Making connections

Tuesday, 11 Apr 2006 | Work in Asia

As the circle of people familiar with my plans widens, I’m starting to get some referrals to friends of friends of friends who are in China, Singapore or Bangkok. As I was making a ‘to do list’ for the upcoming months, I figured out a way to deal with possible leads to employment.

The problem is that while I have the time right now to talk to a whole lot of people, my departure is so far away (well, it feels like it is anyway) that I think talking to people now might ruin the momentum of a first contact. I obviously can’t speak for others, but when people ask me for referrals or help seeking employment I either do it right away because I can or don’t do it at all unless I happen to stumble on to an opportunity. Then again, for business opportunities I am always on the lookout for my friends and myself and do try to actively seek them out. Anyway, for personal referrals (which is what I’m talking about here), I don’t. And I think that unless you’re a headhunter and this is your business, you do the same.

I’ve decided I’ll deal with them as follows:

• Serious leads, an actual opening for a position I feel I could fulfill is obviously something I need to act upon right away. I’ll just be open about my time of departure and hope they are starting recruitment well ahead of time. I’ve actually got one of these already!
• Casual referrals to people in Holland, who might or might not be able to help me with leads or employment in Asia. I’ll talk to these people in the last month before my departure. I’ll also try to plan some meetings with local recruiting agencies trying to fill a position in Asia in this same time. The latter mostly ‘so they know’ and if something does pop up in the future, they would hopefully remember me.
• Soft leads and people I’ve met in Asia on previous trips will obviously be followed up after moving. As you know I’m planning scouting trips to different locations and I think I would do best in contacting these people in the month leading up to a scouting trip to one of these destinations. Then again, maybe I should contact them first and plan my scouting trips accordingly.

I chose this approach because I feel it renders maximum effect from leads. Hopefully this will result in me finding employment fairly quickly, I feel positive about it. We’ll see how things turn out!