5 Ways to Job-it-Forward

The term “job-it-forward” came from a discussion I was having with fellow career columnist, Dale Dauten. Back in 2009, we were chatting about how important paying-it-forward would be in the recession. People need to help one another connect to the hidden job market as a way to shorten job search and reduce unemployment. Example: There are an estimated 26M people unemployed or under-employed in the U.S. right now, but a guestimated 9M+ job openings, many of which are not publicly posted. Dale said to me, “It’s a specific form of paying-it-forward. It’s really a job-it-forward effort that needs to occur.”

Since then, Dale and I have talked repeatedly about the ways in which we’ve seen people get creative and help others in their job search. Recently, I had an experience at a highway toll booth that reminded me of just how important job-it-forward efforts are.

Job-it-Forward: 5 Simple Options

We all have the capacity to job-it-forward on a regular basis. However, like flossing our teeth, it’s one of those things many people forget to do. Here are five things all of us could do this week to job-it-forward:

1. Take 10 minutes to find two people who should know each other and send an email introduction to them both telling them why you admire each one and why they should connect.
2. Write an unsolicited recommendation on Linkedin for someone you know who is between jobs and could use the ego boost.
3. Reach out to 5 colleagues you haven’t talked to in over a year and see if they have any openings at their company that you could share with your network.
4. Post a link to an article or resource on your Linkedin feed that you found particularly helpful.
5. Follow through on a request to connect in your Linkedin inbox and see if can facilitate an introduction for the person to someone you know that works at a company on their interview bucket list.