Diane Williams was in a jam.
She had recently graduated from an internationally focused MBA program, and had been working as marketing executive at a Chinese food products manufacturing firm near San Francisco when the recession struck. She initially thought she would stay in the Bay Area, but her fiancée had also lost his position as an electronics games developer and had a job opportunity back on the East Coast, near New York City.
With the job market in a downward spiral, now is not an ideal time to make a job change (three time zones away, no less). So what’s a person to do? Would she keep her job or follow her man across the country? Diane decided to take the leap.
She wasn’t flying blind, though.
In preparation for the move, Diane volunteered in the San Francisco office of American Marketing Association and used their listing of members in New York to make some information calls. She also developed a “research project” to study online marketing practices.
Having this project gave her easier access to networking in New York, since it gave her an excuse to call industry insiders, but rather than asking for employment, she was able to start relationships by asking for information and expertise. It’s the kind of cold call people are actually eager to take.
In the end, Diane found a job through online social networking. It was a connection to a friend of a friend on LinkedIn that lead her to a position at Nabisco, one that focuses on Asian consumers both here and abroad. Diane spoke decent Mandarin (she was a Peace Corps volunteer in China for two years). She did a key word search on LinkedIn using “Mandarin” and “marketing” and uncovered the individual who would eventually hire her as assistant product manager in the Nabisco division marketing energy beverages in China.
