How Networking Helped Me Stay Positive: Beth Payne’s Job Search Success Story

Everyone’s job search story is different, but each individual story can inspire countless careers. We share the stories of job seekers’ successes to inspire you in your own career, get ideas for new approaches, and to help us all better understand the local job market! 

Meet Beth Payne. Beth used networking to get the inside track on jobs she found online. Here’s here story.

What do you do for a career? Who do you work for?

I work in Account Services at a marketing firm, serving a variety of clients on creative and digital marketing projects. [Editor’s note: Beth is no longer with the marketing firm. Learn about her newest career adventure on her LinkedIn profile.]

How long did it take you to find this job?

Two months of full-time searching.

How did you find your job? What resources did you use? What tool or tactic helped the most?

I found my job through LinkedIn job search. I primarily used Mac’s List, LinkedIn and Indeed for my search. I found the most appealing jobs on Mac’s List and LinkedIn. I was initially looking for a job in nonprofit work and Mac’s List filtered those roles very well. It was difficult to filter for nonprofit jobs through other sites. This made it much easier to find relevant jobs, not just volunteer opportunities, that were appealing to me.

What was the most difficult part of your job search? How did you overcome this challenge?

The most difficult part was staying positive. It can become discouraging to be denied after you spend all your time on job sites and writing research papers (AKA: cover letters.) I avoided burnout by going to networking events and informational interviews. Talking with other professionals and hearing their career paths was encouraging because everyone had a unique story. After meeting with others I was motivated to stay positive because I was reminded, once again, why I love what I do.

What is the single best piece of advice you would offer other job-seekers?

Networking is key. Ultimately, I found a job through a website and not my network but I guarantee the knowledge I gained through my network helped. Talking shop with others will give you new information and perspectives on the market that you can take with you to interviews. People–at least in the advertising industry–are almost always happy to help and the amount of support, even from strangers, is astonishing.

Why do you love your job?

I love my job because I get to solve problems with creativity and data. It’s a puzzle and putting the pieces together is a welcomed challenge. I am now working with some clients that are doing great work for the community and I love that I can help them make an impact.

Want to learn more about Beth? Connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter.