Lost and Found


I “lost” my corporate HR job in 2013.

But since that time I “found” myself.

I found that I am an open and caring person.

Recently I received a LinkedIn invitation from someone I did not know from another country.

I noticed that we had a connection in common.

Another commonality was that we are both Human Resources professionals.

I pressed “accept” and accepted the invitation.

We messaged each other for awhile on LinkedIn.

We talked about some stuff that you might talk about at a live networking event.

He mentioned that he was coming to Canada.

And moving to Mississauga.

That presented a barrier to me in terms of setting up a coffee meet-up.

I live in Toronto and don’t like to drive on the highway to go to Mississauga.

He told me where he was staying.

I looked at the map (I’m old school sometimes!) and thought if he can get himself to Mississauga Square One, I could take a bus from the Islington subway station that would take me to this mall.  

He liked the idea of meeting at Mississauga Square One on a Friday.  (I get Friday’s off and arrange all my coffee meet-ups on Friday’s.)

I stood in front of Second Cup at the designated time.

We’d never met, but at least we each had photos on LinkedIn to guide us.

We connected first on LinkedIn and for a second time in person.

We had a great conversation!    

I learned that my friend would make a great HR Business Partner in the Toronto and GTA area.

My friend’s HR experience encompasses the following:

-working in multinationals and collaborating with colleagues from different countries   
-union experience in a manufacturing setting
-employee relations (solving people problems and planning organizational changes like restructurings)
-creating and implementing policies
-managing people
-SAP and Oracle experience

My friend’s interests include family time, travelling, meeting new people and learning new cultures. 
 
I would love to help my new friend.

Let me know if you can think of anyone he should meet or companies to follow. 

You just never know who you might meet on LinkedIn.

If you can do it, book some time to meet off-line and and have a conversation.

You can learn so much by talking to someone.

And maybe learn something about yourself in the process.


Also Published on LinkedIn on:  May 20, 2017
Image Credit:  Pixabay


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