Ben, your experience at getting to your new position is both exciting and frustrating for me at the same time. I was unemployed for several months a recently. Reaching out to my professional network didn't do me any good at all. Every job I've ever held has always been in response to some want ad somewhere (newspaper, online, etc.). I've always heard you should work your professional network. When I was unemployed I worked it as hard as I could. Nothing.

I'm just saying that although your article is encouraging, I almost have to say its anecdotal rather than an example of a statistically verifiable fact.