Serendipity and the power of the www

My son is looking for his first job since graduating. I had names of a couple of people who could be useful contacts and I e-mailed them to him using his hotmail e-mail which is made up of his full name which I will not repeat it here – to protect the innocent. (He has others that he realises are not ideal when you want to project a professional image.)

A while later he asked when I was sending the details. As he has a laid back approach to lots of things I responded in what I considered to be a suitably robust way by telling him to check his inbox again as I had definitely sent them. He did. There was nothing from me. I sent them again cursing the black hole that some of my communications seem to head for.

Next day – in my inbox – was an e-mail from a guy telling me that he had got my e-mail but that he was not my son! The suffix .com instead of .co.uk made the difference.

I replied with an apology and complimented his parents on choosing such a great name for their son. He replied saying that he had had a look at my website and the entry on missing opportunities had a particular resonance with him at this point. He said that he had got “something important out of it already”.

He lives in Australia. I live in Scotland.

So -  a small mistake led to something useful and the timing was great. I can’t remember how we managed before the www – life was definitely much simpler. But the world is a much smaller place in 2008 and there are now unlimited opportunities to  share stories, connect with others and make a difference!