New Opportunities

A few weeks ago, a friend connected me to a new job opportunity.  A few emails, and I am doing the job for the next few days.  It is truly a reminder of how much gets done outside of Indeed and Craigslist and even LinkedIn.
 
Several of my jobs over the past year have been that way. Perhaps it is my industry, but a whole lot more seems to happen separate from interviews and lengthy online applications than with those formalities.  There's a shorthand in personal contact that, I guess, just can't work in a more formal job search.
 
What's particularly interesting is how closely personal interactions work the same way.  Why was I supposed to give a speech yesterday?  Because being a drop off/pick up mom has put me in the path of people who need people (okay, this pun I couldn't resist) to make speeches.  People know me, now as more than just a name on a list. Why have I become friends with parents of some of my children's friends?  My children have already vetted them (well, at least their kids), and I (at least sometimes) trust my children's judgment. Plus, it's just easier to have friends who connect to the same places I need to take my kids.  And easier is helpful.
 
It doesn't make me feel good about the hiring process to know that this is the way it works, but, in a lot of ways, it actually makes sense.  Which means that the hours and days spent filling out all those online applications could probably have been better spent having coffees with potential contacts. Or keeping up constant email dialogues with every person I've ever met, even if they've moved to the woods and are now raising chickens.
 
Okay, this has gotten a little extreme, even for a diehard networker.  For now, I will just thank goodness for the new connection (and make sure I do right by it), and keep doing whatever I can to keep connecting all the people I know.  So that we all have new opportunities for new opportunities.