When Opportunity Knocks Will You Be There?

Tweet

I get a lot of calls from recruiters. That’s a good thing. I never need to feel “trapped” in any company or role. Plus I get to find out about new opportunities long before they are generally available. You never know when the right opportunity will knock.

Most of the calls from my recruiter friends are for roles that are not right for me, but they know that I am happy to give them names of people I think might be interested.

Yesterday, I got a call from a recruiter about a position for an experienced marketer. He was looking for a candidate that is ready to break out from working under someone to being in charge of marketing at a small software company. That’s a dream for every ambitious young marketer, and these roles don’t come along every day.

I did a little thinking through the people I have worked with in the past that I think might be ready for this. I easily came up with a list of ten people. I quickly logged into LinkedIn expecting to be able to send the recruiter a link to their public profiles.

I was only able to send the recruiter profiles for four out of the ten!

There’s a lot of talk in marketing circles about being digitally relevant. Everyone is thinking about starting a blog or dabbling in Twitter. It can be daunting so many are not sure where to start.

I say forget being digitally relevant and just be available. If you do nothing else, get your profile set up on LinkedIn so people can get in touch with you about potential opportunities.

I suppose you could argue that there are other networks out there. That’s true. However, LinkedIn has the advantage of being widely used among businesspeople. Maybe the most widely used?

It also has the advantage over social networks like Facebook in that you can use it as an online resume without being obvious about it. When in your already in a good position, you want to be looking, but the best opportunities come when you don't look like you are looking.

There are also those of you who may be thinking, “I’m happy where I’m at. Why do I need to be available?”

I’m happy for you. Just remember, you don’t have to be interested in any opportunities that come your way. Use it as an opportunity to make a positive connection with someone who might be useful to your career in the future. Find out what they are looking for and if you are not interested, maybe there’s someone else that you can refer them to. It is a great opportunity to do someone else a favor.

Finally, you never know when you’ll be interested. Job boards are littered with marketing professionals whose careers are not living up to their expectations. And, worse yet, there are many who thought they were secure in their roles, but find themselves looking as companies scale back their marketing.