How many things in life really make you happy?
Last Friday I was hosting the 3rd annual TalentNet Live Social Recruiting Conference at Pepsico’s Frito-Lay campus. I was not just hosting and moderating, I was presenting in 3 different sessions. So I was busy. But Eugene Chu managed to get my attention.
At some point during the day I heard buzz about a job seeker at the conference. No one knew him. Yet there he was, actively participating, asking smart questions, networking, and thanking people for their help. I just smiled. I met Eugene later that day and was very impressed.
There is always a great deal of recruiting and networking that happens at a TNL conference. But Eugene stood out. He just showed up, very sincere, hoping to meet some good people who could help him connect with a job, and to learn more about social networking. Smart.
I speak to job seeker groups every month about how to be smarter networkers. Seeing people “get it” and actively help themselves is one of my great pleasures in life.
My happy list goes something like this: My kids, my boat, hummus, smart job seekers, running, reading, travel, Burn Notice… You get the point.
Eugene is a recent U.S. Army Commander, with a background in HR and operations, looking for work in the private sector. His Linkedin profile is here http://www.linkedin.com/in/eugenechu1. He’s getting started on Twitter at @eugenechu1. If you have a few minutes to connect with Eugene, please do. He would love your help.
Cheers, Craig
From: Eugene Chu <eugene.t.chu@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 11:01 AM
Subject: Appreciation and thanks for TalentNet Live from job seeker
To: Craig Fisher
Dear Mr. Fisher,
I attended TalentNetLive on Friday and had a great experience. Your event was top notch, beneficial and entertaining. The sessions of corporate recruiter secrets, location marketing, secret track, LinkedIn optimization, and social do’s and don’ts were highly informative. Though I was a job seeker and not a recruiter, everyone welcomed me with open arms and happily gave me their contact information for networking. I accomplished more in learning and networking because of TalentNet Live than I did in previous weeks of job fair attendance.
I am currently on Facebook, LinkedIn, and recently started on Twitter. I would like to follow up and connect with you on those accounts. I would appreciate your support regarding social media in order to work and provide for a company’s future success or connect for business school opportunities. Again, thank you for the conference in social media development and for the outstanding opportunity. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Eugene Chu
I too had the pleasure of meeting Eugene. After we had a conversation with him that included how my company impacted him and his team overseas (AWESOME!) my co-worker and I commented on his job seeking strategy of attending the conference. We were both impressed and pleased to see that so many at the event were so welcoming to him. It says 2 things – the TalentNet Live community is a great group of people and that they attract great people!