I got an email late last week from Linda Brinkworth - a friend I've worked with for many years and have recently lost touch with. She sent me a message saying that she'd heard about the exercise I did at the Network for Work session a few weeks back. Turns out, she found out through NHPR, New Hampshire Public Radio (http://www.nhpr.org/node/28247). It's nice to hear nice people spreading the word. I'm still waiting to hear from Ann Marie and Laura on progress. Let's see how Paying It Forward Works.
Also, the exercise will soon be posted on BetterJobsFaster in case others want to use it in their job seeking groups (Word of caution: It can get expensive as it requires $100 each time you do it.)
Best,
Dan.
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Another Instance of 'Pay it forward'
Business
note from
nashua, NH
Tammy H
Dec 10, 2009
Keywords: job search, Networking, pay it forward, unemployed
I
was at a networking event this morning with eighty or so of my
unemployed colleagues. The speaker, Dan DemaioNewton from Monster.com
began his presentation with a short crowd-engaging exercise. He asked
for volunteers with the following qualifications:
Must have integrity
Must be reliable
Must be willing to keep in touch with Dan going forward.
About 15 people volunteered, and Dan had them line up in order based
on how long each person had been out of work. He took the individuals
at each end of the lineup, the shortest and the longest unemployed, and
had them sit in two facing chairs at the front of the room. Dan then
took a $100 bill from his pocket and tore it in half. He gave each
person half of the torn bill, or "$50", and asked them to make a
commitment to each other and to him. The commitment Dan asked them to
make was to share contact information with each other and himself, to
keep in touch as their job searches continued, and to take care of
their half of the $100. The first person to land a job committed to
send the other person their half of the $100. The person receiving the
missing half of the bill can either spend it if they need to, or give
it to another unemployed person and continue the experiment, engaging
the next person in this 'pay it forward' challenge, and keeping Dan in
the loop. Dan is planning to repeat this activity at every networking
forum he attends, and track how far each $100 goes.
This 'Pay it forward' activity is a great example of how powerful it
can be to help one another in times of hardship. To me, it represents a
few things that I have learned in my job search. First, I am not alone.
Second, helping others is good for morale. I feel better when I am
helping others find work. Third, many small steps can combine to make a
very big impact.
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