How to Build Meaningful Connections: Bryce Henshaw’s Job Search Success Story
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Communication is key when it comes to your job search. On this bonus episode of Find Your Dream Job, Bryce Henshaw shares their tips for building connections with current colleagues and keeping up with former ones. Bryce also stresses the need for commitment in your career. Choose a job you will love, so that you can be committed to a great outcome, for both the employer and yourself. Learn more about Bryce’s career history below in this installment of our Success Stories series.
Transcript
Find Your Dream Job, Bonus Episode 82:
How to Build Meaningful Connections: Bryce Henshaw’s Job Search Success Story
Airdate: June 2, 2025
Mac Prichard:
This is Find Your Dream Job, the podcast that helps you get hired, have the career you want, and make a difference in life.
I’m your host, Mac Prichard. I’m also the founder of Mac’s List. It’s a job board in the Pacific Northwest that helps you find a fulfilling career.
One of the best ways to get good at job hunting is to talk to people who do it well.
That’s why once a month, I interview a Mac’s List reader who found a job they love.
Our guest today is Bryce Henshaw. They are a development specialist with PorchLight.
It’s a nonprofit in Bellevue, Washington, that works to end homelessness by helping men transition to permanent housing.
Bryce Henshaw believes in the powers of connection, communication, and commitment.
In a story you can find on the Mac’s List website, Bryce credits success in their career to doing three things well: making connections, asking questions about the needs of others, and excelling in their job.
Why do you love your job, Bryce?
Bryce Henshaw:
Well, I love that question, Mac, because I think finding what you love in your job is the key to success, at least it has been for me.
Why I love my current position is partly because of my coworkers. I know that I can trust them. I feel that I’m able to learn and grow from them.
But I have to say that the true reason that I love my job, that I apply to every job that I have applied to, is that it is furthering a mission that I truly believe in.
And that is something that I have somewhat strayed away from in some job applications, but once I get into the interview stage, I realize that this job is not for me, and I really love a job where I’m able to apply my values every day.
Mac Prichard:
You work at PorchLight. Tell us about the mission of PorchLight and the work the organization does.
Bryce Henshaw:
Yeah, so PorchLight is an organization that partners with men experiencing homelessness in eastern King County, which is the county that Seattle is in.
PorchLight specifically is focused on men. We have a whole bunch of different organizations that are focused on different demographics within eastern King County, but PorchLight is able to focus on men in a way that is very important.
Cause most, I wouldn’t say actually most, but a majority of people experiencing homelessness are male. That means that this population needs more services than other populations in terms of the capacity.
So, PorchLight provides this service in a way that gives people the opportunity to come in, no matter where they started. We provide housing navigation services, employment services, also, as well as general case management.
We also provide a one-hundred-bed shelter, and then also once people are looking to move out of the shelter, there is a rotating shelter that is a little higher barrier, and there’s also a housing program that we have that is permanent supportive housing that also includes case management, but is a way for people to move to permanent housing that allows them to be supported basically forever, into the future.
PorchLight has been around for 30 years, and we are expanding all of our programs currently to be able to get as many people off the street as possible. But with the current political environment, with the funding freeze, we see that this is difficult.
But that’s part of why I love my job, because I know it is so essential to do the work that I’m doing to support my unhoused neighbors.
Mac Prichard:
How did you find your job there?
Bryce Henshaw:
Yeah, so my job actually came through a connection, which I know is hard to hear for people that are searching for a job. But it was something that happened because I worked with someone else at a previous job, at a different nonprofit in Seattle, actually.
And she, my boss, my current boss, she basically recruited me to come on and work with her. I was kind of in a job search, but not very active, and she knew that and kind of kept following up with me, even though I was like, “I don’t know if that’s the right job for me.” I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue in fundraising. But she kept following up with me, and I eventually fell in love with the organization and the work.
Mac Prichard:
In your article for us, you talk about the power of connections.
When you reflect on your own career, Bryce, what were you doing to maintain that connection with your former boss that made her think of you and approach you about this opportunity?
Bryce Henshaw:
Actually, at my previous job, she was someone that I had worked with tangentially. So it wasn’t a strong connection that I had with her, but she actually was someone that interviewed me for my very first job in Seattle. This is my second job in the Seattle area, so she was able to see that I was passionate and talented, and I think that’s the two things she saw in me.
Keeping that connection was pretty difficult because of, you know, the loss of moving to another job. She moved to a different organization, so I had to make sure that I continued to follow up with her.
And she did the same for me, actually, and I think that’s a really important thing to mention. If someone is following up with you and wants to continue connecting with you, even if you don’t think they might help you in the future, it’s really important to keep all the connections that you can. Especially when someone sees something in you that you might not even see in yourself.
Mac Prichard:
What have you found to be effective to keep those connections in place?
What has worked for you, not only with your current boss, as you remained in touch with her, but throughout your network?
Bryce Henshaw:
Honestly, networking is a lot like fundraising. You have to, instead of thinking of the final goal of getting a donation or landing a job, I really think about it like I’m cultivating a relationship. And it’s not always about getting that funding or landing that job.
Most of the time, you have to think about it in a way that’s much less transactional. And I think that’s something that people might have an issue with, because, especially in this day and age, it’s really hard to think about anything else if you don’t have a job and you don’t have a lot of savings.
But I think, kind of shifting your mindset from getting to your final goal to cultivating that relationship, is what allowed me to keep my connections that I have. Even though that’s a very difficult thing to do long term, because you have to keep following up.
Even just a simple text of, “Hey, I saw this post on LinkedIn; it made me think of you. How’s your job going?” I think that’s a really important way to keep that connection alive, even if it’s small bits and pieces here and there.
Mac Prichard:
Another tip that you shared in your article for us about staying in touch with connections is to always say thank you to a new connection.
Bryce, why is it important to do that?
Bryce Henshaw:
Yes, not to hone in too much on fundraising here, but that is also a very important element of fundraising.
I think gratitude is one of the most important ways that you’re able to keep those connections alive.
Because often, when you are seeking out a connection, you are doing it largely for yourself. But you have to really also be thinking about what is this other person getting out of it? Like, in a reciprocal type of way. And that is, I think, where gratitude comes in.
Cause often, we don’t see the, especially as a younger person, that’s looking for a job, I often see that I don’t feel like I have a lot to offer the people that I’m reaching out to. And that’s why thanking someone is so important, because it’s something that you can offer and not everyone does it. So if you can make it personal, that’s even better.
Mac Prichard:
How do you recommend listeners express gratitude to others in a professional way that allows you to maintain connections and grow your network?
Bryce Henshaw:
Instead of just saying thank you, that’s really important, especially to do it as quick as possible. I think following up, you know, depending on what you’re doing, why you’re thanking someone, a few days later, a few weeks later, a few months later, to say, “This is how our connection has had an impact on me.”
Showing how their work that they put into you is having an impact in your life. And even if you work at a mission-based organization, how their, or even not, just how you’re having impact in the world, how their advice and their connection has created impact in the world through you. And how they’re spreading impact via mentoring you or giving advice to you.
Mac Prichard:
In your article for us you, in talking about networking, you recommend connecting with individuals in organizations where you might want to work.
How has this helped you in your own job searches?
Bryce Henshaw:
I actually was thinking about this before I came on the podcast, and I love to listen to lots of different podcasts about job searching. So one way that I did this in the past, and one way that I’ve heard experts talk about this, is that it’s important to not only look for jobs, but look for companies. And look for different industries that you’re interested in.
And so, when you find a job at an organization that you really like, you may find that within a few days, that job is gone. But it’s important to keep track of those organizations that you really like, so you can go back to them and see if they have new job openings.
Also, another way is to not only go back to those organizations but try to connect with at least one person within that organization that is doing work you want to do. Or that you have a personal connection with. Such as, they went to your high school, or you both are interested in the same person on LinkedIn that is a soccer player. And trying to bring up that personal connection is a way that people remember, a way that people remember you.
And that I think has made it easier for me to go back and find organizations that I’m interested in and that I’m able to find jobs at, especially when positions open, and they might not even be posted online. Which is where many positions exist without ever actually getting out into the online sphere.
Mac Prichard:
Let’s talk about communication.
In your article for us, you said that asking others about their needs has helped you be successful at work. Tell us more about this.
Bryce Henshaw:
The biggest way that I’m able to improve in my career, that I’ve found over the past year, especially, is: ask questions right away. Right when someone gives you an assignment, often what I’ve found is that, in the past, I haven’t asked enough questions. Specifically about what they want the final product to look like. And I think that’s a really important note.
But on a bigger scale, I would say that it’s important, especially at the beginning of your job or at important check ins, like performance reviews or other benchmarks, that you really ask your, not only your boss but also your colleagues, what is the best way for them to communicate, or for you to communicate with them.
And I’ve found that, sometimes, I’m not communicating in a way that is really helpful for a person. And that leads to sometimes hours and hours of wasted time, writing an email, when really they would rather you just pick up the phone.
And so, I feel like really honing in on asking people what they want as the final product, how you should communicate that to them, and also how they want to be communicated with is really important.
Mac Prichard:
What about commitment, Bryce? What difference has commitment made in your work?
Bryce Henshaw:
Commitment is something that I feel like is really important and comes back to loving your job. In my article, I mentioned that it’s really important to love what you do, and that’s why I love your first question so much.
But I also think that even if you can’t find something that you love, you have to find what you enjoy in it. Because that is what leads to commitment. If you’re not able to see how what you’re doing on a day to day basis is getting you to your next step, then you probably need to maybe search a little bit harder, even though I know it may be hard for some jobs if you feel like you’re stuck in an industry that you aren’t interested in.
But commitment to really finding something that you enjoy and trying to find the parts of your job that are able to move you into what you are interested in, or what is going to get you where you want to be in your career, that commitment will be seen, not only by your colleagues, but by your boss and also by interviewers.
Mac Prichard:
Finally, what’s your number one job hunting tip?
Bryce Henshaw:
I think my number one job hunting tip is to find specific job boards for what you want to do.
Specifically, like there’s a job board out there for a four-day work week. There’s lots of job boards out there that are, you know, such as Mac’s List, that you’re able to find specific jobs that are looking at the kind of industry that you’re interested in.
And I think that’s able to get you further because you are able to see different jobs that you might not find just on LinkedIn. Or you might not find on Indeed.
I think the other thing I want to say is that being able to remember that you are able to use your transferable skills is something really important because that will allow you to think creatively about how a job that you might not be interested in, actually is something that could be amazing for you.
And that’s why I think being able to see a job and really think of what the day-to-day will look like is a really important job hunting tip, instead of just saying, “Oh, I don’t like the job title, I’m going to scroll past that.” Think creatively.
Mac Prichard:
Well, thank you for sharing your story, Bryce. To learn more about Bryce Henshaw’s job search, visit macslist.org/stories.
And check out the Mac’s List website for dozens of other success stories.
On the second Friday of every month, we add a new interview with a Mac’s List reader who has found a dream job. Go to macslist.org/stories.
In the meantime, thank you for listening to today’s bonus episode of Find Your Dream Job.
This show is produced by Mac’s List.
Susan Thornton-Hough schedules our guests and writes our newsletter. Lisa Kislingbury Anderson manages our social media.
Our sound engineer and editor is Matt Fiorillo. Dawn Mole creates our transcripts. And our music is by Freddy Trujillo. This is Mac Prichard. See you next week.