Yesterday I put the finishing touches on a job description (JD) for an HR Intern — a position I’ll lead the recruiting on. The timing couldn’t be better given what I’ve been thinking and writing about lately.



When I added the last pieces to the JD, my first thought wasn’t “where can I post this job?” It was “who do I know for this job?” Then I wondered which Twitter followers, Facebook friends, or blog readers might be interested. Did any of my offline friends have siblings or friends that might be a fit for this? How about frat brothers? I was thinking with my modified recruiter brain.



I also remembered that I’d exchanged emails with a few young professionals in the last year that expressed interest in HR. They weren’t asking me for a job. They were just communicating their interests and inquiring about how they could better position themselves in a field I already had a few years experience in. I then emailed ‘em to see what they’ve been up to and if they’re interested.



That’s where you wanna be. That’s why it’s so important to keep in touch and reach out to new people — particularly those who may be working in the field you’re interested in. You never know who someone may be one day.



Now I can’t guarantee any of these folks will get the job. Hell, they may not even be interested. But they’re already at an advantage because they’ve connected with the person leading the search (me)…before there was a search. And if they’re not interested, I bet they’ll have peers that are. More importantly, peers that have reached out or kept in touch with them along the way.



That’s how networking works.



How much effort are you putting into getting and keeping in touch with friends and acquaintances?