Thom Singer is a buddy who I follow because he has a smart, in-touch-with-reality perspective. Recently I read two blog posts from him that hit a few of points home for me.
Thom worked for a company called vcfo. They just opened offices in Denver and announced that Jennifer Kendall will run that shop. As I read about this I thought “I didn’t hear they were expanding, or looking for someone in Denver.” I had no idea.
I bet many people in Denver had no idea… but Jennifer somehow knew. Or better, someone at vcfo knew about Jennifer, and brought her into this opportunity (I don’t know how it happened, but I’m assuming she was found before vcfo got thousands of resumes).
Go back to my posts on the hidden job market (Part I, Part II, Part III) – I firmly believe that the hidden job market is key to many job seekers. Getting into the hidden job market is critical, and a major component of that is networking.
Have a problem with that (I did!)? Then go pick up a copy of Never Eat Alone.
One of the points hit home is that companies are hiring (even expanding, like vcfo).
Another point is that the hidden job market is where you need to spend your time.
A third point is how to get into this market… I talked about it in those three posts (links above), but lets go to another post from Thom titled Twitter’s Power is Local.
Thom is one of two power networkers that I know in Austin. Thom knows a lot of people, and is regularly out networking and speaking. He is known and trusted, and can make introductions. I doubt he will make introductions until he trusts you, however… so how do you get a guy like Thom to know and trust you?
Read Twitter’s Power is Local. Thom tells you how to tap into his world, and his network. He gives an example of a guy who was following him on Twitter, introduced himself at a networking event, and now they are doing “projects” together.
Discount Twitter if you want, but others are getting real business and real relationships out of it.
