Bob Quick

By Bob Quick

 

I’ve applied for one job in my entire radio career, my first one.

All the others came about because I had a connection with the person doing the hiring. Whether it was a former boss who called me about an opening, a former employee or coworker emailing me that “you would be perfect for this,” or someone I met at an industry gathering who then followed my career until there was an “opportunity” to reach out to me.

In 30 years, I’ve held almost a dozen jobs but only applied for one.

Now don’t get me wrong, there was still an application to fill out and an interview to go on. However, those seem to be much easier when they come looking for you and you know the players involved.

With the recent “displacements” and with more rumored to be coming, networking is more important than ever. It’s also easier than ever to keep up with your connections through social media.

I just returned from a conference in New York last week where, over the years, I have made friendships, built my network, and then done some pretty good business when opportunities arose.

It’s really investing in your own career by attending conferences and other gatherings, like concerts and charitable events, where other industry members will be.

I get it. Money is tight when you’re out of work, I’ve been there myself.

Most of these conferences have discounted registrations for folks “on the beach” that are much lower than their standard rate. You can even carpool and share an Airbnb with others that were “displaced” and the savings continue. I’ve known some to just get a room at the official hotel of the conference and spend most of the time in the lobby or lounge to “bump into” folks they wanted to connect with.

If you are gainfully employed, a day or two of vacation spent at one of these conferences might be the proactive step to help you avoid the pain being “displaced” in the future. It’s much easier to change jobs than it is to be forced to look for one.

Good luck!

Bob Quick has performed just about every job in a radio station…on-air, programming, operations, sales, and management. Currently, he works with over 300 radio stations in his 29 state territory as Manager, Radio Partnerships at Motor Racing Network and helps numerous other small and medium market stations through his business Quick Radio Consulting.