Norbert was a young employee at a hot tech start-up. It was his first job out of college and he was working hard, learning a lot, and making a good wage with good people. All was going well… until it wasn’t.
One morning, as he was scrolling through his news feed, he was surprised to find that his company had been purchased by a bigger competitor. “Holy Toledo, what does this mean?” he thought.
But he didn’t panic. Norbert was a pragmatic fellow and tried not to waste his energy on events he couldn’t control. Just the way of modern business. So he went to the office and waited for the details to emerge.
The outcome was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, Norbert had a little stock in the company and would get a nice pay-out. On the other hand, he was likely to be one of the “redundancies” in the corporate hierarchy and not guaranteed a job.
Sure enough, he soon received notice his position was to be eliminated. So he started considering his options. But before long, a peculiar thing started happening – recruiters started reaching out to him on LinkedIn asking about his availability for work. From multiple employers. At good companies. In good industries. With good jobs.
He hadn’t realized that employers use LinkedIn to search profiles and source available talent directly, especially in the case of a newsworthy acquisition. In Norbert’s case, his options were plenty because he’d done good work and kept his profile up to date with acquired skills and interests.
Norbert was floored. Within the month, he found an interested company he liked, had a successful round of interviews, and signed on for a great new job.
Now we can’t all be as lucky as Norbert (a payout and a new gig, c’mon!) but his story is a good reminder to do good work where you are, stay on top of the news, and keep your profile and resume up to date. You just never know when opportunity will come knocking!
*This is actually a true story. The names have been changed to protect their identity and not jinx their good luck
