SOCIAL MEDIA–NETWORKING ON STEROIDS

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I recently received an e-mail from Lynn Rathmell who works for Jewish Family Services.  One of her duties is to help unemployed people find work.  She asked me to meet with a seasoned business executive who lost his high level management position when his business was sold.

Lynn felt if I tutored him on social media & LinkedIn, I could help him find a job.

When I met him, his first comment was, “In the past I haven’t done a very good job of networking.  I ran a successful distribution business for many years & didn’t feel networking was important.  Now here I am, out of work, and I have very few contacts.”

This is typical of most people.  But the fact is all through life we need help from others & and the more people we know the better off we are.

One of the most important books I ever read was “Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty,” by Harvey Mackay.  Mr. Mackay explained in every way possible that success in life is heavily dependent on your business & social networks.  He spent most of his book talking about the importance of keeping your Rolodex full & up to date.

At that time, my Rolodex was pretty skimpy & I remember thinking it was too late to fix.

However, you & I have been given another chance.  My Rolodex was converted to Outlook and then to LinkedIn, Facebook. & Twitter.  I currently have over 800 first line connections on LinkedIn alone & that explodes into about 150,000 people my first line connections can put me in touch with.

My connections have helped me in every facet of my life.  John Mackay says in his book, “When two individuals swap pennies, each has a penny.  When each shares their networks, they each have two networks.”   This David Sher your WeMentor Guy saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.