March Hire Results for Job Seekers

Get Into the Flow – and Land Your Dream Job!
By Erika Hanson Brown, Principal, Stellar Connections, LLC

My earliest career goal was to function within the world of marketing communications in Big-City Chicago. Armed with a Liberal Arts degree and no direct experience, I had no clue how I was going to enter this world. But I was soon a recognized talent resource to the major advertising agencies and their clients. I was interviewed for magazine articles, and on Chicago career-oriented programs. My profile was even included in one of the very first books published on the subject of “networking”.

How did I accomplish all this when I’d moved to Chicago knowing a sum total of three people when I first arrived there? I swiftly became a dedicated Network Manager, applying the twin concepts of choice and discernment to the building and management of my own growing networks. My networking ability continues to pay off today, and yours can do the same for you.

Today’s business buzz words seem to include the noun “network”. We are all told that if we’d just use our networking skills, all will be resolved successfully for us. The unhappy truth is that resolution-by-networking-alone doesn’t seem to happen for most folks.

My career advice to all job seekers today would be to suggest a new concept: learn to use the Connectoring Way Network Management practice and techniques, and you will produce results!

I have developed coursework – The Connectoring Way – that introduces network management suggestions helpful to many. One local Stellar recently found and landed her dream job because of this coursework. Lauri Harrison, a local public relations wizard, a well-known and practiced local networker (and Founder of SchmooziI!, a large networking event), didn’t feel initially that she had much to learn from this coursework. As she says, “I already knew all this social stuff!”

Ms. Harrison was looking for another job at that time. She admitted to having hundreds of people in her network but was having difficulty connecting to the right people with the right jobs. She confessed to our class that she was having difficulty connecting to anybody! Lauri therefore decided to try some of the Connectoring Way concepts she’d just learned.

Lauri decided to try out some of the concepts of the 7Verities, the relationship-building stepping stones we cover in detail in the Connectoring Way coursework. Realizing that some of her best connections had lapsed with time, she telephoned a former colleague with no intention other than to re-connect with an old colleague and connection.

After some friendly conversation, Lauri’s friend suggested an introduction to her husband who was seeking to hire a marketing person. Today, Lauri is the new Denver Product Marketing Manager for a well-funded business communications firm, and she credits her participation in the Connectoring Way Web Seminar for this personal success. Her story gives ardent testimony to recognizing the fact that one must constantly nurture and build upon our connections networks. She also now rather gleefully tosses around the term “discernment” when talking about the successful conclusion of her recent job search.

Lauri pursued some productive activities that you, too, can learn by taking the Connectoring Way coursework. You’ll learn:

• Network Analysis and Management – emphasizing the difference between the contact and connections networks
• Which network to go to, and when
• Concept of Discernment and how to use it
• Importance of taking relationship building action now

Lauri learned - as I had learned – that we can choose to find our own path to the career or job we seek by knowingly and artfully managing our networks and applying our best social skills. She applied these concepts, and she landed her dream job!

The Connectoring® Way could be Your Way to your perfect job as well! At the very least, the Way shows you how to get Into The Flow! And that’s just where you want to be.

A note about the author
Erika Hanson Brown has a wealth of experience in developing a strategic approach to creating and enhancing individual and corporate communities (“networks”). Erika has worked extensively as an executive recruiter for corporations and placement agencies, trainer, professional executive coach, and business executive for national organizations across the country.

Erika Hanson Brown, Principal
Stellar Connections LLC – Professional Business Services
www.connectoring.com