David, the Project Director at Global Food Products, needs to select 3 employees for a new ERP users installation team.

David has recently joined Global Food Products from Consumer Consulting, where he undertook a similar ERP implementation project two years earlier. He also participated in an ERP customer users group that included Gen Foods and Yum Products. He was impressed by the quality of the people he met from both these organisations.

He searches the Global Food Products social network to find people who have previously worked for Consumer Consulting, Gen Foods or Yum Products. He finds 5 people who match his needs. He clicks the share button to send an email to each of them. Seema, John and Chris respond with positive replies. David meets all three employees and appoints them to join his Project Team.

Daniel, the Sales Director at Spark Computers Inc., needs to find 2 external hires for a new country start-up in Brazil. He has a limited budget for this investment and needs to keep hiring costs down. Advertising the 2 vacancies internally has not delivered any candidates.

Daniel is keen to hire through the Spark Computers trusted social network before considering the more costly external advertising route. He searches the Spark Computers talent pool and alumni sections to find people who speak Portuguese and have sales experience in technology sectors.

He finds 8 people who match this search. He clicks the share button to send an email to each of them. Paulo from the talent pool and Maria from the alumni group respond with positive replies.

Daniel invites both Paulo and Maria in for interviews. Paulo is offered the sales role in Brazil and Maria is offered the Americas Regional HQ role in New York.

Sarah, the Marketing Director at Pix Camera Ltd., needs to find a new branding design agency for a new product launch. She has already exhausted the contacts known to her network of internal Pix Camera colleagues.

Sarah searches her strongest connections in the external partner section of the Pix Camera social network to find people who may be able to recommend a good designer to her. She finds 4 of her trusted partner connections that may be able to help. She clicks the share button to send an email to each of them requesting a recommendation. She receives recommendations for 3 new suppliers outside of her current network of connections.

Sarah invites all 3 potential new suppliers in to discuss her product launch. Following presentations by each supplier, she selects Ryan’s Agency to perform the work.

Doctor Anil works for Global Health Service. He needs some input from another medical expert in his field concerning the correct treatment for his cancer patient Denis.

The early stage symptoms for Denis suggest that the standard treatment is to undertake a course for Fixit drug. Unfortunately, Denis has an added complication of diabetes and is taking Diabit drug for this illness.

Doctor Ali is aware that the Diabit medication may be lethal when combined with the Fixit drug. He needs advice on alternative treatment to prescribing Fixit drug for Denis.

Doctor Ali searches for experts in his field on the Global Health Service trusted social network. He finds Doctor James, an alumni member, who retired 18 months ago. He recalls that Doctor James had treated a similar patient to Denis 5 years earlier when they both worked together at Global Health Service.

Doctor Anil clicks the share button to send an email to Doctor James. He reminds him of their shared patient experience of 5 years earlier and invites him to join his network. Doctor James accepts the invitation to connect and suggests that he treat Denis with Cureit drug, rather than Fixit drug.

Doctor Anil has a high level of trust in the opinion of Doctor James. He takes his advice to treat Denis with Cureit drug, and Denis begins his recovery period without the complications associated with Fixit drug.

Enzo, the Development Director of Quick Motors Inc., needs help from two of his former colleagues to resolve a design problem.

The company is facing mounting litigation threats from customers who purchased Whizz model car. The Whizz model is a best seller, but has recently experienced a number of faulty engine incidents leading to safety problems.

Jack and Ivan, the two senior engineers who launched the Whizz model, had both taken early redundancy in the downsizing restructuring of 2 years earlier.

Enzo is worried about further damage to the reputation of Quick Motors Inc. and needs to find Jack and Ivan before further adverse publicity is received on this problem. He searches the Quick Motors trusted social network to find Jack and Ivan. He finds them both in the alumni group and is certain that these are the authenticated identities of the two experts he needs to contact.

Enzo clicks the share button to send an email to Jack and Ivan with a call for help. Jack and Ivan both like and trust Enzo, and realize that this is a serious design fault that only they can resolve quickly. They each return his email with positive replies offering their services to help fix the design fault in the Whizz model.

Jack and Ivan agree to join Enzo as part of his emergency project team. The design faults in the Whizz model are corrected over the next six months, and a recall programme helps to restore public confidence in Quick Motors’ s reputation for safety.

Tim, the Chief Scientist for Life Pharmaceuticals, needs to hire a rare scientist for a new product development initiative. Advertising the job internally has failed.

He posts the job vacancy on the Life Pharmaceuticals social network with key words tagged to alert potential candidates who work in places where this rare scientist may be found.

Jane works for Healthcare Inc., but is an alumni member of Life Pharmaceuticals. She receives a job alert for this rare vacancy. She is not interested in the job herself, but is aware that her colleague Ian may be a good match.

Jane clicks the share button to forward the job alert to Ian with a brief note of her insight into Life Pharmaceuticals.

Ian confirms his interest with a positive reply to Jane. Jane clicks the refer button to send Ian’s details to Tim, with a strong recommendation for interview.

Tim calls Ian in for interviews, and Ian is offered the rare scientist position within four weeks of the initial job posting.

Mia, the HR Manager for Tokyo Consumer Electronics (TCE), has just hired 4 accountants from her external advertisement but saw 17 other excellent candidates at interview. She sends reject emails to the 17 candidates along with invitations to join the talent pool section of the TCE social network, explaining the benefits of membership.

Jens currently works for Renew Energy Ltd., and is disappointed to receive the rejection email. However, he is impressed by the way TCE handled the recruitment process and is keen to join them at a later stage if the right opportunity arises.

He accepts the invitation to join the community and finds his dynamic profile completed from his earlier application. He links his profile to his LinkedIn account so they are synchronised.

Once in the community Jens can track new jobs, news and recruitment events. As well as reading and viewing content he can interract with the recruitment team.

Six months later, Mia needs to hire a Financial Controller for the London HQ. Advertising this vacancy internally has failed. She posts the job vacancy on the TCE trusted social network. Key words have been tagged to alert potential matching candidates in the talent pool.

Jens responds to the alert and views the job. It looks interesting so he discusses a few details with Mia and then clicks apply. His updated profile and a covering note are automatically sent to Mia for review.

Mia calls Jens in for interviews and Jens is offered the Financial Controller role within one month of the job posting.

John would like to return to work with his old firm, KZ Accounting LLP, in order to boost his career prospects. However, John is worried about confidentiality and how he can approach his old employer without damaging his relationship with his present employer.

John is currently a Senior Manager in the medium sized Top20 Consulting firm. He left KZ Accounting 4 years earlier to pursue his interest in the media sector. John keeps in touch with his ex colleagues through the KZ Accounting trusted social network. He is aware of the impressive growth plans at KZ Accounting and their growing reputation in the media sector.

John searches his most trusted connections on the KZ social network to find his old boss, Maria. He finds Maria and clicks the share button to send her an invite to meet him for a coffee. When they meet, John confides to Maria that he would like to return to KZ if the right opportunity arises in the Media Practice.

Maria later searches the KZ social network to find her colleague Philip, the Head of the Media Consulting Practice. She clicks the share button to introduce John’s Internet profile to Philip, with a strong recommendation that he meet John.

Philip does not have a vacancy at present but is aware that a talented manager such as John could make a big contribution to his department’s ambitious growth plans. Philip replies to Maria positively with a request that she arrange an interview meeting for the forthcoming Friday.

John meets Philip and gets on very well. Following further discussions over the next three weeks, John is offered the chance to return to KZ Accounting as a Media Partner

Anna, the Head of Resourcing for Sweetie Confectioners, needs to find 50 hires for the impending relocation of the HQ function from London to Birmingham.

The first stage internal advertising to employees succeeds in filling 10 of the vacancies.

Anna then posts the 40 remaining external vacancies on to the Sweetie Confectioners trusted social network. Anna has created tags to alert people in the talent pool and alumni sections of the community who match the selection criteria. The 120 people who match the tag criteria are each sent an alert email directing them to the online application micro site.

Anna receives 28 very relevant applications and manages to appoint 15 further hires.

She still has 25 vacancies and decides to undertake a more proactive search of the Sweetie Confectioners employer community. She searches the dynamic Internet profiles for matching people who live anywhere between North London and Birmingham. This broader search finds another 48 potentially relevant people, and she narrows this down to 12 people. She recruits 5 more hires from the 12, which takes her total success rate to 30 hires.

The remaining 20 vacancies are published externally through multiple advertising and agency sources. The external sources produce a further 600 applicants over the next two months and all the 20 vacancies are filled over a six month period.

The 580 unsuccessful candidates are stored in the talent pool for future retrieval.

Adam, an HR professional for GenZ Technologies, would like to gain an international posting to further his career with his employer.

He has acquired some international experience in the last 12 months by joining a global systems implementation project team. This project has recently been successfully completed in the UK.

Adam updates his dynamic Internet profile on the GenZ Technologies trusted social network to promote his recent international experience to the rest of the employer community. He is immediately sent a job alert for the current HR Manager vacancy in Hong Kong - where the next systems roll out is due to take place.

Adam is excited and clicks the apply button to send his application to the hiring manager Olivia, the China Country Manager.

Olivia is very interested in Adam’s application and invites him to meet her during her next visit to London scheduled for the following month.

Adam meets Olivia and is offered the HR Manager role in Hong Kong within 5 weeks of his profile update.

Simon, a Partner at General Law LLP, is trying to break into a new account relationship with Investment Bank Inc.

He searches the General Law LLP social network alumni group to find people who currently work at Investment Bank Inc.

He finds Caroline - who he recalls had shared a few training courses with him.

Simon sends an invitation to connect to Caroline, reminding her of their shared experiences, and asking if she can help him. Caroline replies and connects with Simon to renew their trusted friendship.

Caroline refers Simon to her current colleague Tim, the MD of Investment Bank Inc. Tim agrees to meet Simon, and gives him a small piece of work to prove himself. Simon delivers a great service and ultimately becomes the major supplier of law services to Investment Bank Inc.

Sam, the Operations Director of Consulting Management, needs to select a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to enable its consultants to share global account information.

Consulting Management has grown rapidly through acquisition and now needs to accelerate the integration of 6 different businesses in time for the new fiscal year starting in 3 months.

There are 8 potential suppliers on his list that could be appropriate. The 2 main contenders seem to be Sales Solutions and Right Customer. This software evaluation decision would usually take a further 6 months. Sam has already used the Consulting Management’s social network to ask his most trusted colleagues for selection advice. He has just one month to make his software supplier selection.

Sam searches his strongest external network connections on the Consulting Management’s social network to find new people who may be able to help. He finds two ex colleagues in the alumni section, Hannah and Amir. Hannah now works for Energy Services, who use Sales Solutions CRM. Amir now works for Pharma Products, who use the Right Customer CRM system.

Sam sends an email to Hannah and Amir asking for their views on the CRM systems they use, and any selection advice they can offer. They reply with mixed views on both Sales Solutions and Right Customer, but each with a strong recommendation that he look at Customeyes system – which is not on his list of 8 suppliers.

Sam arranges a series of demonstration meetings with all three software suppliers. He selects the Customeyes CRM system as the best fit within 3 weeks of his email to Hannah and Amir.

Jack, the Director of London based People Resourcing Agency, needs a new business partner in Australia to supply candidates for the temporary recruitment market in London

Many highly qualified Australian and UK professionals take extended work and travel trips between Europe and Australia. They help fulfill a strong demand for good quality temporary staff.

Jack searches the alumni group of People Resourcing Agency’s trusted social network and finds Paul, a Director of Sydney Recruitment. Paul previously worked with Jack at People Resourcing Agency 6 years earlier.

Jack clicks the share button to send an email to Paul reminding him of their shared experiences, and inviting him to connect. He explains that he would like to discuss a possible partnership agreement to exchange candidates between the London and Sydney temporary recruitment markets.

Paul accepts Jack’s invitation to connect. He has not met with Jack for 6 years, but he trusts him and has good memories of their earlier relationship when they worked together in London.

They meet in Sydney a month later and agree a partnership relationship for candidate exchange and sharing.

William, The Director of Innovation at Engineering plc, needs to find a technology partner to help him develop a new software product idea.

William currently has no connections in his own network that have the type of software skills required. He also wants to limit the number of people he shares the idea with until he is ready to take it to market.

He decides to search for inspiration by viewing his most trusted network connections on the Engineering plc trusted social network.

He finds 3 of his strongest connections that may be aware of experts in this niche. He clicks the share button to explain his idea and asks each of them for help. George (1 degree away) responds with a suggestion that he talk to one of his own network contacts, James. James works in a related field and is also a partner member of the Engineering plc social network.

George clicks the share button to forward William’s idea and contact details to James, with a recommendation that they should meet.

William meets James and invites him to connect on the Engineering plc social network. James accepts (was originally 2 degrees away), and he and William build a trusted friendship whilst sharing the new idea. James suggests that his friend Sam, who works for Sparkzone Technologies, may be the right technology partner for William.

James clicks the share button to email Sam with William’s idea and contact details and a recommendation that they meet. Sam responds positively and meets William the following week. The meeting goes well and William invites Sam to join the Engineering plc social network as a partner member and connect with him. The Engineering plc social network’s Community Manager approves Sam’s membership and Sam accepts the invitation to connect with William (was originally 3 degrees away).

William and Sam continue the constructive dialogue and agree to create a joint venture business partnership between Engineering plc and Sparkzone Technologies to develop William’s new software idea.

As a valued client prospect of Top4 Accountancy, Leslie receives an invitation to their new Client Community, offering privileged access to people and content.

Leslie accepts the invitation and logs in to the community. She finds that her details have been imported from the Top4 CRM system.

From within the community she finds news about the company and her particular areas of interest.

Over the next few months she signs up for relevant networking and training events and also uses the community to post and answer questions.

Leslie joins groups of interest and starts to share ideas and requirements. She also begins to build her personal network amongst other members.

Membership of the community increases her sense of engagement with Top4 and ultimately results in new and repeat business with the company.

Susan is preparing to commence a period of maternity leave, and is nervous of what lies ahead from both a personal and career perspective. She works for Universe Retail Plc, and is due to have her first child in three month’s time.

She is aware that she can keep in touch with her work through the Universe Retail Plc social network. She also discovers through searching the social groups section that she can join two new groups of interest to her. These are a Mothers’ Support Group and a Theatre Club with trips to shows.

Susan enjoys her maternity leave and time with her new baby. She also stays in touch with her work group colleagues, is up to date with professional developments and meets new friends from other departments. She returns to work with confidence, and quickly integrates back into the business with the help of her extended network of friends in the workplace.

Callum is preparing to leave his current employment with Design Engineers plc to commence his new job at Global Energy SA next Monday. He is a little anxious, as this is his first career move since joining Design Engineers plc 6 years earlier from University.

Callum was introduced to Global Energy SA by his friend Deborah, an ex colleague at Design Engineers plc. She had invited him to join the talent pool section of the Global Energy SA social network just 2 months earlier.

Deborah is aware that Callum needs support for his impending career move. She emails him via the Global Energy’s social network to arrange a coffee meeting.

Callum welcomes the offer and meets Deborah. She once again tells him how life is on the inside of Global Energy SA and how this compares with life at Design Engineers plc.

Callum joins Global Energy SA and is quickly introduced to many of Deborah’s friends and connections. She promotes his talent and abilities to everyone she meets and gives him advice whenever needed. He quickly makes friends and enjoys early responsibility and opportunities to prove his incoming reputation.

Callum performs well in the job and is promoted within 18 months. His old friend Deborah and his new friends keep him socially engaged and he is delighted to have made the right move to Global Energy SA.

Katie has just been promoted to the CEO role at Hospitality plc from her prior position as Sales Director. She needs to make an early impact and perform a turn round of the business very quickly.

Hospitality plc has recently delivered some poor operating results leading to the resignation of the previous CEO. Investors are impressed by Katie’s industry knowledge, but are a little worried about her lack of formal finance training.

Katie searches the alumni section of the Hospitality plc social network to find a trusted mentor to guide her though the next difficult year. She finds Trevor, the highly talented ex Finance Director of Hospitality plc. Trevor has retired but was a major contributor to the Company’s most successful period of growth 3 years earlier. He is well respected by the Investors.

Katie clicks the share button to invite Trevor to connect and help her. Trevor remembers Katie well and is a fan of her management style and ability. He accepts her invitation to connect and agrees to meet her.

Katie and Trevor quickly resume their trusted friendship and agree how to present her excellent turn round plan to the Investors. The turn round plan is accepted by the Investors. The Investors are also delighted to learn that Katie has invited Trevor to be her mentor for the next 12 months to overcome concerns over her lack of formal finance training.

Over the next 12 months, the turn round plan works well with a good recovery in operating results. Katie draws on Trevor’s mentoring and professional support long after the 12-month agreement has finished.

Lucas works for Right Accountancy Partners in London. He is about to take a voluntary career break to coincide with the economic downturn. He plans to visit Australia, but is anxious about his future.

Lucas is pleased that he can keep in touch with his employer while he is away by logging on to the Right Accountancy Partners social network. He also discovers through searching the social groups section that he can join a football group when in Sydney.

During his travel period in Australia, Lucas gets to meet a number of Right Accountancy staff while playing for their football team. This leads to a six-month temporary assignment with the Sydney office, which helps pay for his onward travel to the USA.

Lucas has a great time in Australia and meets many new friends from the Right Accountancy community. He also earns the money to enjoy his USA holiday. He returns to the London office as a highly motivated, refreshed and loyal employee. His confidence is high and his career prospects are enhanced by his international experience and new connections in the global Right Accountancy community.

Harry, the Marketing Director for Soap Products Inc., is about to retire after 24 years service. He is a well-respected expert in his field and will miss the camaraderie of his colleagues and associates in the soap industry.

He is looking forward to spending more time with his family and having the time to play more golf. However, Harry has always enjoyed his work and is worried that the sudden break from his busy travel and work routine will be a difficult adjustment to make.

He searches the Soap Products Inc. social network alumni section for inspiration. He finds his ex colleague Charlie, who retired 18 months earlier from the Finance Director role. He clicks the share button to invite Charlie to meet him for lunch. Charlie is pleased to hear from Harry and immediately responds with an agreement to meet in London the following week.

Harry and Charlie enjoy a good lunch, and Harry confides that he is not yet ready to stop work. Charlie understands as he has already taken on 3 Non-Executive Director roles to ease himself into his retirement.

Harry enjoys the insight offered by Charlie and starts to plan his retirement transition. He searches the Soap Products Inc. social network and discovers 3 more of his most trusted friends who may be able to help him find Interim Management or non-executive Director type roles.

Six months later, Harry has retired and has 2 non-executive Director contracts. He is enjoying spending time with his family, is delighted to stay in touch with his industry and is happily making new friends through his alumni connections.