Closing the Book on this Amazing KIT List Adventure!

My dear friends and KIT List Community,

With heartfelt gratitude and a deep appreciation for each of you in this remarkable community, I want to let you know that I’m closing the book on this incredible KIT List adventure this February.

After 25 ½ years, I want to thank you all for being a part of this unique community that grew to over 72,000 top professionals simply by word of mouth and the power of friends helping friends. We estimate that over 135,000 people have been a part of the KIT List community as people unsubscribed as they found jobs, and then returned when they were looking again.

Thanks to you, we’ve been able to share over 176,000 job postings. We’ve also had many free “FriendWorking” events to learn a better way to network by helping others first. I’m grateful to the many hiring experts who generously shared their inside tips both in person and online in our free hiring experts panel events.

I’ll still keep many of the job tips and career management resources up online, as well as parts of the KIT List site. Please see the Resources section below for the links!

I’ve had the honor of meeting many of you in person over the years and connecting by email or phone. I’ve been touched by the quiet courage and heroism of so many who lost their jobs but had families depending upon them – often in very adverse situations like a dying spouse, a sick child, or some special need that made their burden particularly heavy. Yet their spirit of hopefulness, and the desire to do whatever they could to provide for their families kept me inspired to keep the KIT List going during the many times over the years I just wanted to close everything down.

A Time for Something New

Now that there are so many strong job search and career platforms, the KIT List has served its mission and purpose.

I’ve been hoping to dedicate my time to some new things that have been on my heart for a long time. It’ll be involving creativity and kids, who are our hope and future! I’ve also been winding down the KIT List for the past few years since I haven’t had the bandwidth that it demands.

The team at one of the many KIT List Events (Amy, me, Kelly)

I originally planned to close the KIT List in early 2020 – but then COVID hit the whole world. So, I didn’t feel I could close the community in good conscience when so many were out of work during such unprecedented times. That’s when my sister and co-moderator, Kelly, and I created videos to encourage everyone, and provide tips via interviews with hiring experts on how to get a job during a worldwide pandemic. The links to the “The Corona Videos” series are in the Resources section below.

A Bit of Background

In case you don’t know our story, I had no idea what I’d accidentally started in 1997 with my simple “Keep in Touch” email list with my friends at SGI. Had I known what it would entail back in 1997… I would have run for the hills! But I really believe it was God’s idea since I never intended to start anything like this. As friends told other friends about the KIT List, it grew to what I jokingly call “72,000 of my closest friends!” But once it took a life of its own, I just wanted to be a good caretaker of this unique community (that predated LinkedIn and the big job platforms).

It really meant a lot to hear from many of you when you got a job, and how heartening to hear that many of you landed multiple jobs from the KIT List! Someone recently told me that they’d landed four jobs over the years! It was so fantastic to hear from so many recruiters and employers that the KIT List community was their “secret sauce” for finding top candidates.

My Dad was the Real Inspiration for the KIT List

It was actually my Dad who modeled the spirit of helping many friends by keeping in touch over the years through phone calls, helping them find jobs, making hospital visits, or a sending handwritten card of encouragement. I still treasure his many notes to me, and they perk me up whenever I feel down! I wrote a tribute to him in my blog, which I’m SO grateful that I did since he died suddenly just a few weeks later. Here’s the link to “The Man Who Inspired the KIT List.”

Dad before Parkinson’s…he never lost his sense of humor!

Resources for Job Search Will Remain Up!

Over the years, we’ve had many free events with panels of career experts, plus special “FriendWorking” events to learn a warmer and better way of networking where you come with the idea of helping others first. We had hundreds turn out most events!

I’ve also tried to share encouragement and job tips (as well as the life lessons I was learning!) with our community over the years through my email messages to the entire list, and later through the blog posts. I’ll keep the blog up so people can access those tips and resources. Also, I was invited to have a KIT List show on a local TV station a few years back. I’ll keep those shows up since the interviews and inside scoop from the hiring experts remain very relevant. In fact, I received emails from people saying they watched them prior to job interviews – and LANDED THE JOB!

KIT List Resources to help you find a job you’ll love:

• KIT List Blog – More career resources and job search strategies, how to network better through FriendWorking – plus messages I sent to the KIT List to encourage everyone during tough times and share personal life lessons I learned from my own “bumps in the road!“

• KIT List “Get That Job!” TV Show – The inside tips and best practices from the hiring experts on how to nail your job interviews – and ways to grow your career (we get emails from people who landed their dream job after watching these videos before interviews!).

• KIT List “Corona Videos” – My sister and co-moderator Kelly and I interview recruiters and employers on how to get a job in a pandemic (or any difficult market!)
  

A Heartfelt Thank You

It’s been an honor and privilege to serve this wonderful community. I’m so very grateful to the people who stepped up to volunteer their time to help me when the workload became overwhelming.

As the KIT List grew so quickly, I struggled to work on the KIT List in the late-night hours after I’d finished my own marketing consulting work (my paid job!). Some very special people stepped forward to volunteer their help when I was hitting the proverbial wall.

I want to thank Val Cienega, whom I hadn’t met at the time, but was a member of the KIT List community who came forward to volunteer as a moderator for many years! My dear friend from SGI, Amy Sloniker Plunkett, also pitched in and helped with the sheer volume of work needed to moderate and keep our community free of spammers and protect it from those wanting to exploit this large community. Then my wonderful sister, Kelly Connelly, joined in as well. Each of these gifted people had their own MORE than full time “real jobs” and helped in their spare time. I am deeply grateful to them!

Sometimes the best things in life are the unexpected ones. The KIT List was a surprise to me – and it took a life of its own thanks to each of you spreading the word to help your friends and colleagues.

The spirit of the KIT List is due largely to YOU. Your kindness and helping others will continue and grow in other wonderful ways. Thank you for being a part of the KIT List family!

Although the KIT List is officially closing in February, the power of helping others keeps growing as a force for good as you continue to share your gifts in our world.

Thank you for enriching my life in more ways than you will ever know,

Sue Connelly

Your KIT List Founder