I "met" Sam Cohen. a CIO-CTO looking for his next job to deliver business value and resiliency through technology assurance, at a presentation I gave to Jewish Vocational Services on using a Targeted Marketing Plan to open doors in job searching. Afterward Sam sent a LinkedIn invitation and then followed up with a note inviting a mutually beneficial conversation.
He made is to easy to say "Yes!" Sam was doing all of the right things in networking. He connected with someone who had ample LI connections, and crafted a great invitation to secure a discussion that could help both parties -
"Thanks for connecting. Now that we are, if you feel it useful, a conversation is in order. I'm a big
believer that a connection is nothing but a number until there is a personal contact. I hope that a
conversation would let you know me a bit more so that you could leverage me and my network where
best valued for you and those in your network."
Connecting with someone is not enough. The relationship must be cultivated so that you both know each other and are invested so that you can mutually benefit from your affiliation. Sam Cohen definitely knows how to do this and is shortening his job search. Well done Sam!
