My HAPPO-ly Ever After
by Katie Wall
On February 19 I was on an airplane. I was not at a computer and I do not have a smart phone. I don’t have my own blog and I didn’t know of any prospective employers. But what I did have that #HAPPO Friday was a link to a video and an incredible network of people who were willing to advocate for me.
Just over a week ago I started a new job at 360i (which I am loving so far!) and it’s all thanks to #HAPPO and my Twitter community. While I was on that airplane my video link was being re-tweeted by dozens of people using the #HAPPO hashtag and ended up being seen over 100 times on that Friday alone.
Thanks to my friend and Atlanta HAPPO Champion, Kellye Crane, I was connected with a number of local employers and was invited to interview at a handful of places before finding a perfect fit at 360i.
I consider myself very fortunate for finding my HAPPO ending (Get it? Haha!), but beyond just reaching that end goal of employment, I cannot even begin to tell you how valuable continued conversation with the HAPPO community has been. These people are brilliant – from my local champions Kellye and Jeremy, whom I was lucky enough to have met prior to the February HAPPO event; to the incredible Arik Hanson and Valerie Simon whom I have since met – and you should really take the time to be in conversation with them and pick their brains!
So my advice? Do it. Put yourself out there and be genuine. Start conversations early and have them often. You will be absolutely floored by the support of your community, I know I was! And don’t even be afraid to ask for help – you’ll be amazed by how much people truly want you to succeed.
Not sure how to #HAPPO? Click here for details to help you make the most of the April 30th event!
Thanks for sharing your story Katie! I think one of the great lessons here is to be sure to let your network know that you’ll be participating in #HAPPO, and provide them a copy of your #HAPPO post/video in advance… the concept behind #HAPPO is to create a means to use social media to leverage relationships and you did a great job of making sure that those who knew you were empowered to support you!
Congratulations again Katie… both on the new job and for some great lessons on social networking!
Batmanners Posted on Well, well I googled my onilne username (using the same one since 2000) and found this Interesting how Batman + Ann Landers gave you this. I don’t know what I put together to come up with this, but it stuck and it’s something NOBODY ever has, so I don’t have to be JohnTheMan231 on one site and JohnTheDude294 on another For a second I thought this entire article was about me
[...] today’s event due to moving out of her apartment. I am going to help Sam like folks helped Katie Wall on the last HAPPO day and hope something great comes out of [...]
[...] Can a social networking event such as #HAPPO really help connect employers with future employees? While there have been an impressive number of #HAPPO mentions in social media (nearly 30,000 since the effort began February 2010), measuring the effect on outcomes is always preferable to measuring outputs. While it is a challenge to quantify the number of new relationships that have emerged as a result of the effort, we do know that earlier #HAPPO events have resulted in at least five new jobs, including the newest #HAPPO Champion Katie Wall. [...]
[...] favorite stories continues to be Katie Wall’s “Happo’ly Ever After” story http://helpaprproout.com/?p=313 And nearly a year later she remains at 360i! 5. What other sites, besides Twitter, can you use [...]
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