Thursday, December 14, 2017

Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG): Open Forum Discussion - Dec 15

Hello Everyone,
We are in the winter months, so if the Hopkinton schools are cancelled on the day of our meeting then we do not meet; however, if there is a delay, then we do meet. Even if the schools are not closed, if the weather is bad, it is best to stay home then risk an accident.

The agenda for this Friday's Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) meeting will be featured by an Open Forum Discussion. The facilitator for this week will be Gil Krispien. We will devote the first hour to the following agenda: Welcome, Landings, Announcements, New Member Intros, and Needs and Leads. Important Note: Please make a serious, concerted effort to arrive before 10:00 AM. We are going to start the meeting on time at 10:00 AM. In the second hour, we will conduct an “Open Forum Discussion on Various Topics.”

One of our previous team members, namely, Pat Rosenthal, had an excellent suggestion to make the meeting more festive for the coming holidays, i.e., we come to the meeting wearing a holiday tie or hat/scarf, a piece of jewelry or funny socks, etc. The idea being that it can be turned into an ice breaker or a help to make you a more memorable candidate beyond the qualifications.

If you would like to bring any special food, i.e., cookies, cupcakes, or any baked item that would be nice also.

Open Forum Discussion on Various Topics and Networking:

Quote From the Internet:
"....networking is about being genuine and authentic, building trust and relationships, and seeing how you can help others."
Suggested topics:
* Positive attitude:
Emotion and mindset
Getting motivated / started in the morning
What to do to get motivated
* Recruiters: one-night-stand types versus long-term relationship ones
* Knowing the general job search/interview etiquette is also vital to carry out the entire search process. One example may be “Follow up and follow through”.
* Interview questions (what about experiences with video interviews?)
* What are some difficult, tongue-tying interview questions that the the audience may have encountered and how have they responded to them?
* Other income
eBay
Survival jobs: contract / part / full time (can a survival job open an unexpected door?)
* Communicating effectively:
Value statement as presented by Bill Lippincott
Elevator speech: 10, 15, 30, and 60 second speech

Recap of HNG Meeting of December 1, 2017

Our 202nd meeting had 26 people, this is 6 more than the previous meeting; five signed the New Member list. Ronaldo Lu was our facilitator. There were five introduction speeches.

1. Joe Gibree Procurement
2. Salah Jaber Program Manager/Agile Coach
3. Rob Benson Product Management
4. Mary Carol Lodge Customer Experience
5. Colleen Cantin Social Worker

We had two landings:
1. Cindy Cantin Started Nov. 17th full time at Innovex in Lincoln, RI as a MSP Engineer; out three months
2. Nancy Maki Started Dec. 4th at Shire Pharmaceuticals as Manager Marketing Services in Lexington; out one year

We had a speaker, Bill Lippincott, who talked about "Networking and the use of LinkedIN."
The following was discussed:
Methods of Networking.

Schedule for HNG Meetings:
January 5, 2018 HNG Summary for 2017

General Information

The networking group meets in Hopkinton, at St. John the Evangelist Church parish hall. The meeting occurs, from 10 to 12 noon, and will meet the first and third Friday of the month. The parish hall has a capacity for 250 people and there is plenty of parking spaces in the parking lot and on the street. Around the perimeter of the parish hall are rooms to allow us to have focused network groups or for any other purpose we need. We chose the first and third Friday to allow everyone to attend the Acton Networking Group or any other networking group, if they wanted, on the Friday we do not meet.

We will maintain our close affiliation with Acton Networkers by using the same list-server to share information between the groups. Any e-mails specific to the Hopkinton Networking Group (HNG) will be indicated in the subject line either by "Hopkinton Networking Group" or "HNG"; this way anyone attending these meetings will know the e-mail is intended for them.

We will follow the following agenda items:
* Welcome
* Landings (with doughnuts)
* Announcements
* New member introductions
* Needs and Leads
* Speaker(s), Workshop, or Focus Group
* Cleanup

For those new members who give their introductions, this is what we would like to know:
* Name
* Skills and Value Statement
* Where have you been?
* Where are you going?
* Your title
* Your target companies
* Geography of search
* Name and e-mail address

If anyone wants to join our team, please let one of us know; we could always use the extra help and input for ideas.

Directions:
Take Rt. 495 North/South and get off Exit 21A. Go through three traffic lights. CVS is on the right at the third traffic light. The first street after the third traffic light is Church Street, take a right turn. The church is on the right. Go around to the left of the parking lot and go into the side entrance of the parish hall.

Depending upon where you live, perhaps you may want to use Mapquest for a more direct route. The address of the church is:
St. John the Evangelist
20 Church Street
Hopkinton, MA 01748

Regards,
Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) Coordinators:
Emilia Gordon emiliagne@gmail.com
Gil Krispien g.krispien@verizon.net
Ronaldo Lu ronaldo.lu@comcast.net