Simple and difficult

I got a call out of the blue last week from a woman whom I first hired 10 years ago. We worked together for about two years or so but have been on our own flight paths since. A bad relationship and a bad accident led her to return to this coast about six months ago. With a new outlook, new beau and a good job in the transition, she called to begin the networking required for finding the right new job.

We sat at a nearby Starbucks on Friday (January 6 and they are already marketing Valentine's Day goodies) and did the requisite note-comparing and name-dropping that serves as the the appetizer for most business meals and traded near-inside information so as to earn each other's trust. She wanted to know if I could help her make a professional move to a new industry and a new kind of company.

It was a question that ought to have been answered "no" sixteen ways. Companies are cautious; it is unlikely they'd take a chance on an industry novice for a job anything akin to the one she holds. Companies are budget-conscious; the looser the link between revenue and a staff position, the less likely it will be filled. Companies are trend-followers; one has to act before the others will and no one wants to be first. Companies don't fill strategic jobs with candidates off the street; only familiarity breed contentment.

What struck me by the time our coffee had gone cold, was that none of these are insurmountable. It all depends on her ability to identify people who have those qualities and whom she can identify, enlist and rally to her cause. Think of it as a mixed metaphor drawn from Sun's Scott McNealy and Clinton advisor James Carville; "It's the network, stupid."

The two names I gave her were the sum total of my contacts who could help, but if they are only two of many referred from others in her network, she is well on her way to getting introduced to the right people by the right people at the right time for the right job. It seems simple, but it is really hard work.

Staying in touch with people; never burning bridges unless you have to; remembering what you've seen, heard, read and said; and being will to play the role for others, too, is a good way to create that network of support.

What seemed an insoluble problem when we sat down, became less calculus and more arithmetic by the time we parted. I wished her well. But I forgot to thank her for reminding (teaching?) me that the best way to meet the people you don't know is to talk to the people you do.

Simple and difficult.