I frequently hear people complain that they’re trying to network but the hiring managers they reach out to never respond. Or that none of the people they’ve reached out to have any job openings. Or that they don’t know anyone in the field they want. Are you guilty of these?
The main misconception about networking is that it’s purely transactional. It really isn’t—or at least it shouldn’t be. You’re not trying to find the person who makes the hiring decisions and get that person to look at your resume. Instead, you’re looking to make authentic connections with people you find interesting. Being genuine is key here because you ultimately want at least some of these interesting people to be your colleagues. Your goal should be to build relationships with people, not to get something out of the interactions.
Another misunderstanding is that you should only pay attention to your network when you need a job. Back to point #1, if you’re doing this, you’re looking to your contacts as tools, not as people. Nurture your connections. Look for ways to help the people you meet and they will want to return the favor. Refer newcomers to your dentist, ask how your former coworker’s daughter is doing in college, send a get-well card. These don’t have to be big gestures. Relationships should be relational, after all, so be genuinely invested in others, even if that means your network is smaller than you think it should be.
And networking error #3: Only wanting to talk to hiring decision-makers. Hiring managers get bombarded with requests from strangers, so they’re unlikely to respond to you. Additionally, some companies or organizations have rules about responding to inquiries from job-seekers in order to keep the process fair. You’re in much better shape if you have connections with people around the organization who will say good things about you, advocate for you, talk you up. These internal boosters will be much more compelling than the one hiring manager who took a lukewarm 63 seconds to look over your resume and then passed you along to HR for an interview.
The last false impression I’ll discuss here is that you need to be self-promoting the whole time. It’s lovely to have a solid elevator pitch, of course, and there’s nothing wrong with talking about a recent success. But you don’t want to dominate the conversation with a barrage of sales pitches about you. You shouldn’t come across like you’re selling used cars. Networking should be a very un-oily process, so think about natural conversation-starters and connections. Ask genuine questions and be interested in the replies. Collect and hand out business cards, but focus on human relationships instead of a sales pitch. That way, when you reach out afterwards, the people you talked with will remember you warmly, and will be much more likely to be good connections for you, as you are for them.
