Savannah Vrbas

OGL 482 Pro-Seminar II

Unit 3 Assignment:
Networking Plan Template
Section 1: The Career Decision Matrix
As you move through the data-gathering phase and begin to generate options for potential jobs
and potential employers, this is when you can build and use a Career Decision Matrix. Following
the information from Harrington & Hall text, Career Management & Work life Integration,
Chapter 4, pages 92-94, you will research, gather, and analyze information from your self-
assessments (i.e., the Kuder assessments in Unit 1, in particular), thematic analysis (themes),
career resources and more to create your Career Decision Matrix.

Career options are broader than jobs. They are paths you can take to get to where you want to be.
Here is a resource that can assist you in determining:
https://careerwise.minnstate.edu/careers/pathways.html

1)

a. A Technical Sourcer is someone in the talent acquisition part of human resources.

Their main goal is to find and attract passive talent within the market to get them

involved in the hiring process. There are a few paths here, one being to move into

a recruiter role, which I will go into more about below. Another being to move

into management of a TA team or even moving into another broader HR

function. 

This role is found in pretty much every forward-thinking company and has an

excellent opportunity to impact the kind of people the organizations find

significantly. Many rippling impacts can come from hiring the right person. This

is the role that I was first in when I started my professional career in the field and

has given me exposure to many different aspects of recruiting. 

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b. A Technical Recruiter is also within HR in the Talent Acquisition arm of the

industry. The sourcer and the recruiter have many similar functions; however, the

recruiter focuses more on bringing candidates through the interview process than

strictly on finding talent and gaining their interest in the opportunity and the role. 

In this position, you gain more experience working cross-functionally with

different teams and hiring managers. You have more interactions with candidates

through different forms of communication and can practice this interpersonal

skill. Lastly, you get experience in negotiations when you are working with

candidates to close them. This is probably the more obnoxious and challenging

part of the job but can be the most rewarding. 

c. A Career Coach is also in a field related to careers and talent pathways. In this

role, you work more as a private consultant rather than working internally for an

organization. This career option is one that I felt naturally aligned with the

experience and skills I had learned from my role as a sourcer. I reviewed resumes

and predicted appropriate career paths for years and felt that this ran parallel to

the same kind of work one would do as a career coach. 

In this role, one can advance into a management role or move to an organization's

role to lead a department in learning and development for internal employees or

something similar. This kind of role will always be around because there will

always be people progressing within their careers. Everyone looks for a bit of

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guidance. There is a limitation in the consumers' ability and wish to pay for this

kind of service. 

d. Being an Owner, Founder, or Entrepreneur is a job that I have always found to

pique my interest because you are responsible for your success and can decide

how you want to run things. You do not need approval from others, but you can

always seek out advice from trusted sources. The job can entail many tasks and

responsibilities depending on the kind of business you want. Ideally, for me, I

would be going into a role where I was running a water-based tourism company,

like whale watching or water-based activity, like a wakeboard cable park. 

There will always be a need for this kind of work; however, there will be times

that business will be booming more than others, and there is much more risk

involved. I have worked in both industries and have seen what the day-to-day is

like and just what it takes to run a successful business. Knowing myself, I would

not want to put all my eggs in one basket while I am young, and this would be a

career that I would fancy when I am much older and have a reliable passive

income. 

e. A Project Manager is a person that runs and facilitates projects to get things done.

My coursework at ASU has not only taught me the fundamentals of PM but has

also trained me how to best lead people and motivate groups to see a shared

vision and work together to get something done. We have also learned how to

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best interact with people on all teams, manage conflicts, and manage our time and

resources. 

I am in love with taking direction and generally believe I can do things efficiently

and creatively. Because of this, I was deeply interested in exploring the PM route

and felt that it was a role I would be great at; however, after delving deeper into

the day-to-day functions, I knew it was not the role for me. Creating project

schedules and other excel spreadsheets is fun to me in theory, but I would HATE

my life if that were something I was doing weekly or daily. Overall, PM skills are

very easily transferable and will bring a solid base of valuable tools to other

positions. 

2) Using the information, you have gathered and shared above it is time to fill in your
Career Decision Matrix. You can find an example in Table 4.2 on page 93 of our
text. When you complete the matrix below, be sure to remove any unnecessary
labels.

Technical Technical Career Founder/ Project

Sourcer Recruiter Coach Business Manager
Owner

Authenticity h h h h h

Joy m m m h L

Emotional m h h h H
Intelligence

Curiosity h m h h M

Drive h h h h H

Autonomy h l l h M

Honesty/Trus m m m h M

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Collaboration h h m h H

Connection m h h h h

Balance h l m m L

CTCP 42 36 38 48 36
(Summary)

3) Now that you have determined these career options in relation to your life themes:

a. Reflect to what extent your Career Decision Matrix development process has

helped your career development decisions.

This matrix somewhat gave me the results in which I have suspected. It was

interesting to see that being a founder of my own company was a higher score than

the job I wish to go back to, but it was not a big shocker. I feel that I am very aware

of the different careers I could take to bring me joy and align most with my themes.

Currently, I am an excellent recruiter, and I love that I make an impact and can

connect and collaborate with people daily; however, I am aware that I wish to go into

more of a sourcing role. This must-do mainly with the amount of autonomy I get from

being a sourcer vs. a recruiter, even though they are both within Talent Acquisition.

I started as a Sourcer and then was converted to a Full-Cycle Recruiter due to

business needs, which has not been my liking. I did so because of the uncertainty in

the job market during COVID-19; however, I am very aware that if the organization

is not interested in hiring a recruiter and giving me the job, I am prepared to leave.

Though my company is excellent, my role is more important to me.

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When I first began my ASU OGL journey, I was highly interested in becoming a

career coach. Coming from the recruiting side of things, I found that I have given

much insight to others in their career efforts. As time has gone on, I think I see a

passion for helping people do this but would have it be more of a side gig than a full-

time role.

Additionally, when I took my first PM course, I was set on the idea that I wanted

to explore the career more, as there were many aspects of the job that I felt I would be

great at. I would argue that I would be a great PM because I love to plan, manage,

delegate, build excel spreadsheets and roadmaps, and work cross-functionally with

teams. Unfortunately, the more courses I took in the area, the broader picture was

displayed, and I realized I enjoyed doing these tasks for fun but would not enjoy them

being a part of my life full-time. Instead, I would like to sprinkle these skills into my

day-to-day in other careers.

My highest rated was founder or owner of my own tourism company. This I have

somewhat always known. I love connecting with people, creating things, spreading

experiences and joy, and the autonomy of being my boss. I am confident that this will

be my career path down the line after I have put in the time to pay off student debts,

safe for a house, and feel secure enough to venture out independently.

b. Share which career option(s) you feel would be worth researching more and

pursuing as you begin to think about your networking plan.

Because I am familiar with the job that works best for me in my life, I feel it

would be worth doing all the research behind opening my own company. The

unfortunate part is that my current role and the role that I wish to transition to in the

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future do not overlap; however, I plan to do networking in both industries. I am

already reasonably connected in both and feel that I can manage to put in the short-

term work now to make my way back into sourcing while also putting in the time to

connect with those in the tourism industry to make lasting connections that will come

in handy down the line. For my current role, LinkedIn is an outstanding tool. For my

long-term career goal, making connections on my travels will become especially

important to lay down the groundwork for the future to come.

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Section 2: Networking Plan

Now that you have completed your Career Decision Matrix we now need to move forward and
develop a networking plan that you can use to help you reach your career goals. Review
Harrington & Hall text, Career Management & Work life Integration, Chapter 4, pages 77-83.
Developing and managing your network of people who can help you is an important ongoing
process whether you are currently happy in your career.

The purpose of this activity is to:

• Help you assess and enhance (extend or strengthen) your developmental network relative
to major challenges you will face in the next 1-3 years
• Help you develop a networking strategy that will work for you
• Help you develop a specific plan to pursue over the next 6 months to 1 year
• Create an accountability mechanism

Research on leadership development has demonstrated that people benefit from a variety of
developmental relationships, including short-term and long-term alliances with bosses, peers,
senior executives, coaches, subordinates, and family members, the more diversity and depth
there is in your developmental network, the better. Depending on our dominant learning tactics,
we are more or less likely to pay attention to the quality of our developmental network.
This assignment was adapted by Professor Kathy E. Karm from a worksheet developed by
Professor Deborah Kolb, Simmons Graduate School of Management. Adapted by permission.

Answer the following:

1) As you think about the major changes that are likely to take place at your place of

work in the next few years, what major challenges and opportunities do you foresee

that you will need to deal with in the next 1-3 years?

Describe and explain why these are your top three (3) of Challenges here:

a) Convincing my organization of the value that Sourcers bring will be one of

the significant challenges. As mentioned above, my current organization had

converted me from a Technical Sourcer to a Full-Cycle Technical Recruiter, a

similar role within the organization, but has some key differences. Both are

focused on Talent Acquisition, but a Sourcer focuses on finding and attracting

passive talent that may not be looking for a job but would provide significant
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value add to the company. Instead, they ask that all recruiters do Full-Cycle

Recruiting, which includes sourcing; however, this leaves us little time to increase

applicant flow. Additionally, the impact is that we are not fighting for top talent

that obtains the skills we are looking for that may not have been engaged with

without a skilled Sourcer that knows how to find them. As a result, we Recruiters

have been bogged down with meetings, trying to throw events to increase

applicant flow, and our pipelines have been shallow (no one is applying). With all

the other tasks and meetings, we must attend, it becomes difficult to reach out to

candidates to get passive candidates interested in the opportunity we are hiring

for. Hiring managers are left with no candidates to review, and Recruiters are

slammed with too many tasks.

b) As companies grow and adapt, the problem mentioned above has shown a

divide in the way organizations view Sourcers vs. Recruiters. In my job searching

before taking the role to convert to a Recruiter from a Sourcer, I found that a

challenge arose in the number of companies that value Sourcers. This baffles me,

as I am a strong supporter of having two separate functions. One focused on

getting the right talent engaged, and one focused on getting them to sign the

dotted line to join the organization. There is not to say that there is an uneven

balance in this belief amongst organizations, so I will not have to do any

convincing to the right company. The challenge lies in finding the right company.

c) Standing out amongst other candidates will be the final challenge for me if I

decide to move jobs. If the first challenge is overcome and I can convince my

current organization to change my role and bring me on as a Sourcer, this will not

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be an issue. On the other hand, if they decide they do not wish to hire for this role,

I will need to look elsewhere for a job to move back into my desired occupation.

This route requires me to begin applying for jobs in an already saturated market

and will force me to challenge myself to see how I can best stand out amongst

others in my profession.

Describe and explain why these are your top three (3) of Opportunities here:

a) In response to my first challenge, I have an opportunity to make a case internally

and provide first-hand data and feedback to my leaders to convert me back to a

Sourcer. I also have the chance to use my internal network to put pressure on our

leadership as to why this would be helpful to the organization. Additionally, I

have proof of success in my previous role and can also use that as supporting

evidence regarding the need to hire this role. 

b) In response to my second challenge, I have an opportunity to look outside my

organization and do research into what companies have their Sourcing team. This

will help support my case internally and allow me to investigate what other

opportunities may be out there that will be better for what I am looking for in my

career. I can also then reach out to folks in this company that are in the same role

I am interested in, or maybe a potential manager of mine, and gain insight as to

what it is like to work with and what kind of culture there is to see if it is

something that I am interested in. Doing this will give me information about what

other opportunities are out there, make connections, and provide me with peace of

mind that I am not trapped in my current role. 

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c) The third opportunity I have is to reach out to my previous network connections

to see if anyone is hiring. Being a Sourcer and a Recruiter, I have learned the ins

and outs of LinkedIn. My last two jobs all started from a simple LinkedIn

connection invite and a message about who I am, what I am looking to do, and a

copy of my resume and technical guide. When I moved to Philadelphia, I sent out

hundreds of connection invites which eventually landed me a job at the biggest

company in Philly, Comcast! Unfortunately, when the pandemic hit, I was let go

after the second and final rounds of lay-offs, as hiring came to a halt for an

indefinite period. The organization went through massive cutbacks. My next

move was to start reaching out and networking on LinkedIn until I eventually

found a contract gig that was then converted to my current full-time gig. Life

works in funny ways, but connection and networking go extremely far. 

2) Given these challenges and opportunities, what type of help are you most likely to

need? Check one and explain why.

a. Help in getting the job done __X____

b. Help in advancing my career ______

c. Emotional support ______

d. All the above ______

I would say that getting the job done most aligns with what kind of help I need. I

am not looking to advance my career, nor am I looking for emotional support. Overall, I

would say that I need someone to help make that connection to the person who will offer

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or connect me to my next job. Or, if I can convince my current employer to bring back

the role of a Sourcer, I will need help in gathering the evidence and other supporting data

to make a case for the conversion.

) If your major challenge or opportunity is related to your work, how well positioned

are you to get information, advice, and resources about new opportunities and

possibilities? Check one and explain who can help you and why.

Very Well ___X___ Okay ______ Need to Expand My Network ______

Being a Recruiter, I am very well positioned to gather the information, advice,

and resources I need to overcome my challenge. Networking is a core skill of mine, and I

believe that I have the personal connection, communication, and drive to make it happen

when I am ready to push for it. Currently, I am waiting for my moment to suggest the

change internally. We are going through many changes as a company, so I am putting in

the time and the work to help where I can. Once the organization slows down a bit on its

growth trajectory and jobs become a bit more stable, I plan to have a serious conversation

with my VP and provide the information I have gathered to make my case. At that time,

if he does not view things the same way, I will be ready to move on and will have likely

already have reached out to my network to open the door for other opportunities (which I

can also then use as leverage).

) If your major challenge or opportunity means making a move into a leadership

position, do you have relationships with people who can give you advice and

effectively advocate or champion you for important assignments or other

developmental activities? Check one and explain who can help you and why.

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Yes ___X___ No ______

I will be looking to move into a leadership role, and I am confident that my

relationships with my leaders will give me advice and effectively champion for me. My

VP has already expressed to my director that he sees great potential in me as a rising

leader. I have a great connection with all the leaders I report to and the Engineering

Organization I support. I also believe that my drive, emotional intelligence, and

enthusiasm will assist me in getting there.

) If your challenge or opportunity means that you will need emotional support, to

what extent do you have people who can give you support? Check one and explain

who can help you and why.

a. I have a strong support network to help me. __X___

b. I don’t have people to help me through changes I will have to make. ____

I have been lucky enough to confide in many of my leaders, managers, and

mentors throughout my career. I have been upfront in my desires for my job, my

struggles, and my successes. In doing this, I have created an incredibly open and safe

environment to speak with them, and they have responded the same way. Even those

confidants from my previous organizations have always been there for me and supported

me when I needed it most. Furthermore, many of them have been there to push me to my

full potential when I had doubted myself. I am grateful for them every day.

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) If your challenge or opportunity means that you will need help getting the job done,

advancing your career, or getting emotional support, do you have people in your

network who can fulfill these functions? Check one and explain who can help you

and why.

Yes ___X___ No ______

My peers on my team, my managers, and my leaders are also always there to help

and support me when I need help getting something done or emotional support. I have

been lucky enough to have such a supportive and collaborative group of diverse people

around me in the workplace. The work culture in my previous and current companies has

been too good to be accurate, and we all function as a team. We lean on each other to get

things done and trust each other to confide in one another when the going gets rough.

Additionally, we all want to see each other succeed and are willing to do what it takes to

bring one another up.

) What is your approach to building relationships? How are you at initiating

relationships? In what settings are you most comfortable meeting people?

a. Joint or shared work, projects, and committees ___X___

b. One-on-one appointments, with specific agendas ___X___

c. Informal “no agenda” social settings __X____

d. Going for coffee, lunch, or drinks ___X___

e. Leisure activities such as golf, tennis, or theater __X____

f. Other ______

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All the above for me! Everyone has their preferred method of building

relationships. I have been lucky enough to adapt to each setting above comfortably, and if

I am honest with myself, I genuinely enjoy the variety. Some relationships I wish to build

and mend in a one-on-one setting, such as mentors, partners, or others. I want group work

when working with people from different teams because you get insight into what their

function does, how it affects them and their work, and how you get to learn and meet

someone you would have not before. Social settings are great when meeting new people,

and coffee, lunch, or drinks are excellent when getting feedback or asking someone to

help you accomplish a goal or initiative you are working on or mayor on in the future.

Leisure activities being group together through shared experiences. In short, every

situation has its purpose. Being flexible will help you connect with people in many ways.

) What is your preferred style?

a. Occasional phone calls or e-mails just to ask, “how are you?” ___X___

b. Phone calls, e-mails, or visits with specific requests or questions ______

c. Holiday cards and letters ___X___

d. Dropping in or calling when you are in the neighborhood __X____

e. Arranging in advance to get together at professional meetings ______

f. Relying on the chance that your paths will cross ______

g. Inviting people to join you for lunch, coffee, golf, and so on __X____

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h. Contacting people when you find some information, an article, or an opportunity that

might interest them ___X___

i. Other ______

I am not too fond of texting but love catching up with people on the phone.

Random phone calls or drops ins are the best. Holiday cards and letters are thoughtful and

show you care about and are thinking about the other person. Inviting people to events

shows that you are being inclusive and, again, thinking about the other person and letting

them know you enjoy their presence. Finally, contacting people when you have

something that may interest them also shows that you are thinking about them and

making an impression.

) Now turn your attention to the “Action Planning” part of the exercise (top of page 82).

Respond to the following questions:

a. What are your goals in developing a professional network? Be specific.

I am a Recruiter hoping to transition back into a Sourcer role within my

organization or another if needed. My goal is to gather enough data and feedback from

my peers to support the organization hiring for this role. Parallel to this, my goal is to

research other companies and connect with folks in those companies to gain insight into

what that culture is like. From there, I will make further connections within those

companies to reach out to individuals on the same team I would be applying for or would

be my manager to create first-hand relationships and stand out from other applicants that

submit their resumes into the system. Power in the people!

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b. How will a well-developed network of contacts help you achieve your career goals?

In Talent Acquisition, the network is everything. This means of networking has

provided me my previous two jobs, and I do not expect things to change in the future.

Being well connected to the right people can open doors that may not have been there

before. Additionally, it has presented job openings that were not even posted before my

conversations with hiring managers. In short, your network is one of the most powerful

tools you can have to achieve your career growth.

c. What are some of the characteristics of the people you are looking to include in your

network?

I am looking for people who have my job title or have the title of anyone who may be my

manager or leader at companies that I wish to work for.

d. Where might you meet these people? How will you grow your network / initiate contact

with new potential networking contacts?

LinkedIn InMail has been my most successful method of reaching out to folks and

building my network. Being a Sourcer, I have also become very skilled in finding the

right kind of person I am hoping to contact, and it has given me many advantages in my

life. Reaching out to these people personally has allowed me to not only grow my first-

person connections and build relationships, but it has also made me more trustworthy.

The more connections I make with relevant people in the industry, the more I am less

likely to be seen as a random individual trying to get a job or make a connection.

e. Who in your network are you looking to enhance your relationship with? How will you go

about enhancing these relationships?

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I have many people that I have made connections and relationships through my

previous job searches. As I mentioned previously, I have made connections with

hundreds of hiring managers at companies interested in working for. My first go-to-toe

for enhancing these relationships will be these individuals to reconnect and touch base

regarding their team’s hiring or another team within their organization.

f. How can you leverage your existing network? Might some of your existing networking

contacts know others who you should be in contact with?

My previous answer touched on this. My existing network has near 700+ relative

people within my industry. I plan to re-connect with these will be people to discuss their

hiring needs or others within their company.

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Section 3: SMART Career and Networking

Using a SMART goals-based approach, as well as project planning and management skill best
practices, create a detailed project plan for at least two specific goals. At least one must be
related to your Career Plan, and the other related to your Networking Plan. Both of these goals
need to be things that you are passionate about accomplishing.
Your selected goals and SMART plan (see SMART goal information provided in the Unit)
should be structured based on a one to two-year timeline. It should include specific milestones,
action items, sub-tasks as well as task-related interdependencies as applicable. With respect to
each goal, critically think about what specifically are the things you will do in the next one to
two years to achieve these goals.

Develop a clear and detailed SMART plan, with facilitating goals and steps/actions required
to accomplish your selected goals. It should be evident, by looking at the format and structure
of your plan, that you have developed some significant skills respect to project management.
Include Gantt charts or other visual project representations as you see fit and be sure to address
your approach to tracking/measuring your progress.

1) What is your Career Goal?

My short-term career goal is to transition back into a Technical Sourcing role

from a Full-Cycle Technical Recruiter position. Specifically, I will do this by convincing

my current company to hire me for this role, or I will journey elsewhere to find a

company ahead of its time and has its Sourcing function for me to join. Completion will

be to land this role and transition from my current position to this one. This is attainable

because I have the required skill set, the drive, and the people skills to either sway my

current organization through my relationships and internal data or land a new job in a

differing organization through my network and references. This matters to me because I

wish to have a career that aligns most with my themes and what I am most looking for in

my career and my personal life. My goal is to complete this within one year.

a. Specific (provide details about the goal)

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i. Specifically, I will do this by convincing my current company to hire me

for this role, or I will journey elsewhere to find a company ahead of its

time and has its Sourcing function for me to join.

b. Measurable (explain how you will measure your progress or completion)

i. Completion will be to land this role and transition from my current

position to this one.

c. Attainable (explain why this is possible)

i. This is attainable because I have the required skill set, the drive, and the

people skills to either sway my current organization through my

relationships and internal data or land a new job in a differing organization

through my network and references.

d. Relevant (explain why this matters to you)

i. This matters to me because I wish to have a career that aligns most with

my themes and what I am most looking for in my career and my personal

life.

e. Time-Based (provide the timeframe in which you will complete this goal)

i. My goal is to complete this within one year.

(Insert Gantt Chart)

2) What is your Networking Goal?

My networking goal is to reach out to my network to rekindle

conversations and relationships with leaders and potential peers that I reached out

to in previous job searches. I will measure this by the number of outreaches I do.

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In the past, I was successful with around 300 outreaches to new contacts. I predict

I can do this with about 200 targeted outreach messages to land a job opportunity

if I do not convince my current company to hire me for the role I am looking for.

This is attainable because I have proof from previous job searches that I can make

it happen. I am confident that I will land a new job this way if needed from my

existing data and networking abilities. These matters because I would like to re-

connect with previous relationships to search for a job rather than try to make new

connections. If needed, however, I will make new connections or ask for referrals

from the contacts I already have. My goal is to complete this within one year.

a. S

i. My networking goal is to reach out to my network to rekindle

conversations and relationships with leaders and potential peers that I

reached out to in previous job searches.

b. M

i. I will measure this by the number of outreaches I do. In the past, I was

successful with around 300 outreaches to new contacts. I predict I can do

this with about 200 targeted outreach messages to land a job opportunity if

I do not convince my current company to hire me for the role I am looking

for.

c. A

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i. This is attainable because I have proof from previous job searches that I

can make it happen. I am confident that I will land a new job this way if

needed from my existing data and networking abilities.

d. R

i. These matters because I would like to re-connect with previous

relationships to search for a job rather than try to make new connections.

If needed, however, I will make new connections or ask for referrals from

the contacts I already have.

e. T

i. My goal is to complete this within one year.

(Insert Gantt Chart)

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