Back in LALALAND
back to networking… Now that I’m back in town, I’m back to business, the business of finding a job or project to work on. Last Friday I had 5 meetings; today I’m having another 3, some over the phone some in person. Things I learned: 1) Think about what’s in it for them, not that I didn’t already know this, but emphasis never hurts. In this case it was in reference to a comment made by the director of the Shoah Foundation who helped me change my non-profit resume summary to ” My goal is to help community profit groups increase their donor base and fundraising by improving product identification in the marketplace and creating emotional ties between patrons and organizations.” Long winded I know, but it’s direct. 2) That working with friends can be fun as long as they are focused, on planning events with Andrew Warner for his Mixergy Brand. We’re going to be having one lunch, one happy hour, and one forum each month rotating the events in 3 different locations, LA, OC, and SD. Should be loads of fun. 3) Simply because someone has connected you to someone doesn’t mean that everyone’s on the same page. I was recommended to someone to help with events, broad scope which was where the problem stemmed from. My specialty is in the logistics and operations of event production, not in the calling attendees. What the new contact and I decided was that he really needed a business development person, who could contact his clientele and that I could be the person to design and produce the actual events once the market research has been done. 4) Recruiters are awesome. I met with Melissa Hooven, an in-house and self-employed tech recruiter. She knows everyone, and I am lucky that she now knows me. After a brief coffee she came up with a few startups that might be looking for someone with my skills and offered to show me around DigitalLA this week. Melissa also offered to recommend me I was to come across any jobs at companies that she has contacts at. Recruiters when they are good, understand the power of connections, these are my type of people. I’m taking my friend who got fired on Friday and meeting up with another recruiter there. 5) Meeting anyone is helpful. Call, email, meet for coffee, very often the person who you meet will not have what you need but will be able to direct you to an organization, or person that might. 6) Be honest about what you can provide. Today I met with someone who needed help with something, and I knew that I wasn’t the best person for him, so I told him. My honesty allowed him to have accurate expectations of me, and led him to ask what I was more qualified/interested in. This then encouraged him to connect me with people at two big name companies who are product managers there. Hopefully one of those will lead to something good. 7) Ask questions. I learned about a young consulting firm run by a Bruin today, he’s no longer really concentrating on that, but I had to ask to find out. Then we discussed how if he were to get any new projects he might call me. He also encouraged me to Twitter and to attend Twiistup. His blog is entertaining and talks about being young, having no money, and still being entrepreneurial. I also learned that Andrew Warner who I am working with for Mixergy is one of the biggest movers and shakers in the tech industry in Los Angeles and that I should feel very special that I’ve been given this opportunity.
