Are You Ready?

Last year I went to a dinner in New Jersey with the ETP Network.  It was a fun, cozy networking dinner where I was the guest of honor.  At the end of the dinner I was asked by ETP Network founder Rod Colon “Jason, how can WE help YOU?”

At this point in my business I was not accustomed to this question, as I had been the one asking that to everyone else.  After reading Never Eat Alone I was anxious to help people, and would frequently ask my contacts what I could do to help them.

But I never really thought about how they could help me, or at least I hadn’t figured out how I would say how they could help me.

This year was different.  Last week I was in NYC, at a similar dinner. Again, I was the guest of honor, and we had a terrific night.  I had forgotten about “the question,” but I had enough experience with it this last year that I was prepared to answer it correctly this time.

“Jason, how can we help you?”

“I would love to have each of you share JibberJobber, and my LinkedIn book and my message, with your friends who are in the job search.”

I didn’t fumble, like I did last year, and that is indeed what I really wanted people to do.

Are you ready to answer the question for you?  People ask you regularly what they can do to help you, right?  I hate the common job seeker dialogue that goes something like this:

Employed Person: “How’s the job search going?”

Job Seeker: “Fine.”

That’s it, the common response.  We miss a terrific opportunity to help the other person help them… tomorrow I’ll tell you how I think you can respond to help them help you.