This morning, I had the opportunity to speak with someone who was featured in the Detroit Free Press, Sunday,  January 3, 2010.  I’d like to share that article with you and then let you know how she and I came to meet.

Network to ask others for help

Career counselors say it’s the single most important thing you can do when you are looking for a new job:  networking.

And Mary Ann Tindall is a networking success story.

After she was laid-off last January following a 23-year career at Ford, Tindall, 45, of Bloomfield Hills networked with enthusiasm and optimism.

She estimates she met and passed out her business card to 400 to 500 people at events ranging from Inforum meetings to church-based job support groups to college workshops.  She went to as many as 10 events a week.

“I was probably the happiest unemployed person you met because I was going out and meeting people,” says Tindall.

She went golfing one day with the chief financial officer of Arvin Meritor, on an outing sponsored by Inforum.  Other days, she was talking to entrepreneurs trying to make a living from crafts.

“I wasn’t expecting a job from them,” says Tindall.  “I was expecting them to tell me who they know.”

That’s what  happened one day.

A woman she met remembered Tindall a couple months later when a job opened up for a supply-chain manager.  That led to a job at Valley Towing Products in Rochester Hills, where Tindall has worked since August as the inventory and logistics manager.

So, what did she do right?  She made networking a positive experience.  She set realistic goals — she didn’t expect a job offer, but she did expect to meet people who might know other people who could potentially hire her.  She saw as many people as possible in a diverse array of settings. 

Ever here the saying that the harder you work the luckier you get?  Mary Ann worked hard at networking, and that made for a lucky encounter with someone who could refer her to a hiring company.  Wonder how she and I met?  She won a raffle prize (a free behavioral assessment) I had donated to a community group whose meeting she attended.

Kudos to you Mary Ann for showing people that “Yes! You Can Land a Job Even In a Crummy Economy.”