Hey! Who Do You Know?

It’s all about the network…

They always say it isn’t what you know but who you know that will get you to that next level in business and while I was always sure it was true I never really thought about the statement.

So today I broke it down. Let’s say that there are two equally qualified candidates for an Exploration Management role; one of them has been grinding away at the same position with Major OilCo for the past 20 years and is ultimately satisfied with the work and compensation and goes to work happy but unaware of the opportunity out there for someone with such skills. The other Geologist has been a little bit of a social butterfly and has kept in touch with old school friends and other industry professionals in addition to the usual suspects in the world of Geology while being employed with Major OilCo for the past 15 years after a brief 5 years with Indy OilCo.

I am most likely to run across the second candidate in my search in fact that second candidate is 10 times more likely to hear about let alone read this Blog than the first candidate. So why do I care? Either candidate is equally qualified right? I could just as easily place one or the other right? Well sure I could but in reality the great news for those of us who do work to keep ourselves in tune with the world around us is that we will continue to run into each other and by the very nature of our effort our network will grow. We will observe the social recluse with the exceptional skills and experience and eventually we will recommend that one of our more outgoing friends reach out to them. When we reach out to that person we will let them know that we have heard a lot about their effort and success over the years and we would like to speak with them about something that may be of significant interest to them because after all isn’t that what every one wants; just a little recognition for the hard work and effort we put into our day?

We have built our network around us for the benefit of all and even the quiet cube down the hall can receive the blessing of having been 1 degree removed from the opportunities that abound in our network. So, the next time you are pondering the question, “Who would you recommend for this position?” Remember the quiet guy or gal that has been plugging away at it non-stop. They just might want to know what they’ve been missing out on.