Being Laid Off Part IV: Recruiting the Family

One idea I have been toying with is recruiting my family to help me find a new job. I got an amazing lead just Friday from my brother. From a product marketing perspective, your family is a captive “direct channel,” with a stake in your income, aren’t they?

If you’re in a high-tech industry like me, there may be members of your family who have little or no idea what you do. (And why should they, if you’ve had a fairly satisfying high tech career until now? Maybe this is just the opportunity for you to become a secret agent like Arnold Schwarzenegger in True Lies or Brad Pitt in Mr. & Mrs. Smith.)

But this is just the challenge product marketers face in a large organization. They need to educate the sales force on how to sell a product based on its value and benefits to markets they can access, without (necessarily) a detailed understanding of how the product works. They need to work with the sales force on developing a value proposition that is compelling in markets they access. They need to educate the sales force on how to rapidly qualify leads, so they don’t waste time on frustrating, improbable leads at the expense of better ones.

There’s no reason you can’t do this with your

  • siblings who may be in companies that are hiring,
  • parents whose friends are the parents of hiring managers,
  • spouse who may be a "stay-at-home" but has a strong network in schools and extracurricular activities, and even
  • children whose friends' parents are hiring.

On top of everything, when leads dry up and frustrations mount, there is nothing like a pep talk and some sympathy from a loved one.

Tags: Business

Created at: 18 January 2009 9:01 AM

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