Networking At Funerals Can Breathe New Life Into Your Job Search

Well folks, you really need to take advantage of every opportunity to network…even at funerals.  Recently I attended a memorial service for a mother of a dear friend of mine.  In fact, this individual whose mom passed was one of my first bosses’ way back when; I take pride in having kept up with her and her family over the years.  They are fabulous people and showing this kind of personal and professional contact can go along way when it comes to references.  My former boss has many get-togethers each year and I make it my best effort to attend.  Unfortunately there will be less people at them now as her dad left our earth less than a year ago, and now her endearing mother.

At all these family gatherings we socialize, catch up on things and just plain enjoy each others’ company.  People come and people go.  Interestingly enough, over the course of several years my family struck a friendship with another family at these events.  We don’t always attend every one of them at the same time, but that’s understood.  We have children roughly the same age and the dad of the other family and I share many common interests.  I don’t remember seeing this gentleman at my colleagues’ fathers’ memorial, but I did at her moms’.  We’ve never been close, purely casual, but we’ve always managed to stay in touch which is the point here.

We commiserated over what crappy professional lives we lead and basically cried in our champagne.  Everyone both he and I know are suffering, gravely.  He’s been in and out of his industry for 25 years.  About five years ago, a regional director in his industry contacted him to start up a local office; he hesitated, and then indulged…then the economy tanked.  He’s had assistants, managers, sales people…all let go as a result of changing business models and infrastructures.  Recently production has picked up; one month proves great, and then nothing for months at a time.  That said, still nothing consistent or solid.  He’s been so busy trying to chase leads, keeping things up and running, he’s had no time or financial resources to find another person to start managing it again.  It’s been downright awful.

Just my luck.

The two of us are worlds apart professionally, but we’ve always managed to inquire about what we do and how we keep going and stay above water; not easy to say the least.  He asks me what I’m good at and I ask him.  He’s an operations guy and I’m a detailed, follow up and follow through guy.  I manage.  He runs.  I’m defense, he’s offense.

Just his luck.

We chatted awhile longer and then departed wishing each other well after, of course, exchanging business cards yet again.  Several days later my phone rang.  Guess Who?  We spent several days playing telephone tag; I was busy trying to manage my life, and he was busy chasing his.  He always wanted to get together that second…like what’s the deal, drop your stuff and…run.  Something didn’t quite fit together, didn’t sound right, too last-minute and not thought out.  But again, he’s a runner and I’m more stable.  I wasn’t sure, he sounded fraught with distress.  Well, things in my life aren’t quite fitting together or resounding spectacular either.  He called me again on a particular day which I had set aside to catch up on things – like breathing and making sure I still had all ten fingers and toes.  He asked me what I was doing, can I meet with him.  Now!  I told him I was wearing a sweat outfit, hadn’t shaved and I hemmed and hawed.  He responded by saying, “So?”  I grabbed a portfolio, resume and strength and went to meet my next opportunity.

We spent five hours that day brainstorming over what he’s going through and how he thought we could help each other reach the light at the end of our respective tunnels.  Again, we’re poles apart professionally, but seeing that both our tunnels were quite gloomy, I thought I’d give it a shot.

So here I am learning a brand spanking new industry transferring every possible skill I can muster from the depths of my soul working on building out my friends’ company, developing strategies on every departmental level from the ground up.  For nothing.  For the time being.  For now.  So isn’t it better to actually do something where you can see progress attained with income potential than just chasing after opportunities that have a greater chance at failing?  Try creating opportunities.  My friend is getting tired of chasing business; he doesn’t want it to fail.  He wants to create a sense of balance and peace of mind with his company. And if someone approaches you with an offer that requires you to put on your running shoes to exercise your brain for a few weeks, find some way to manage that.  Take some risk, a possibility that if you put your mind to something completely different and allow yourself to run with it, you just might score the next touchdown.  I’m the glue and his ball is unraveling.

Just Our Luck.

Time for a huddle.  I’ll keep you posted.

As Always, Thanks For Surfing My Wave!

Why Just Look For A Job? Create One!™
TheUnemployMENTOR – email@theunemploymentor.com

Tagged as: friends and job search, getting around obstacles, navigating our lives, networking