I am in my late 30’s. I had been teaching at the high school level, but left in June. I had/have complicated feelings about exiting that profession, but I knew

I am in my late 30’s. I had been teaching at the high school level, but left in June. I had/have complicated feelings about exiting that profession, but I knew I needed to commit or I wouldn’t leave. I immediately began asking everyone I knew if I could do an informational interview about their professional lives. Often, their first hand experience helped me know that a specific path would be closed or undesirable for me (which is very helpful), but I always closed with something to the effect of “knowing what you know about my background and interests, do you know anyone I should talk to?” This was a critically important question in my journey because it planted a seed. Even if my friend/acquaintance/former colleague said ‘No’ in the moment, I got a number a great follow up emails. For those secondary connections, it also helped to ask for a personal introduction via email rather than just contact info. “Hey, Bob - this is my old friend G. He’s interesting to blah-blah-blah. You two should connect sometime”. The secondary contact was much more likely to engage vs a cold email. I probably did two dozen calls/Zoom meetings with people between July-Aug. Eventually, this led me to an opportunity at a small tech consultancy. I almost doubled my salary, improved my benefits, and have a substantially better work/life/stress balance. I probably wont stay in this position forever, but it was a solid win for me and my family. The advice I was given and repeat here: “you wont get a job from your friends; you’ll get a job from the friends of your friends”, so start connecting with and talking to everyone you possibly can (on LinkedIn, Facebook, at parties, everywhere possible).