less than 24 hours:

Number 1: Wants to meet Jesse in person.
Number 2: Sent Jesse’s resume to the Human Resource Department and they called wanting to meet with Jesse.
Number 3: Is a graduate of the University of Utah with his bachelors in Communications (that is where Jesse graduated and was Jesse’s major) and is very enthusiastic in getting to know Jesse. Not only does he want to talk to Jesse he also sent his resume to a friend of his who has human resource jobs available and gave us her contact number so Jesse can reach out to her.
Number 4: This is easily the one that gets me the most excited (though all of them are fantastic opportunities.) He invited Jesse as his guest to a SPHR chapter lunch, which if you don’t know what a SPHR is, let’s just say Jesse will be having lunch and meeting with some of the most important human resource people in the salt lake region.

Today as I was about to make myself some lunch, I looked over at the magnet on our fridge that I had entirely forgotten about until then. It is one of my very favorite quotes and it is so fitting for how I’ve been feeling lately:

“God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.” –Spencer W. Kimball

My heart is so full of gratitude for all the people that have taken time out of their lives to help us or who have kept us in their prayers. A few weeks ago I was feeling so sad, wondering if our situation was ever going to change. Today I was reminded that I have a loving Father in heaven who does know my struggles and worries. I’m so grateful that God still sends angels to us through the people we encounter in our lives.

I don’t know what will happen or where we’ll end up, or even if anything will turn out from all this. But what I do know is that something great will happen eventually. We just need to have a little faith it will.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend (I know we will!)

-T

So grateful to have such a hard working husband! He is amazing and I love him more and more each day!
*(Sorry for the blurry features. I think I accidentally had the makeup feature on.)*

No comments:

Post a Comment