Stephanie was out of work for over two years after leaving an industry that wasn’t a right fit for her. During that time she worked on personal side projects including a house renovation and RV travel around the US.
When she decided it was time to return to work in 2024 the job market had dried up considerably. She was also challenged because she knew after her break she didn’t want to resume her old career path in sales.
She applied for some roles on LinkedIn but leaned heavily on networking. She reached out to meet as many as she could in the emerging field of Sales Enablement. Eventually, she reconnected with former colleagues from a previous employer. She had learned the toxic leadership had departed and there was a new Sales Enablement team.
Her former colleagues strongly advocated for her to the point she only had one formal interview with HR. After three weeks of casual discussions, she was presented with an offer as a Commercial Field Marketing Manager. She felt fortunate and reinvigorated as she took her career in a new direction.
Renee was a technical program manager in the gaming industry. She had a thriving career but made the difficult decision in early 2020 to leave her position to care for an ill parent who needed nearly full-time care. Her caregiving lasted over three years.
When she was ready to return to work she knew she felt most comfortable returning to her old industry. She reached out to former colleagues to reconnect. In addition to reaching out one by one, she decided to tap into the collective energy of the gaming industry network as it’s a small world and many people knew one another.
Renee decided to host a happy hour with her former colleagues. When she invited them she encouraged them to bring along anyone else in their network to join. It was a great opportunity to reconnect and connect with new contacts.
In a matter of weeks, an old colleague heard about a technical project manager role from someone in their network and referred Renee to that contact. She completed four interviews in less than 2 weeks getting an offer just hours after the last interview. She even negotiated up from the offer they presented.
Nicole was laid off in the summer of 2024.
For months she looked for a new position but decided she didn’t want to jump at just anything. So she relied heavily on networking to tap into contacts who knew her and the kind of contributions she could make.
One woman she reconnected with was someone who had interviewed her six years ago for a different role. While at the time the role didn’t pan out, Nicole kept in touch with her. This time when they reconnected, the woman said she was hiring for a new position and Nicole would be a great fit. But the story got even better.
In Nicole’s words, “My story is funny. It’s not only about networking and keeping in touch with someone I met six years ago through interviewing for a different job. It’s also about finding a job that wasn’t advertised. The role I was originally interviewing for was an Implementation Project Management Supervisor role, and halfway through the interview process, they decided to restructure the whole implementation team. They then offered me a Director of Implementation and Onboarding role! My entire unemployment was a total of five months. I believe it could have been a lot longer if I hadn’t leveraged my contacts.”
Ally was shell shocked when she got laid off.
She had worked in the telecommunications industry for years and had built an excellent reputation while serving her clients well. She had even survived a recent merger. The acquiring company recognized her as a valuable resource to keep implementations progressing and clients happy.
But that confidence came to a swift end when cost cutting became a bigger priority. She was told her position would be eliminated in 90 days. After the shock wore off, she began to reach out to her network of clients, former customers, and colleagues.
She had learned of the layoff on a Monday and already had two interviews lined up by Thursday. One lead came from her colleague who raved about her to his client base. Another lead came from a former client who proactively introduced her to a connection looking to hire someone with her experience.
As she interviewed and negotiated between these two companies, another former client came forward and asked for her to consider an opportunity with them.
In the end, in less than two weeks following her notice, she had three interested parties trying to win her over. She decided on the company that best fit her values and her pay priorities (she negotiated a higher salary and bonus plan).
And even though she began her new role (while still collecting severance), the other two companies kept trying to recruit her.