Got chewed out at a conference in Austin and it changed how I network

I was at this tech conference in Austin back in 2019, standing by the snack table not talking to anyone. This older guy walks up and says "you look lost, kid" and I got all defensive. Turns out he was a VP at a company I applied to twice and got rejected from. We ended up talking for 20 minutes and he gave me three specific things I was doing wrong on my resume. Now I actually go to those networking events with a plan instead of just grabbing free pens. Has anyone else had a random stranger fix something about their career?

3 comments

3 Comments

paulperry1mo ago

Respectfully, I see this a little different. Getting career advice from a random VP at a snack table is a lucky break, for sure. But not everyone's gonna have some executive walk up and hand them the answers. Most of the time at those conferences you're fighting through a crowd of people who are just trying to hand you a business card and move on. You can have the best plan in the world and still get ignored if you don't fit what they're looking for right that second. That VP might have just been bored or felt like being nice that day.

rayc381mo ago

Hey @paulperry, you're right, maybe that VP was just hungry and needed someone to hold his snack plate.

jason1121mo ago

That Austin conference story hits close to home, I had almost the same thing happen at a smaller meetup in Denver and it completely changed how I approach those things too.