Tag Archives: Networking

Forget lunch. Other ways to network

Posted on December 17, 2009 | Leave a comment

Most of the people you see every day you will not invite to lunch.  I know that.  So now what do you do?

At the office lunchroom, at church, at association meetings, before and after business meetings, at classes, waiting for the bus, at technology events, business fairs and anywhere else people are doing what you are doing, network.  Talk to teachers especially.  They have contacts with people in every business and class they teach.  Search out salespeople.  They spend their whole day getting to know decision makers.  Give a salesperson a lead and they will do their best to help you.   

Everyone you meet knows someone else.  Get in the habit of talking to people.  It is always a little frightening.  One of the most outgoing people I know told me, “People say they wish they could be like me and just say hello to strangers.  What they don’t realize is that it is also hard for me to do it.  I just force myself to say hello and a conversation usually follows.”

Back to the old formula, talk with a person about their successes, then ask them for advice.  The absolute greatest book ever written on the subject of engaging people in conversation is How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie.  It is written in small segments so you can read and apply one lesson a day.  I have re-read the book several times. 

If you are going to be meeting with people you may never see again, bring business cards.  You can make them on your computer and there are a lot of places on the internet that will make them inexpensively.  Don’t forget your email address as well as phone numbers.

Why business cards? If you are networking with people who have no way to contact you later, you haven’t built much of a network.  Understand that most of your cards will be thrown away within a week, but some will be kept.  My best success has been with magnetic business cards, but they are expensive. 

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Something To Do Today

Get a copy of How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie.  Libraries and bookstores all have copies.  Start reading one chapter a day and applying it.

If you don’t have business cards, get them or make them.

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Ask him to lunch? Easy for you to say!

Posted on December 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

Okay girl, you see that babe magnet over there?  Go introduce yourself and ask him to marry you.  Okay? 

Let’s talk about networking, not speed dating.  Don’t ask anyone to be your mentor before you have met.  Don’t ask for a job.  Don’t offer to wash their car.  Just ask them to lunch to discuss some things you think they can help you with.

How can you get a leader of industry to have lunch with you? Ask for their help. Leaders are usually compulsive helpers, organizers and/or control freaks.  When you first call them up have a list of at least 5 things you can ask them or talk to them about.  Have it beforehand because they may start talking to you on the phone or invite you right to their office. 

First, what not to ask:                                   

–    Please be my mentor? — That’s like asking to be married.  A real mentor has to feel comfortable with you.  They’ll take over the role as you go to them for advice.

–    Make me a vice president, please? — This is networking, not a final job interview. 

–    I will do anything, can I be your personal assistant? — This question isn’t networking.  It is only appropriate if you are willing to make a 100% commitment, push and push for a yes, and are willing to work for free.  It is not a way to start a network.  You will probably be turned down even after pushing hard for 20 minutes, but it may be worth a try.  Be willing to accept a total win or becoming a leper.

Good questions to ask:

–    I want to earn a job like yours, what did you do to break out from my level?

–    You’ve seen a hundred guys like me, what do they really do to stand out and succeed?

–    You have a panoramic perspective compared to me, what would you focus on in your career if you were me?

–    You’ve seen people get education and succeed and others get education and fail.  What kind of education will best serve me?

–    You are the best technician I’ve heard of, what can I do differently from the average guy to get the reputation you have?

–    I don’t want to manage, I just want to have my work respected like yours.  How did you break out from the pack and what can I do out of the ordinary to start moving to your level?

–    You know this business.  I want to succeed at it, but I sometimes worry that I’m attacking it wrong.  What would you do if you were me?

Do you get the idea?  Compliment them by telling them what they have done better than you, then, ask them to tell you how to do the same starting at your level.

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Something To Do Today

Call 3 people you want to network with and say, “I’d like to take you to lunch.  Are you free one day next week?”  If they ask, “Why?” then tell them, “I need some advice from someone I respect.”  And be prepared to go talk with them immediately.

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Networking with bigshots

Posted on December 15, 2009 | Leave a comment

90% of opportunity is seized, and 10% is granted, but I could get fired!!!  And a meteorite could hit you and kill you too.  Carpe diem!

Networking with bigshots

So why did I talk about lunch and leadership yesterday?  Because they are closely related.

I was talking with a sales candidate.  He said, “I have had lunch with every important banking executive in Manhattan.  Not the presidents, but the guys who can get me in to see the president, CIO, CFO, Chairman or whoever I need to see.  They all remember me and will help me.”  That is the ultimate example of power networking.

Why lunch?  At the upper levels it is not a time to eat, it is a time to meet people.  Many big law firms and accounting companies all but require senior partners to have power lunches.  Stop having networking lunches and you will stop progressing in their world.

Here is what you do.  Starting small or big doesn’t matter.  Invite someone to lunch.  You pay.  Take them someplace you can afford.  Tell them where you are going, don’t ask them.  Taco Bell will do. 

What if they say, “No?”  They probably will.  But they will see that you want to get to know them.  Ask 3 people and one will say yes.  The other two will make vague promises about lunching together some other time.  All 3 will notice you and mark you as a person they need to get to know.

Beware! One or two may invite you to come and meet with them in their office for a few minutes.  This is their way of telling you, “Let’s network, I don’t have time for a full lunch right now.”  That’s good.  Just remember what to talk about and what to avoid.

Tomorrow I will tell you what to do and not do at a lunch or one of these office meetings.

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Something To Do Today

 Make a list of 10 people you should network with.  Tomorrow you’ll invite 3 to lunch.

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4 keys to take charge of a group

Posted on December 14, 2009 | Leave a comment

Networking?  It is leadership.  Some of the best connected network creators I know have never been managers, but they all have been leaders.

Seize Opportunity

90% of opportunity is seized, 10% is granted.

So who decides where you go for lunch?  In a group of 10, 8 people will meekly suggest a restaurant, one person will call for a vote, and one will decide where to go without a vote. How does that one person get the whole group to follow her? 

  1. She makes decisions that are desired by other natural leaders of the group.
  2. She finds out who has a strong bias against her decision and deals with it.
  3. Occasionally she goes somewhere she doesn’t like, to please others.
  4. She pulls or pushes people out the door to get them moving.

It is not just a matter of having a strong personality.  It isn’t just being decisive or insistent. Seizing opportunity requires a decision you really care about, dealing with all opposition, and getting people moving.

To seize opportunity you have to care, move yourself and move others.

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Something To Do Today

Take the lead or watch a leader take charge of a group.

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The first step towards networking – leadership

Posted on December 10, 2009 | Leave a comment

Networking?  It is leadership.  Some of the best connected network creators I know have never been managers, but they all have been leaders.

The first step towards networking – leadership

 I was 19 years old and clueless.  I was sitting in a chair and told my roommate,  “We’ve got to get going.” 

He just sat in his chair and looked at me.

“Come on, get up.  We’ve got to get that done now,” I said from my chair.

He stared at me a little more wide eyed and offended.

“Look.  You have to get up.  We agreed I’d lead this project.”

“Bryan,” he finally said, “there is no way I am getting up out of my seat before you do.  If you are going to be the leader, you’ve got to get up first and start acting like you really mean what you say.”

That was one of the best lessons in leadership I ever had.

Leaders show by what they do that they mean what they say.  They invest themselves in a decision before they expect others to follow. 

 

 Take the lead, or watch a leader take charge of a group.

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The Rudest People I Met As A Missionary

Posted on December 7, 2009 | Leave a comment

I apologize for the slander I am about to employ. Yes, I did learn something.  I had a great time too. 

Newly arrived in Murcia, Spain I got to start teaching some of the richest people in the region.  It was not due to me.  My partner had been there for months and had started teaching one company president.  He introduced us to other hard charging business leaders.  Every single one of them was very nice to us.  They listened politely and either sent us off with a referral or heartfelt thanks for talking with them.

That was my first experience dealing with truly rich and powerful people.  I found out that the people who can do the most for you are generally the nicest too.  They help you even when they get nothing out of it.  In this case they thought we were wrong but appreciated our enthusiasm, so they gave us what assistance they could.  I liked it so much I looked for ways to call on business leaders in other cities.

In Seville, Spain there is a small group of condominiums that are pretty nice.  Many of them have a maid or a butler in a uniform straight out of the movies.  They have money, but are not rich.  They don’t lead or own companies.  They are the ones who think appearances and posturing will get them promotions.  Help someone lower than them?  What a laughable thought!  What’s in it for them?

The people living there are the rudest people I met in Spain. And you know what?  They aren’t going anywhere.  The only place you get to the top by being cut-throat, mean, rude and despicable is in the movies.  They got to where they were because many people helped them, but they had forgotten to help others.  They were stuck, living lives of ostentatious desperation.

That small enclave was the only place I met people like that in Spain.  My conclusion may well have been off base about those particular people.  However, I have noticed that the most helpful people rise to the top.  So guess where I start my networking? At the top.  That’s where the nicest people are.

 

Are you afraid to network with the people who can and will help you the most?

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Six Ads For One Job – part two

Posted on December 2, 2009 | Leave a comment

You see 6 ads for one job you really want.  It is so good you would quit you’re your current job just to apply.  What do you do?

High Priority Jobs

Getting your resume into the hiring manager’s hands is your quest.

First gather information. 

Is there anything that makes you think the writer of one of the ads knows the hiring manager personally?

Check the date on all those ads.  When were they posted?  What day did they appear?  List when the company and each agency first advertised.  Did an agency advertise before the company itself?  They may have a close tie to the hiring manager.  Have the ads been going on for months?  The company is either getting a little desperate, has decided not to fill the job, or the job is full but recruiters haven’t bothered to pull the ads yet because they are still getting lots of calls. 

How are the ads different?   Does one include a lot more in-depth information?  Is another extremely short?  Look closely.  Do any of them make you feel like the writer talked to the manager?  You want to talk to someone who has the hiring manager’s ear.

Second work your network.

Call the people you know at the company, or invite them out to lunch.  Call up recent employees.  What can you find out about the job?  Is there someone who can personally take your resume to the hiring manager?  How about to the hiring manager’s boss?  This is still the research phase.  Don’t give anyone your resume yet.  You only get to submit it once.

Is there a recruiter you trust?  Find out what information they have.  If they can bypass HR (Human Resources) or have other great connections then work with them.  For instance, there is one company I work with that requires all recruiters to submit resumes through their online system.  But I call the HR manager and tell her when my candidates go in so she can immediately extract them.  She is afraid of missing a truly hot candidate.  Other people who submit themselves are first sorted through by the receptionist. 

You really do have to quiz recruiters about their connections.  If you answer a particular ad when there are 6 ads out there, you have a right to ask why you should send a resume in through them.

Third decide how to apply.

If the job is not exciting, it doesn’t matter how you submit your resume.  Just do some quick cosmetic changes and submit it through an agency or the HR department.

For the job that really turns you on, figure out who should submit your resume.  For any company it could be you, a friend, recruiter or acquaintance.  Choose in this order:

  1. Someone who can hand your resume to the hiring manager and personally recommend you.  It doesn’t get any better.
  2. Whoever can get your resume past HR and talk to the manager.
  3. The person that can talk to the HR manager or screener and get you past the first cut.
  4. At this point all submissions really are equal. Do it yourself, have an employee there submit you to HR or let a recruiter you trust and who gets back with you do it. 

Fourth get your resume perfect

Put the bullets on your resume in order of importance.  Put a few key words in bold to make sure the screener and manager sees them.  Get rid of bullets, lines and sentences that do not apply to the job!!  A two page resume is fine for most jobs, but the second page may never get read.

Do the 10 second test with several people.  Hand your resume to a few friends and ask them to read it for 10 seconds.  Time them.  Take it away in 10 seconds.  Ask what they remember.  Do they mention your most important qualifications and accomplishments? If they do, it’s a winner.  If not, change it.

The 10 second test is critical because most screeners and managers give all the resumes a 10 second review to try to find the best ones first.  They will probably throw out your resume without further reading if they can’t see what they want in that first 10 seconds.

Fifth submit and follow up

Submit your resume.  Call up and find out what happened two days later.  Did your resume arrive there?  Did the manager see it yet?  When will he decide? 

You really want that job? After your two day follow up call send a thank you note. Give them a nudge, short and friendly.  It is amazing how a thank you note can get someone to personally try one more time for you.

Keep calling back at least weekly.  Sometimes it does take a couple of months to fill a job.  Keep your candidacy alive until it is pronounced dead by someone who knows.

Take Your Best Shot

If you really want a job.  Go all out.  There may be 100 applicants.  In some cases there may be 1000.  Use personal contacts to set yourself apart from the herd.  Make sure your resume instantly says, “I’m qualified.”  And follow up in case you somehow get missed.

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Something To Do Today

Start prioritizing all the jobs you can apply for.  On your written list make sure the jobs you crave stand out.  Treat them differently.  It is worth the extra effort.

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Posted in Job Boards, Networking, Perseverance, Resumes

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80% of jobs are hidden – How To Find Them

Posted on November 30, 2009 | 1 comment

The webinar on how to find the 80% of jobs that are NOT advertised can be seen here.

The cheatsheet can be downloaded free here.

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Posted in Finding jobs, Job Boards, Networking, Perseverance

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