Social Networking Method

Miles getting into his tea

A few weeks back I was at a party in Oakland with a group of Berkeley grads who were sharing their experiences about the jobs they had selected after finishing university. Some were taking on business development roles with Silicon Valley start-ups, others were seeing Angel financing for their own businesses and then was Miles who had taken a recruiting role at a fast growing Silicon Valley start-up. He was telling me about how his new role needs him to travel the country and hire about 450 new employees in less than a year. A huge task for anyone, made even larger by the fact that Miles has never had to do it before!

After taking over his new opportunity for a while it became obvious that it provided him an incredible opportunity to network with other Silicon Valley HR managers who had been in similar positions. He could approach them as an equal and ask them for advice on how best to execute his task. Knowing that VC’s and other investors are always on the lookout for people who can get difficult jobs done (like ramping up employee numbers across the country) it can be a real stepping stone for Miles.

For Miles the challenge he had been set by his employer can be leveraged to help build his network and reputation in the Valley. It got me thinking that there must be thousands of people doing amazing things within companies that have never thought to approach people at rival firms to ask for advice and or share their wisdom. What are you working on at the moment that you can either seek out help or offer it yourself?

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