The Ties That Bind

Lately I’ve been thinking about job seekers and the job search process.

I’ve been preparing a presentation that would provide job seekers with some tips and tricks that they could incorporate into their job search.

I’ve been on “heightened alert” about anything related to the job search process!  

I came across a LinkedIn article on elevator speeches by Joe Kwon called “Don’t Miss Another Opportunity.” 

Mr. Kwon gives an example of how an accountant could introduce him/herself to someone at a networking event in a way that is very creative and memorable. In the two introductions below, Mr. Kwon suggests that the second one is the better introduction. I think the second introduction definitely has the possibility of leading into a conversation!  

          

“Fail: I'm an accountant and I help prepare individual tax returns. 

Pass: I take the dread out of April 15.”

Another interesting article that I’ve come across is by Kevin McKeown on strong ties and weak ties and networking called “The Strength of Weak Ties in Social Networking: Seek to be Worth Knowing.”

I agree with the premise that weak ties are important in your LinkedIn network. Weak ties provide us with information or a perspective that we may not have considered before. I definitely am learning things from my weak ties on LinkedIn.

As someone who likes to build relationships with people, I look for opportunities to make my ties with people who I am already in regular contact with even stronger.  

It’s helpful to learn what interests your ties.

Someone in my network likes 80’s songs and someone in my network likes Twitter. Someone in my network likes Starbucks and someone in my network likes Sia.  

If I see an article or I want to tap into someone’s knowledge about a certain subject, I know who to send the article to or who to talk to for advice, because I have an idea about their interests.

It helps to share knowledge which in turn builds goodwill. An example is Jacob Morgan. Mr. Morgan writes books and articles, and does podcasts and videos regarding the future of work. He definitely has a strong brand around the “future of work.” I think he is extremely generous in the knowledge that he shares. Mr. Morgan’s web site can be found here.

Like Mr. Morgan, I aspire to share my knowledge in an area that I know something about, like the job search process!

I suppose that you could say that knowledge sharing and sharing interests are some ties that bind!

Originally Published on LinkedIn:  December 1, 2016

Image Credit:  Pixabay