A graduate student recently wrote to me with this all-too-common networking conundrum: he identified and connected on LinkedIn with an alum who works at his dream company. What is the next step? How do you take a lead that you don’t know well and gain an advantage in your job search?
Take The Time To Develop The Relationship
The best relationships develop over time. If you identify someone on LinkedIn or meet someone at a conference, this means that follow up should escalate gradually. The first follow up can be a thank you for connecting or a comment about the conference with a “glad that we met” remark. The next follow ups can be updates related to the interests you have in common. For this graduate student, he could share what’s happening at the university since that’s the tie that binds. Articles relating to the common interest are also a good way to follow up. Status updates on what has happened since you spoke are another way to continue the dialogue.
Don’t Ask For Too Much Too Soon
I’m not a proponent of inviting a new lead to coffee or other live meetings. Yes, live meetings are a great way to deepen a relationship, but they take a lot of time to coordinate and require a big time investment for your new lead. People are busy, and an invite to coffee may come across as presumptuous – the contact may think, “how much time does this person think I have to give?” If you want to take the conversation offline and have further real-time interaction, propose a phone call. If the other person prefers to meet live, they can make that invitation but you want to keep your requests small.
If You Need To Ask For Help, Make It Easy For The Person To Help You
If there is a time-sensitive request, you may need to speed up the organic, build-the-relationship-slowly approach. The graduate student, for example, has an internship he’s targeting, and that has a firm deadline to apply. Even if there isn’t a stated deadline, any time you see your dream company has posted a job, you want to move on that as quickly as possible. In this case, apply online but mention to your contact that you have done so. Ask for what they know about the position. Ask if they have advice on how to learn more specifics about the role. This way, if they are willing to help you, they know you’ve done some ground work on your own and they can support you from there. If they are willing to put in a referral for you, they can but you haven’t asked outright.
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If You Ask For Help Directly, Use It As An Opportunity To See Where You Stand
Sometimes you get to know someone well enough that you can ask for help directly. If you have reconnected with a former colleague or you have a mentor/protégé relationship with someone, you might ask outright if they will refer you into their company. Just keep in mind that if you have already let them know you’ve applied to a job at their company and they still haven’t offered to refer you, this probably means they don’t want to. It could be that they don’t like to refer anyone – they don’t want to have any responsibility in the process. It could be that they like you in general but don’t feel like they know you well enough as it relates to that job. Or it could be that they don’t feel like you’re right for that job. If this is the case, ask for feedback – this can help you reorient your search if you have indeed been targeting the wrong type of role or reposition your marketing if it’s the right role but you’re not showing a potential fit.
Recognize The Value Of Networking Beyond Your Job Search
The help your contact gives you might be tough-to-hear feedback and not the job lead you were targeting. That’s still incredibly generous and valuable. You might also get overall career advice, encouragement to keep going, or just friendship. The best networking looks beyond any one immediate job lead.
Caroline is a career expert with SixFigureStart and author of Jump Ship: 10 Steps To Starting A New Career. She has coached executives from American Express, Citigroup, Condé Nast, Gilt, Goldman Sachs, Google and McKinsey.
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