Is your community prepared to help?

[leave a light on for your network]

Warren Sukernek is looking for a job.

He told me about it and now I'm telling you.  Does telling you about this feel like I'm violating his trust?  It's OK - he's public about his status.

Warren did something that may seem counterintuitive after receiving his bad news - he reached out publicly and shared it.  His network responded in a big way, immediately starting to collaborate in helping him generate leads for a new job.

Today's corporations thrive by limiting information flow between employees.  For example, it's rare that you know the compensation of your colleagues. Open-air cubes foster cooperation - and management surveillance.  Separation agreements include clauses that prevent retelling of the facts.

Social tools give today's employees the means to connect with others and create a safety net independent of the corporation.  Let's face it: your at-work network is weak.  In research referenced by my colleague Kate Niederhoffer, the people we're likely to connect with are those in close physical proximity, not necessarily the people who are best positioned to help us.

Be warned:  not everyone can succeed like Warren did.  So start preparing in case of an emergency; don't wait until the snow has started falling before you run out to buy a shovel. How?

• Make connections that matter.  If someone declines your LinkedIn or Facebook friend request, that's OK - they likely wouldn't be willing or able to help you anyway.  Don't fall into the ego trap of building numbers.
• Keep your network primed.  You don't want a generator in the garage that won't start during the blizzard because you haven't tried to start it over the year.  Stay in contact with your network via regular conversation and participation. Comment on a Facebook status.  Reply @ a tweet, even if it wasn't directed at you.  The more you give AND take, the more these interactions will come naturally.
• Meet people for real.  Tweetups may seem silly (the term certainly is) but those personal connections will form the basis of solid relationships.  In-person matters.
• Bookmark resources.   My friend and former colleague Jeremiah Owyang maintains a web strategy job board.  He also organized a recent Silicon Valley Tweetup.  Other specialized resources certainly exist.

If you lost your job today, would and/or could you go public like Warren has?  Would your community be ready to activate and respond?  What else do you advise the people you mentor and/or what advice have you received that can help this community be better prepared?

 [UPDATE: Warren found a job.]

Comments

[Warren Sukernek]

Peter,

I am so happy to say that I have accepted a job with Radian6 as Director of Content Marketing. You can read more about it on my blog, http://cli.gs/wsradian. This job search was very fast and I received a lot of interest even during this terrible economy. Most of my job leads and interest came from Twitter and blog posts like this one. I attribute my success to having a strong network and lots of great caring people like yourself. Once again, I am very appreciative of all of your help and advice. I can't thank you enough.

Thank you,

Warren

[Peter Kim]

It wouldn't - I haven't been *in* Atlanta since November 2007. Have connected in the airport many times, but have not had a reason to go into town. When I do, I'll certainly give you advance warning, @loswhit too!

[Brent]

"meet with people for real"
.... hey now, would it be safe for me to assume you've been in ATL since we've last spoken/your trip changed?
:)

[Peter Kim]

Nguyen - thanks for sharing. Good to hear that you've gotten something lined up quickly!

[Nguyen Duong]

hi there, i was laid off last thursday. i made public on my twitter, blip.fm, and facebook the thoughts i had leading up to and the moment of my layoff. i had some reservations at first about doing it, putting myself out there like that, but in a way it was theraputic. and the ppl on those networks who i've developed a bond with (thru dialog and participation) were my support group. like warren and mark mentioned above, i was also blown away by the immediacy of support from the community. after a couple of days letting the emotions pass, i signed onto seesmic and posted a video of what i was going thru and wanted to share my thoughts on how to redirect the crappy situation. my point here is this: be honest and actively participate w/the community. and most importantly try all forms of social technology to be able to express/share your thoughts. thinking about it now, i should've captured a photo of the experience and posted to my flickr ;-)

anyways here's my seesmic video post and my 2-cents on turning lemons into lemonade with my layoff: http://tinyurl.com/a5snuw

BTW, thru one of my facebook connections, i was able to land a freelance gig starting next month. treat the community well and it'll treat you well in return.

[Mark Evans]

I was recently laid off and, like Warren, I let everyone know that I was a "free-agent" on my blog, Twitter and Facebook. The response and support from the community has been amazing. I've had lots of interesting conversations and proposals, and had some great meetings over the past two weeks. Rather than licking my wounds, I'm excited about the future.

Mark

[Sonny Gill]

Great advice Peter. I saw Warren's tweet and reached out for support immediately as I too am in the same situation (about a month now).

I got the same support, trust and response from my network that I can honestly call friends. They've been there for me like no other and am truly thankful for them. I wrote up a recent post on my thoughts of how to 'kick the recession in the butt' and have highlighted similar points. Utilizing the steps you've noted along with what I wrote has undoubtedly helped me grow & build long-lasting friendships within my network and has helped immensely in my search for a new role.

Best of luck to you Warren and feel free to reach out.

http://www.sonnygill.com/how-to-kick-the-recession-in-the-butt

[Warren Sukernek]

Wow, Peter I am just blown away! I really appreciate all of your support and help, not just through this, but from the first time we've met. You've always been so giving.

Although I have received great support and some leads from the community, I won't consider my efforts successful until I achieve my goal: a great job with a fantastic company. Hopefully, that will come soon!

Your advice really hits the mark. As Keith Ferrazzi writes in Never Eat Alone, you must build your network before you need it. And by always reaching out and helping others altruistically, you are building up the strength of your connections that you can tap into.

Ari, Kate, and Max, your help, support and advice is always appreciated!

Thank you.

[Max Kalehoff]

Pete,
My advice is to always be investing in your community and reputation -- and that means 1) doing extraordinary good for others with only positive intentions, 2) accomplishing real things and 3) humility. Those three things, combined, will ensure that businesses really want you on their team. Conversely, it is teams like that which draw the best talent. I'm not perfect but I aspire to those ideals. (On a side note, as someone who's been hiring, I'm starting to get turned off by those who leverage speaking gigs, press quotations and volume of social-network connections as real accomplishments -- or to pad their bios. Ego trap, I guess you call it. Not good.)

Warren is also my connection in a few ways. Thanks to your post, I'll probe deeper on his situation, and see if there's a way for me to help.

Max

[kate]

There's another reason why this strategy worked for Warren -- and might not work for others: organic, or genuine participation. Warren is constantly using 'social technology' in social ways. He consistently starts and engages in conversations. He's not only established a norm of being public and sharing, as Ari mentions above, but also of simply being communicative. It felt very natural to hear from Warren the other day, so I, like others, didn't hesitate to react. Given the research referenced above, people really need to start thinking about the system before using it advantageously. Like your comment on my blog this weekend (not an ego stroke, I promise-- no better way to reference your comment), I would add to your recommended preparations: don't just keep your inner network primed, but think about the broader system.

[Peter Kim]

Ari - given that there are many independents out there offering social media marketing advice, I wonder why a greater degree of collaboration doesn't exist. For example, crayon is a group of smart minds that work together virtually. Couldn't you get together with others to offer prospective clients greater scale and capability? I'm curious as to why this doesn't seem to happen more often, at least publicly.

[Ari Herzog]

I'm not laid off, but I'm not exactly working either. I recently started my social media strategy business, and am on the continual hunt for clients, and both speaking and writing opportunities. Due to my continual value I offer on my blog and on Twitter, I've received several offers over the past week for assorted e-book and whitepaper help. In time, more will come. But it's really about what you write about Warren: being public and sharing.

That's when the magic happens.