Many followers of the EO Blog will remember a campaign we undertook in 2010 to help my childhood friend, Brian Oughton, find a job. The blog that launched the campaign was called Four Life-Changing Minutes.

The campaign was hugely successful, and the EO network sent Brian dozens of good leads, helped with ideas and opened new doors. After being out of work for a year, he was re-employed within no time!

I believe the campaign worked because:

1. It was an easy ask of participants.

2. Brian was not in competition for a job with anyone in the EO network.

3. It was a compelling story.

4. The fact that strangers cared enough to help him gave him the confidence boost he needed to his part well.

I’ve often thought about trying the campaign again, but with someone in an HR role. The challenge with doing so is avoiding playing favourites within the network. After all, there are a lot of unemployed folks in the network and we try to avoid favouritism by sticking to the practice of circulating all jobs we receive to the entire network.

Well, the right opportunity to support a fellow HR Professional has come. I’d like you all to meet Victorio Milian. I know Victorio personally and heard about his challenges with his job search during a recent Drive-thru HR broadcast. I met him in 2011 at HRevolution and regularly connect with him on Twitter. I was a part of his great experiment, Project Social HR. He is a HR Professional living in New York City and is looking for a talent management/HR business partner role. I like his style which is casual, full of good humour, yet professional and to the point. He is looking for an HR role in food service and/or retail. He has great experience which you can review on LinkedIn at: www.linkedin.com/in/vmilian.

This is how you can help:

1. Connect with Victorio on LinkedIn. In your invitation, tell him you saw this blog and want to help. You can add whatever you like to the message, including asking questions that may help you to help him. Networking works best when you get to know people, so find out what types of things you have in common. Who knows, good connections are as much about the informal as the formal, and maybe you have relatives in the same city, or have been to the same rock concert, or restaurant, or you have other similar interests. Because Victorio organized a blog circle last year, I am aware that Victorio visited Toronto a few years ago and has an appreciation for the impact of our multi-cultural society on employment practices.

If you need me to facilitate getting to know Victorio, no problem. Just send the request for introduction to me and I’ll forward to Victorio.

Work on the connection. The more you know about him, the more you can help him. The good news is that Victorio is an extremely easy person to get to know.

2. Go to LinkedIn and do a people search on two different topics: “Foodservice” and “Retail” industries. See if you have connections in the New York City area. If you have connections, then click on Victorio’s profile and select the feature “Forward this profile to a colleague” and send the profile to your connection. In the message, type this or something similar:

“One of my colleagues speaks really highly of Victorio Milian and has asked me to help circulate his profile to those in his industry. He has more than 10 years of experience at great companies in the foodservice or retail sectors. If you are aware of an opportunity that may be suitable, please feel free to connect with Victorio directly or forward it on as appropriate. Even if the hiring thought is only preliminary, it is my understanding that Victorio is happy to discuss further.”

3. If you work in the foodservice or retail industries, and you have operations in the New York City area, please forward his resume to your U.S. connections.

4. If you are a Twitter user, send out the following Tweet– I read the “4 More Minutes” blog at https://eolist.com/2013/03/13/four-more-minutes & I LinkedIn #hirevictorio #TEPHR #hrblogs

5. Tell anyone else you know that is savvy on LinkedIn to read this blog.

Here’s the truth. We here in Toronto believe we are at the centre of the universe. Let’s prove that we are. Our connections take us around the world, and I strongly believe that with a little bit of elbow grease, we will open up a connection that will help Victorio make the perfect landing. Ultimately, you help yourself when you help others. Please pay this one forward.