Yesterday the topic of LinkedIn worked its way into a conversation I had with one of my relatives.  He said that he didn’t know anyone who got a job through LinkedIn.  The social media site would not still be in existence, I believe, if not one of the 135 million profiles in the website did not generate a job.   Besides, I knew of people who had gotten jobs through the site and who had hired people from the site.

Surprisingly, though, LinkedIn is not the main source for finding a job.  Jobvite, a Burlingame, California, recruiting website, commissioned a national survey Social Job Seekers Getting Ahead to find out where people throughout the country were finding their jobs.  The results in an article More get Jobs on Facebook than LinkedIn, Twitter written by Chromwell Schubarth (Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, November 16, 2011) showed that “more than 22 million Americans used social networks to find their most recent job opportunity—up 7.7 million from a survey done last year.”

In addition, “When asked which social network they used in their job search, 78 percent (18.4 million said they got a job by using Facebook, while 40 percent (10.2 million) cited LinkedIn and 42 percent (8 million) cited Twitter.”  Interesting!

Connections

Today I received an e-mail from LinkedIn stating that 42 of my 165 connections changed jobs in 2011—or at least started something new.  The message included images of the people in my network so that all I had to do once I signed-in to LinkedIn was to click on the image to find out what was new with my contacts.

Around this same time, I was reading “The Real Way to Build a Network,” a book excerpt in the February 6, 2012 issue of Fortune, and learned that the ‘Magic Number’ of connections is 150 because it is “the maximum number of people with whom most humans can have active relationships” according to Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary psychologist.  “Businesses and military groups tend to organize in groups that size as well.”  So what do I do?  Stop connecting with people?  Eliminate some connections since they are no longer active? 

Reading the excerpt from the book The Start-Up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career by authors Reid Hoffman, a partner at Greylock and founder and executive chairman at LinkedIn, and Ben Casnocha, an award-winning entrepreneur and author, helped to clarify how to network with more than 150 connections.

Three Degrees of Networking

Although it is Silicon Valley and techie oriented, I found many interesting and thoughtful ways on how to network more effectively reading the book excerpt.  For instance, there are transactional networkers who want relationships with those who can do something for them.  And there are what the authors call relationship builders, people who first try to help others.

The writers state that “Building a genuine relationship with another person depends on at least two abilities.”  Those abilities are seeing the world from another person’s perspective and “being able to think about how you can collaborate with and help the other person rather than thinking about what you can get.” 

The most important people in a network are between five to 10 close allies—which are different than relationships.  Specifically, “An ally is someone you consult regularly for advice,….you proactively share and collaborate on opportunities together,….you talk up an ally,.…you defend him and stand up for his reputation,….and he does the same for you.”

Instead of six degrees of separation, Hoffman and Casnocha suggest that, “When it comes to meeting people who can help you professionally, three degrees of separation is what matters.  That’s how trust is preserved.”  And the best way to network is working with the people you already know.  There is a lot of common sense here such as “Anytime you want to meet a new person in your extended network, you should ask for an introduction.” 

The article on “The Real Way to Build a Network” is definitely worth reading.  Just be certain to include “Reid’s Rules,” an assessment of how you, too, can create a wide and (selectively) deep network.

“LockerDome:  The Facebook of Team Sports” is making strides to become the go-to site for athletes, club or high school sports programs and a growing number of recruiters.  The company started with offering to “launch a sleek, customizable website” in 60 seconds for a club or high school sports program, one that could become a sports network where athletes could “create profiles, upload media, and gain national exposure.”

“LockerDome’s now ready for the big leagues. Or so it hopes,” writes Lydia Dishman in “Passion Play: LockerDome Wants To Win By Building A Better Facebook For Athletes” that appeared online on January 5, 2012 at Fast Company.  “The bet we made is that people are more passionate about sports than anything else,” said Gabe Lozano, Co-Founder/CEO of LockerDome.

Dishman writes that, “With revamped back-end architecture and a growing network of members, youth programs, and professional athletes’ pages, LockerDome’s attracted a $750,000 round of angel investing led by Jim McKelvey, a cofounder of Square, and Brian Matthews of Capital Innovators.”  She goes on to quote Lozano, “‘There’s the one company that you can [invest in] and sell for $100 million and then there’s the one company that will bring in ‘Monopoly money’ in the billions.’ Matthews had a hunch that LockerDome could be the latter.”

My hope is also for Gabe and his team to develop the best site possible.  He is not just a good tech guy, he’s a good leader, one who knows how to build and sustain a business while helping others succeed as well.  He’s someone who loves sports and is earnest in his commitment to the athletes who play them.

On Christmas Eve, I received an invitation to be one of Gabe’s sports connections on LockerDome’s ‘Facebook.’  That was a surprise but I accepted although the only sport I play is Pilates!

On January 20, Gabe included me on the following e-mail message about an athlete who was recently recruited to join the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team:

I wanted to pass along a cool video that St. Louis Cardinal, Erik Komatsu, posted today on LockerDome following his hitting session with Mark McGwire: http://erikkomatsu.lockerdome.com/media/56572

This is awesome content and exactly how we envision LockerDome being used.  Whether you’re a 10 year-old hitting your first home run or a MLB hopeful hitting with a legend, your sports content goes on LD.

Komatsu is also a talented rapper.  I exchanged private messages with him on LD and he wants to write an LD theme song!  You can listen to some of his music here: http://erikkomatsu.lockerdome.com

Cheers,
Gabe

All the best, Gabe!  Hope LockerDome makes it to the big leagues soon!

Today while reflecting on strong women who have persevered under dire circumstances, I remembered a woman who was the keynote speaker at the Women in Business: Pearls of Wisdom 2010 Conference at Baruch College—but I forgot her name.  Searching my blog for my post on the event—I was the moderator for the panel discussion—I found the name I wanted:  Diane Garnick. 

“About” on her Facebook page describes Garnick as the “Princess of Perseverance,” a good description based on her difficult past that included having her first child at age 15 and then finishing grades 9-12 at high school in two years.  She found work in a bank but could not be promoted because she did not have a degree.  Leaving the bank, she started college at Suffolk Community College, then went on to earn her a degree from Hofstra University then an M.B.A. at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.  Her work at Wall Street companies such as Merrill Lynch & Co. earned respect for her intelligence and ability to manage the business.

When looking for more information on Garnick, I found “Diane Garnick Seeks Lift for Wall Street Women With New Firm,” an article written by Jeff Kearns and Margaret Collins published in Bloomberg Businessweek on January, 20, 2012.  I was very impressed by learning that the tenacious investment strategist had opened an asset management firm, a firm that Garnick hopes will help to balance the much needed gender makeup of Wall Street jobs.

The authors state that Garnick opened Clear Alternatives LLC with three other women and hopes to grow the company to 12 by the end of 2012—the same time she set a goal to have raised at least $500 million in assets under management.

“One of the biggest challenges is for women to find an organization that’s willing to accept them back after they leave the work force to raise children without taking a cut in compensation and responsibility….Our objective is to solve that problem,” Garnick, the active mother of two children, told the authors in a phone interview.

Garnick and Clear Alternatives will serve as a catalyst to hire and inspire women graduates from the best business schools to earn their way up the ladder to senior management roles in financial services.  My hopes are with her!

“Lookin’ for Hires in All the New Places,” an article by E.B. Boyd in the November 2011 sample issue of Fast Company caught my attention when I was flipping through the pages.  The article describes how instead of seeking and hiring college graduates or Ph.D.s, the option is to hire techies who have been self-taught.

“Silicon Valley companies have notoriously strict hiring standards for engineers.  They want grads from the country’s top computer-science programs like Stanford’s and MIT’s or people with sparkling resumes and deep experience,” writes Boyd.  However, start-up and small technology companies are also interviewing and hiring individuals who have not graduated from college (maybe not even high school).  Instead, these candidates for a position are found to be qualified because they have spent time teaching themselves how to code.

The article contained an interesting insight from Roy Bahat, the President of IGN Entertainment who is very open to hiring the self-taught employee.  Bahat asks:  is software a science or should it be seen as a craft or an art—implying that someone would use their natural talents and experiential learning.  Not everyone is a craftsman or an artist.  But those who are given the chance to learn on their own in order to meet the requirements of coding at a technology company are being taken seriously in part because interviewers realize that they are passionate and committed to doing work on a par with colleagues who have initials after their names.

As an educator, I don’t think that everyone needs to or should attend college.  There is evidence that you don’t really need to go to college to be successful in your field.  For example, in a sidebar in Boyd’s article there are a dozen images of very successful people who have dropped out of college or high school and gone on to stellar careers.  Some of the people profiled include Steve Jobs who dropped out of Reed College when he was 18 in 1972, Bill Gates who dropped out of Harvard University when he was 19 in 1975, and Lady Gaga who dropped out of New York University when she was 19 in 2005.  Walt Disney didn’t make it to college; he dropped out of high school when he was 16 in 1918.

As I mentioned in my previous post “The Learning Organization,” I was a guest speaker for second year graduate students at Columbia University’s School of Social Work on Wednesday.  It was a wonderful experience for me and the feedback I’ve gotten from students and the instructor tell me that sharing my consulting experience and tips on organizational development was well received.

When the instructor and I were getting ready to go out into the cold air, she thanked me again and I said, “You know, I have never taken a management class.”  The irony is just that I’m a trusted adviser and coach, I teach in the Management Department at the Zicklin School of Business.

When I was a temporary secretary at Lazard Frères & Co. in the early 1990s, I went to an open house at the Stern School of Business at New York University to see if an M.B.A. was for me.  After attending and learning the cost for a part-time program, I decided that working at Lazard was the business school I could afford.  After I left, assignments and consulting work at other businesses including Merrill Lynch & Co. and Allianz Dresdner Asset Management, non-profits, etc. taught me more than a classroom could have done.

Don’t overlook opportunities to succeed as a technology engineer even if you don’t have a college degree.  There are companies out there looking for your self-taught skills.

The start of 2012 brought good news from three friends I’ll call John, Joan, and Janice.  John secured a full-time job with benefits at a major corporation.  Joan is now doing office work at a small business.  And Janice is starting a position as a consultant to an online store.

Networking is one of the over twenty items on my Career Development Checklist.  When teaching my career classes, I stress the need to set up informational interviews, attend meetings of professional organizations, go to events in your chosen field, and utilize social media.  There are various ways to approach networking—and avoiding getting out and refreshing relationships with former colleagues or reaching out to form new relationships is not an option.  As I know from personal experience and that of my colleagues, people stand ready to help those who are looking for work.

Below are three examples of how networking can pay off if you have perseverance, take advantage of an opportunity, and risk a new adventure.

His perseverance led John to earn a full-time job at a major corporation.  John has many skills and one of them is the ability to speak in front of an audience.  One day he found himself speaking for a corporate audience that included the CEO—who was impressed at John’s presentation.  John didn’t get a job right after that, but for the next months he kept in touch with the right people and came up with a job.  Although the position was not at the level he had previously, it is one that has potential.

An opportunity created itself when Joan was with a group of her long-time friends in a restaurant.  Joan had been looking for a full-time job in her field for almost a year.  However, recently when she was with a few friends, she said that she was looking for work.  A friend responded with an offer for her to do office work for his small business that was just a short-distance from where she lived.  It wasn’t her dream job but it was a job that could sustain her until there was an opening in her career field.

There is a risk for Janice to take a consulting job for an online seller of products while working full-time for a job that is not in her field but is one with very good benefits.  The anticipation of being her own boss is attractive to Janice; she’s been interested in small businesses for a long time and has been a user of the product so she knows it is very good.  However, selling online is a risk since it is not a job with a guarantee.  It takes ongoing marketing and sales activities to attract and keep buyers.  The reward for Janice, however, is to get experience as an entrepreneur so that she can decide which form of work is the best for her:  office or self-employed.

As you have read, networking is a worthwhile activity that can yield positive results no matter the process or the result.  Reaching out to let people know what you do, how you do it, and what you seek is a good way to start 2012!

“Writing to Be Heard” was posted on July 16, 2007, the first time I used my blog.  After writing hundreds of posts since then—especially this year—I decided to share my favorite posts of 2011 with you.

The posts below all have a story behind them, a reason to share the information, and a desire to help you on your career journey.  The posts could have been written to address an issue that came up during a coaching or consulting meeting, a topic that was discussed in a management class I teach at the Zicklin School of Business, an opportunity to expand horizons, etc.  The focus of each one is categorized by one or more of the tiles above the post which include Career, Coaching, College, Culture, Economy, Health, Leadership, Life Business, Management, Technology.

Below is a month-by-month list of posts that I hope you will find relevant, inspiring, and even fun.

January 17:  Are You Afraid of Feedback?  The topic emerged from two different threads.  The first was to offer guidance to decision-makers who were working with a very resistant executive.  The second was the loan of an academic colleague’s DVD on feedback.

February 21:  The Price of Ignoring Corporate Culture  As I told my students in an “Organizational Behavior” class, teaching corporate culture is my favorite unit to teach.  It is because of the environment executives create and how it impacts employee’s behavior.  In this particular case, the executive did not take into account his behavior in an established culture.

March 10:  Women’s Month 2011: Shake the World  To acknowledge the progress women make in a range of fields, I wrote about their accomplishments including that of Justine Siegal who had fulfilled her dream of throwing batting practice for the Cleveland Indians in spring training.

April 4:  Lasting Impressions  I am impressed by the number of people who even when we have not seen or spoken with one another for months or years, still remember me and the work I do.  The need to make a good first—and subsequent—impact on everyone you come in touch with is an important part of career development.

May 27:  Shakespeare in a Management Classroom  In April 2010, I attended a workshop on teaching Shakespeare in the workplace.  To my delight and my students’ reluctance, I developed a class session on emotional intelligence by having students get on a stage with a partner and recite excerpts from scenes in Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet, their favorite because they get to yell!

June 17:  Ten Guideposts on Your Reinvention Highway  Exploring a new career can be stressful and tiring.  Since I have reinvented myself a few times—I like to call it evolution—I share ideas on how to practice active patience to realize a new career.

July 7:  Holistic Professional Resume  In addition to teaching a business course, I also teach a program called “SuperCharge Your Career” at Zicklin.  What I don’t see on many resumes is Activities or another heading that can fill out the profile of a candidate and give an interviewer a sense of their lives outside the company.

August 30:  Career as a Farmer:  Sasha J. Farkas  Not everyone wants to work in an office in New York or any urban environment for that matter.  USA Today’s headline on December 26, 2011, “More Young People See Farming Opportunities,” confirmed that those in their 20’s and 30’s who have been downsized or unable to get a job, are seeking ways to survive on a farm.

September 13:  LockerDome:  The Facebook of Team Sports  Gabe Lozano, Co-Founder and CEO of a website for young athletes, read my post Women’s Month 2011: Shake the World and left a comment.  That comment led to a conversation, two interviews—his and Justine Siegal’s—and my own profile on LockerDome’s social media site.

October 29:  Disability:  A Second Career for L.I.R.R. Workers  Last year, I wrote about the ethical behavior of Long Island Railroad workers who claimed disability when they were obviously fine since they played golf sometimes daily.  Recently, I read that the cost of disbursing those on disability can be close to $1 billion.

November 12:  Walking Meetings  One of the many takeaways I had from reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson was learning the pleasures of a walking meeting.  A friend gave me that opportunity and I’m very grateful for it.

December 24:  Dear Santa:  My Wish List  It had been ages since I wrote a “Dear Santa” letter so I put tongue in cheek and infused my humor into the serious requests I made for the greater good—and not just the sweater and earrings I hoped Santa would bring!

Thank you for your time to browse and read my posts.  Looking forward to writing more in 2012!

Very best wishes for a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Stuck as to what business gift you can give to a talented college senior?  Or someone who earned an M.B.A but couldn’t land a job in their field of study?  There isn’t a product you can buy for them but there is a way to give them each a gift.

The gift is coming from you, your power and influence to seek out colleagues who are in positions to hire employees for temporary or contract jobs or a full-time position.  For instance, Ken, one of the speakers for my “Organizational Behavior” class, ended his engaging talk by saying he welcomed students to send him their resumes.  He had some contract jobs that he had to fill and, even if he filled those positions, he would send resumes to his colleagues.  That, in itself, was a gift:  the gift of the power the speaker had to hire a student.

Along with some outstanding students in the class, there were also ‘alumni’ who had taken my courses previously who were looking for work.  That was where my influence came in.  I reached out to absolutely outstanding students and sent them Ken’s information.  I knew that the fit for two of the candidates would be an excellent one because of their work ethics, workplace experience, performance in my classes, and eagerness to learn.  I used my influence to help them by sending recommendations of the students to Ken.  But Ken would have hired them anyway.

After six months, the students are enjoying their work—and send me updates regularly to let me be acquainted with how they are doing.  They both enjoy observing and gaining knowledge from their managers, participating in teams, and knowing that there is always more to learn.

One of my students gave me a ‘Thank You’ card recently.  And what he wrote at the end of the message described the value he got and wanted to pass along:  “I hope that in the not so distant future, I will return the favor with some one in a similar position in which I was.”

Who do you know who could use a leg up?  How can you use your power and influence to find the right ladder for a younger person to climb?  The gift of time to find the answers then act on them is one that will always be remembered.

Always have a business card with you.

Do you need help with your job search?  Do you need support to help you advance to a higher level position within your current company?  Or transition your skills to a new career?  Have you developed a strategic career plan to reach your goals?  If your answers reveal that you need an affordable program that can assist you, consider signing up for “Supercharge Your Career to Realize Your Goals” an intensive 4-session program I am leading to help you get and keep a high potential job offered by the Management Department at Baruch College.

In today’s tough job market, you need great skills to transition to a new job in your career—or to be promoted within your existing company.  The general public as well as Baruch students, alumni, and staff who are looking to promote their talent by mastering the skills needed for finding a new job, being noticed for advancement, transitioning to a new career, etc. are welcomed to attend.

The first item on the program’s agenda is to review a “Career Development Checklist” form to assess the gaps in developing your career and how to reach your career goals.  Typically, we spend time reviewing resume layouts and contents so that they will make a strong impression of the value you bring to an organization.  Role playing is integral to the class and allows you to practice managing awkward interview questions and developing an effective elevator speech.  The class is also focused on how to demonstrate a strong workplace presence and the ways that one can build their profile when transitioning to a new career.

Students and alumni who attended previously found great value in the program:

Great!  After a role-playing exercise, I got instant feedback from the class and instructor on my interviewing skills.
Every student was catered to at one point or another.
The class gave me the tools that I needed to start my job search.
Sharing and doing exercises pushed me to realize the importance of networking and maintaining relationships.

The program will start on Wednesday, January 4^th from 6:00-8:30 p.m. and will continue Wednesday evenings at the same time through January 25^th.  The workshop will be held in the Newman Vertical Campus, Room 9-215.  Class size is strictly limited.  There is a charge of $125 for this program.  Registration continues to Tuesday, January 3^rd.

For further assistance and registration contact the Management Department’s Office Manager Linda Moore at (646) 312-3620 or Linda.Moore@baruch.cuny.edu.

Fifteen years ago in the course of my work as director of marketing for an international hotel group, I called my counterpart Marjorie in our London office just before I had an appointment with Mark, the president of our company.

At the start of the meeting, I told him that I had a conversation with Marjorie in London and he mumbled something.

“What was that?” I asked.

“I was wondering if you just had a meeting of the Women’s Auxiliary,” he said with a tinge of sarcasm in his voice

“What?” I asked in a slightly louder voice since I couldn’t believe that he would have said what he did.

“Forget it,” he said and began talking about the business of the day.

I can’t forget.  This encounter was sexist and demeaning, categorizing two of his directors by gender and not by contributors to the organization.  It bothered me because I felt he was making fun of what we might have been discussing when the truth was that we were resolving a business challenge.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, the term “Women’s Auxiliary” refers to women who were seen as secondary, supplemental, the back up and support for what men or an institution were doing—without mostly the opportunity to advance in what they were doing.  For example, there is the Queens Hospital Women’s Auxiliary whose mission is “to raise funds and support health-related programs that benefit the hospital and our community.”  You will find many Women’s Auxiliaries in the armed services, especially during the war years of the 20^th century.  Women did not go into combat; instead they supported the troops by seeing to it that supplies and equipment were in order.

The workplace for women has changed dramatically for women.  There will be a record 18 female CEOs on the Fortune 500 list in January when Virginia Rommety assumes the top position at IBM.  Almost 50% of women are on the management level in organizations.  A majority of those attending and graduating from college are young women.

How did ambitious women advance in their careers?  The Women’s Auxiliary.  The same term that bothered me so much has turned out to be a term I see as what had made women achieve the levels of influence that they have in recent years.  Specifically, women have bonded together to take action as a force to break through the glass ceiling and exert their power to perform on a level playing field with men.

Women advanced on Wall Street, for instance, by taking legal action against companies for discrimination, sexual harassment, etc.  Even Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s company was sued.  The legal costs of ignoring women in the workplace evolved into companies investing in women by setting up mentoring, educational programs, and conferences.  For instance, “Women on Wall Street” is an informative and inspirational conference hosted by Deutsche Bank since 1995.  I know from attending a few of these that the event is worth going to and that careers have been enhanced.

Another boost on Wall Street is that the members of the Financial Women’s Association volunteer as mentors to female finance majors at the Zicklin School of Business within Baruch College.  Together they partner up to meet and mentor a young woman in high school.  Isn’t that wonderful?

The term Women’s Auxiliary now has a different meaning to me.  It means that women who join together are educating other females—and men—and are changing the profile of business.

The term Women’s Auxiliary also has a personal meaning.  When I was at the hotel company, I made three wonderful friends.  We manage to see each other maybe two or three times a year but to stay connected online.  When we plan a time to meet for lunch or dinner, I bet we are all smiling since we will be gathering for a meeting of the Women’s Auxiliary.

How is learning lines in a Shakespeare script to perform on stage similar to preparing for a job interview?  There are many ways in which the preparation is the same.

On Tuesday evening, my management students will be reciting lines of Shakespeare on stage in a large campus theatre.  The plays I chose for them are both tragedies:  Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet.

The title of this class session is “Shakespeare in the Workplace” and the management topic is emotional intelligence (EI).  In the required textbook, Organizational Behavior 14^th edition by Stephen P. Robbins and Timothy A. Judge, emotional intelligence is defined as “The ability to detect and to manage emotional cues and information.”

Being on stage is taking my students out of their comfort zones but I’ve used this exercise before with terrific results.  And because each student can experience a range of emotions while interacting with another actor, they can understand the reason they are on stage.  Romeo, Juliet, Hamlet, and the Queen are not roles that many of my students are familiar with but they wind up thanking me for the opportunity because they understand ‘being in the moment emotionally’ — a role that every effective manager needs to master.

To help my students be ready for the stage, I gave them a detailed list of how they are to prepare and be ready for their performance.  When I looked at their “Assignment for Actors,” I realized that this list is very similar to that of someone who is going on a job interview.  If you are acting on Tuesday or will be having a meeting with a person who has the ability to hire you, I hope you will find this list helpful.

Preparation:

1.  Read a detailed description of the play you have been assigned so that you understand the story line.  For a job seeker, find out as much as you can about the position you will be interviewed for and check out LinkedIn to see if there are any groups you can join to learn about the culture of the organization from individuals who work there.

2.  Read your assigned script very carefully.  The lines you will performing are part of a larger scene; the section has been chosen so that you can demonstrate a range of emotions.  The interviewer is skilled at asking questions.  Ask those in your network what questions they have been asked—or have them ask you questions—to start getting in the moment of the time you will be interviewed.

3.  Become familiar with your scene.  Go to www.YouTube.com or a similar website to find a video of your assigned scene or the entire play.  Read as much as you can about the company where you will be interviewed.  In addition, find out the most current trends and forecasts in the industry.

4.  Define the overall objective of your character in the scene.  Be clear on what your objective is to land a job.  What is the purpose for wanting this position?  Are you desperate to get any job since you are unemployed and have been for awhile? 

5.  Clarify the specific motivation you have in the assigned scene.  What is your motivation for working in a new company?  An increase in salary with potential for promotions?  A lateral move to learn more about your industry?  Be clear and able to articulate exactly what you seek from the position and the company.

6.  Memorize your lines as well as possible; practice in front of a mirror or recite your lines in front of your friends or family members, etc.  The same approach is excellent preparation for a job interview.  Get comfortable with how you will be presenting yourself to the interviewer by asking good friends to conduct mock interviews with you.  One of my students in a career class I teach at the Zicklin School of Business went through a mock interview with me in class one evening.  The next day she had a big interview for a job she really wanted and needed.  She got her job on the spot.

Break a leg—which means good luck whether you are performing on stage or walking in the office of an interviewer!