Did Social Networking Land Me a Job?

Whenever I’m asked about using social networking tools, inevitably someone asks me if I could see it ever helping someone find a job. I’ve always had to answer that although I have never gotten a job offer due to my online connections, it has led to a number of other opportunities that I would not have been able to experience without those connections.

Now, I may have to change my answer. As I arrive in Greenville and settle into my new home town, I have to say that it was social networking that got me connected to this job, although not directly.

The story starts, actually, in 2009. I was approached by some folks who had read my blog about speaking at the ILTA Annual Meeting on Social Networking. That invitation was purely the result of being involved with online networking. That led to being invited back to do a couple of sessions at ILTA 2010, and it just so happens that the person who was working as a recruiter for this new firm saw me speak there and introduced himself. Late in 2010 he contacted me to ask whether I, or someone I knew, might be interested in relocating South.

So, while I have no evidence that anyone who ultimately made the hiring decision was influenced by my online activities, clearly even being put in front of them was an indirect result of online connections. Which just goes to show that you never know where some connections are going to lead, and that you never know what getting out there and doing something like speaking and sharing your knowledge will lead to. So take advantage of opportunities!

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