Spreading Acts of Kindness Through Workplace Introductions

Here’s a new recipe for Random Acts of Kindness: giving much-needed workplace introductions for friends and colleagues.

By Sunny K. Lurie

We’ve heard about Random Acts of Kindness spreading around the world. Recently, I was the lucky recipient of a random act of kindness when a car in front of me at a drive-through paid for my coffee –wow, impressive! Right after this happened, a light bulb went off in my head. What if more people applied acts of kindness to the workplace, helping job seekers connect with potential employers? Having a personal introduction inside an organization is a huge advantage to career changers.

In fact, referrals are the number one source companies use to find outside hires, and over 70 percent of people find jobs through leads from others, according to the top professional network platform LinkedIn. Access to the right people and companies is vital for a successful career change, especially as the market place becomes more challenging. A few moments of time connecting people to your network is a powerful act of kindness.

Many of us have made introductions in the workplace. What I’m suggesting here is to consider doing it more often. Not only will positive things come back to you when you extend a kind introduction, but you may also significantly help someone gain employment and improve their life.  Introductions require no money and are simple to do.

Consider This:

1.  Look for opportunities.  Put up your antennae to become aware of friends, family or colleagues who are changing careers and ASK if you can help and who they’d like to meet.

2. Get specific to identify their target organizations, jobs, people and industry. The more specific you are about whom to meet and what companies the person wants to work, the better. Consider who in your network is inside a company or industry they seek. Think about business owners, professionals and first-rate companies you know. LinkedIn and Facebook friends are perfect for finding people – look through your lists and groups. Maybe you have a neighbor working at the desired target company who knows the department recruiter. The idea of “six degrees of separation” for reaching anyone on the planet is alive and well.

3. Call or email the contact to make an introduction. It’s more impactful if youpersonally introduce the two parties rather than just supply a name. The rest is up to them.

True example. Recently, my cousin Terry was looking to leave his entry-level tech position. He made a list of 12 local organizations he liked who were hiring web developers.  To avoid sending in his resume blind, he asked me and others to run his list through their network and LinkedIn contacts. It turned out Terry found connections inside three companies. One person helped Terry reach the hiring manger and he was invited to interview. Over the next couple months they brought Terry back for several interviews and eventually he was offered a job.

Do an experiment. Try it for a month. See how many introductions you can make in the workplace and what you feel. You never know; some day when you need an introduction for your career, reciprocity for all your kind acts will be fully rewarded back to you.

Please forward this message to your contacts and help introductions spread!

---

 

Sunny K. Lurie is the CFO of Fast Focus Careers and the Author of Jolt Your Career From Here to There. Fore more information, contact her at lurie@FastFocusCareers.com.