July 5, 2024
16: Two Proven Strategies When You're Networking For a Job
Have you ever been networking for a job and found that your narrative's not working in a conversation with a critical decision maker? Or maybe things do click but you end up feeling like you cut the process short and short-changed yourself in the process? Host Doug Lester shares two simple strategies he learned as a professional networker in a top executive search firm to ensure he always got his story straight and never left a stone unturned.
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Transcript
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So you've decided it's time to start networking for a new job.
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And even if you've gotten over the initial fear of reaching out to people, listen to episode 15 if you haven't, chances are the narrative you communicate about yourself is still going to be a little rough.
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You may just be figuring out your job search strategy, or you may be in the process of getting comfortable talking about yourself, the direction you're headed in, and what you have to offer.
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You name it.
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But if you're like so many of the MBAs I work with, maybe you're a little Type A, you don't want to waste time.
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You want the shortest path from point A to point B, so why not just go to the decision makers directly and reach out to the CMO, Head of Product or even the CEO?
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Well, because when you're just starting to do your networking, it's not a time to take big risks, but so many people do.
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There's a better way.
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It's a strategy I learned when I was a senior recruiter at a top executive search firm, and networking was a big part of my job.
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And while it may take a little longer, it's probably going to pay off in the end.
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So stick around, and I'll talk you through a simple but effective strategy for getting your networking off to a strong start.
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When I was an executive recruiter and I had to start networking to find the best candidates for a client's search, things were always a little rough at the beginning.
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I definitely wasn't as smooth as I was going to be towards the end of the networking phase when it came to talking about the client, the role, and the firm's strategy for identifying well-qualified candidates.
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So when I made my first few calls, were they going to be the most important, influential people in my network or the top potential candidates I might have already identified for the role?
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Not a chance.
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I started by calling the people I knew really well and felt comfortable with.
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People who wouldn't be turned off if I wasn't crystal clear in my thinking, my delivery, or both.
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People I knew would help me get there.
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Not the kind of people whose time was so precious that I needed to be at my sharpest from the moment we said hello.
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The titles of the people I included among my first networking calls generally didn't include President, CEO, Executive Director, or Chair of the Board.
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Your first networking calls, emails or DMs probably shouldn't include those titles either, unless you're already at that level.
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And if you are, go for it.
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But still be sure that your relationship to those people is close and strong enough that they'll help you work through the kinks in your narrative and not judge you if you happen to falter or be less than clear in your thinking.
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Start with a friend, a former colleague, or even a relative who might be in or adjacent to the industry you're focused on.
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Resist the urge to save time by going to the ultimate decision makers or key influencers first.
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If you present poorly with people like that early on in your search, your reputation and your confidence could both take a big hit.
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And ultimately, the search for your next role could take a lot longer or you may need to pursue a new strategy entirely beyond their sphere of influence.
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So don't take the risk.
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Find your footing with people who have the time and the inclination to help you get your story straight.
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It will probably end up saving you time in the long run, and your path from point A to point B will be a lot smoother and quicker.
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So once you've had those initial lower-stakes conversations, is that the time to go directly to the decision makers and key influencers?
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I once had a client in my coaching practice who was moving to Nashville to be near her spouse's relatives.
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She didn't work in the music industry or any other industry that was super well represented in Nashville.
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She was in a specific part of healthcare.
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And there were just a few potential companies in the area that would represent a smooth continuation of her career trajectory to date.
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And she wasn't particularly inclined to try something new if she didn't need to.
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In her case, it made sense to get to the people in her target companies sooner rather than later.
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Should she call the CEOs of those companies right out of the gate?
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No, for the reasons I've already given, but after testing her narrative out with some closer contacts, she could start with someone further down in the organization or maybe a client of the consulting firm.
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Let's call those conversations practice sessions for the really critical ones, when someone was going to form an impression of her that would ultimately determine whether she worked at one of those companies or not.
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Essentially, it would still make sense for her to gradually increase the level and the risk level of her contacts until she was presenting at her sharpest.
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For most of the people I've worked with as a career coach, their options are a little less constrained.
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So what do you do then?
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Here's another lesson I learned as an executive recruiter working to find candidates for my clients, and it can also work for you when you're networking to find a job.
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It can be more effective to think of networking towards a community of people rather than a specific job or company.
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In executive search, the beginning of the networking process is often about figuring out which community of professionals will likely be home to the majority of the desirable candidates.
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Different roles and industries have their own formal and informal communities.
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You can think of it as ranging from the most obvious, which would be people currently working in the same company together, to slightly less obvious collections of people, like the dispersed alumni of a company, or the members of a professional association, or people who tend to frequent the same conferences.
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The people in these communities tend to know each other.
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They either know each other on a personal level or they often know each other by reputation.
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This approach might seem counterintuitive and less than direct.
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You ultimately want to get a specific job in a specific company, right?
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But when I was an executive recruiter, I knew I didn't want to narrow my search prematurely.
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If I had a limited list of potential sources and candidates, and they didn't work out, my networking effort could grind to a premature halt.
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I knew I needed to reach out more broadly to ensure the success of my work and to ensure that I became exposed to people I or my firm might not have known about at the time.
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And if you're too focused in your search, you could also be seriously limiting your range of opportunities.
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You might never hear about some great roles or companies that weren't so obvious when you were just brainstorming options on your own.
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It's a big world out there with lots of opportunities, and you might never have considered some of them until you're exposed to them.
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If you'll indulge me, I'll tell you a personal story that I often share with my clients.
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When I was in marketing at Neutrogena, managing the facial skincare business, I made a lot of ads.
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This was in the early days of computer-generated graphics, and if something went wrong when we were filming an ad, yes, we used actual film, correcting the image was a painstaking and expensive process.
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Given that the ad shoot cost hundreds of thousands of dollars just for one day, I didn't have a lot of extra cash lying around to do image correction.
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So as the cost-conscious client sitting among the monitors just off the side of the soundstage, I was vigilantly looking for every imperfection, inconsistency and out-of-place hair I could find.
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This was Neutrogena, and we shot our ads against a bright, white background at the time.
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Things needed to be perfect.
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If they weren't, I tugged on the sleeve of my advertising agency account exec and made sure they were corrected.
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In the end, it would save me and my company a lot of money.
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It was at one of those shoots that my account exec turned to me and said,"You know, Doug, you're pretty good at spotting these issues and imperfections." And I replied without much thought,"Yeah, I think I am.
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If only someone would pay me to do it as a full-time job!" I was joking, but my account exec didn't laugh.
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She replied pretty seriously,"You know, that is a job.
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There are a lot of shoots where there's someone on set whose job is to look for the imperfections and inconsistencies." It was a revelation.
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There was a role out there in the world I had never stopped to consider might exist.
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And there might be jobs and companies and opportunities out there for you that might be perfect for you, but you just don't know that they exist.
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And you won't know they exist if you do a little brainstorming on your own and then find the shortest path from point A to point B in your networking.
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So give yourself some time.
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Network around a community of people who might have been exposed to jobs and companies you never knew existed.
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It might open up whole new worlds for you.
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So when you start networking for a job, or maybe you already have and you feel like you're running into a brick wall, take a step back.
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Resist the urge to go straight to the decision makers and key influencers.
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Get your story or your narrative straight first and get more comfortable sharing it.
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And remember to take a reasonably broad approach.
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Think of your networking as targeting a community of people as opposed to just individuals or specific companies.
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You may just find the perfect, or almost perfect, role and company.
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Ones you never knew existed.
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