Last year when the University of Pittsburgh needed new web hires, I tried to figure out if there was anyone I could ask for help. Since there really aren’t any big names in Pittsburgh, I turned to Jason Santa Maria in Philadelphia, who has worked with Jeffrey Zeldman and Happy Cog.

I simply asked if he knew anyone from around these parts looking for a job. He didn’t. But he graciously put a little blurb on his site to let people know we were looking. That yielded some decent leads from designers and developers in and around Pittsburgh.

As we now have two open developer positions, and are struggling to find strong candidates, I again asked Jason (whom I have never met, by the way) if he could help. Again, he agreed and added a blurb to his site, which is really cool.

It’s always nice when someone helps you out when there’s nothing in it for them. I’ll have to remember this the next time someone asks me for a favor.