As is increasingly common these days, I met my wife through a dating app -- 'Coffee Meets Bagel', in case you were wondering. In my version of the story, which I’m confident she will back me up on, our relationship started because of my opening question once we connected (evidence below). Before reaching out, I carefully read her profile and came up with a question I sincerely wanted to know the answer to, and that I hoped would be of enough interest/value to her that it might spark a response. Two years and a heap of conversations later, we got married in February 2020. I guess you could say that my question was the catalyst for our connection -- but why...? Because it was borne of genuine curiosity.

They say that “knowledge is power,” yet far too often, job seekers don’t provide their network with enough knowledge to enable their contacts to help them more effectively in their job search. At the most basic level, the more information we have as humans, the more we are empowered to act in an appropriate and timely manner. This rule applies to both our personal and professional lives. Six of the worst words you can hear either at home or at work are, “I wish you had told me...” -- add to that “sooner” or “more specifically.” Whenever those words have been spoken to me, I immediately felt a sense of regret around what could have been had I shared, more, specifically, or sooner. I don’t want you to feel that sense of regret when it comes to your job search, which is why I’m such a strong proponent of empowering your network → through detailed and timely information sharing.