I was in the gym the other day, trying to mind my own business while doing sit-ups (well attempting to do them), when I overheard a conversation between a personal trainer and the trainee. It went something like this:
Trainee: “Has your husband found a job yet?”…as she pulls on some ropes doing some exercise that made no sense.
Trainer: “No, he’s still looking.”
Trainee: “What is it that he does?” She stops her workout.
The trainer said something about some obscure field of physics that made no sense to me. (There is a theme developing here….)
Trainee: “Really? We have a need for people with those skills and training where I work.” (Who knew anyone needed someone in this field??) “Can you get him to send me his resume?”
Trainer: “Sure! That would be great.”
This eavesdropping led me to some insights on networking and job searches that I think are pretty valuable. Everywhere you go, there is someone who might have a job or know about a job you are looking for. If you aren’t looking for a job, everywhere you go there are people that one day may connect you to an awesome opportunity. In addition, everywhere your spouse, kids, parents, best friend, etc. goes, there is someone there who might know about a job or an awesome opportunity.
To capitalize on this:
- Go places. The gym is a good place to start.
- Talk to people in those places about life and work. See where your conversation leads you that might result in some mutual gains.
- Get your spouse, kids, parents, best friend, etc. to go places. The gym may be a good place to start for them too.
- Make all of these people close to you aware of what you want out of your career.
- Get them talking about opportunities and mutual gain.
We make networking harder than it really needs to be. It isn’t some speed dating game, it is simply:
- Going places.
- Talking
- Identifying mutual gain.
- Acting on those areas of opportunities.
Now go get a workout in- our better yet, send your spouse to the gym. It might lead to some great results….in more ways than one.
