Today I’m going to talk about building a networking strategy — both on- and off-line — that helps you not just in your job search but your larger career (currently and in the future). I’ll focus mostly on outbound networking — or intentionally positioning yourself to reach out and start conversations with people. You may not be doing many of these activities because most of us find them intimidating and/or spammy. We don’t like reaching out to strangers and asking to chat, and we especially don’t like doing that when we are looking for a job because there’s always an underlying current of, “I need something” that feels off-kilter. 

But networking is an essential component of a successful job search, and it’s an essential part of many mid-to-senior level roles. Being able to make the right connections, leverage relationships for partnerships, and talk to strangers (who become partners) are key components of customer success, program management, sales and many other roles. And any role that requires you to report on findings (for example data analysis or researcher roles) will frequently involve conference presentations, another place where having an existing network and being comfortable with networking are valuable. Companies want employees who can effectively represent them and use conference travel and other networking activities to explore business relationships. 

Because we often think of networking as transactional, we avoid it, even if we don’t mind striking up conversations with strangers. I’d like to reframe networking as an opportunity to talk about things you think are important with someone else who thinks they’re important too. Good networking makes a connection based on mutual interest and the potential for helping each other out.

In your job search, networking can serve a few purposes: helping you learn more about opportunities, learning more about a new field or finding opportunities to demonstrate your expertise in that field, building connections in that field or at specific companies, and providing support during a challenging career period.

In today’s newsletter, I’m going to talk about networking strategies, on and off line, that can help you in your current search as well as in your longer career, especially if you want to move into more senior roles where networking is often 10-15% of the job (or into leadership roles where it may be 80%!). 

If you don’t like networking, then don’t do any of these activities unless you can finish this sentence: “This networking activity will do _______ for my job search or future career.”

If you do like networking, you should still prioritize activities where you can identify a clear return on your investment (ROI)! You might find that you enjoy talking to people and don’t focus on whether you’re getting more of a value from it. 

This doesn’t mean you have to be transactional about your networking – you don’t need to say, ‘if I have a conversation with this person, they will connect me with 2 people actively hiring.’ Instead, think more broadly, ‘if I have a conversation about this person, I will learn this that will help my job search / or / I will have a conversation with someone already in the field I want to move into and learn about x / or / I will introduce myself to someone who’s active in the industry I’m interested in.’ Identify a small, concrete reason you’re scheduling the meeting or starting a conversation. 

The ROI for networking can be hard to quantify, which makes it hard to motivate ourselves to do it as it’s so time consuming. You don’t want to be constantly spending time talking to people without a clear goal in mind, though. 

There are many different types of people to connect with in your job search – sometimes this will be thought partners or potential collaborators; some will be mentors; some will be cheerleaders and amplifiers. But other times you’ll be networking for a more specific reason: you’re considering working for a particular company and want to learn more about it (or just build connections there), you’re asking for specific help or advice (one-time), or to be considered for future roles at a company. 

So also be open to talking to people even as you’re rigorous about protecting your time!

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