What's Your Obligation If Somebody Helps You Find a Job?

I had a Starbucks with a stranger the other day.

I asked him how he got connected to me.

He said I helped one of his friends get a job at a great company.

I didn’t readily recall her name but her photo on LinkedIn returned her to my memory.

I never got any business leads from her after she got the job but I got a lot of nice projects from her company. Any connection? Who knows?

I helped her during the Great Recession. Remember the Great Recession? It started a year after the first iPhone was introduced almost to the day.

I had a Starbucks the other day with an old friend who had returned to Southern CA.

He is a great networker. Maybe better than me and I have a very high bar. My friend is well networked with many and has a great reputation. He is known for his willingness to network with folks often strangers and trying to help them.

My friend and I talked about that subject.

We were both laughing and sharing stories about how many people we invested time in, often in bad times when we really didn’t have a lot of time because we were chasing the money.

He shared that he recently got at a text from somebody that was now in transition again from a great job. He shared that that is the third time she had reached out to him.

Then he leaned in and said did she get me one meeting? One meeting? Not a high bar I thought. No is what he said with a smile on his face.

I brought up my own three time winner. Every time she is out of work she pops into my life.

We have coffee. I provide some introductions thinking all the time this time she will change. She gets a new job and I am forgotten.

Neither of us talked about money. We laughed actually.mWe talked about the disappointing fact that in some people’s minds they don’t owe you. After they get the job you disappear from their memory. It’s as simple as that.

Maybe that is why they lose their jobs.

He shared some people that were looking for a job. I took some screen captures of their LinkedIn profiles so I could follow up and then we went along our mutual and separate ways.

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