Drew Kerr

212-849-8250

SGUI
THE BEGINNER’ DETO JOBNETWORKI
NG
“Youc
annotwi
nify
oudonotpl
ay.
”

Sending e-mails and letters to advertisements or just over-the-transom to companies is a

routine job hunting tactic. However, not all advertisements have real jobs attached to them, and
you are sending your cover letter and resume in with hundreds and hundreds of other people.
While you should continue to do this, you are not covering all your bases when hunting
for a job. Remember, the name of the game is to improve your odds. You want to find a job
whe rey ou’renotne cessa ri
lyc ompe ti
nga longwi t
ht onsofc ompe ti
tor sse ndi
ngi
nthe irresume
for the same position.
Tha t
’swhe rene twor kingc ome si n.Your job search is not completely effective unless
you devote time to networking the right way.
Put yourself in the shoes of somebody hiring for an open position: would you rather go
through the pile of letters and resumes, or meet with people who were actually referred to you by
friends and/or associates? I t’sano-brainer.
Another piece of advice: you are not married to your first job. You want to get out there
andl earnwha tt hebe stf itisf ory ou.Youma yknow i talrea dy ,buti t’ sOK i
fyoudon’ t.If
some thingtugsa ty ourhe artandmi nd,t hent ryita ndseeifit’sf ory ou.
Here are the steps to get yourself out there networking to a real job:

 SET UP A LINKEDIN ACCOUNT (http://www.linkedin.com/): Facebook is great for

friends and family –i t
’svery socially geared. However, LinkedI ni swhe rei t
’sha ppe ning
when it comes to jobs and careers. Fill in as much as possible that will sell you. Visit this
site for some advice on how to do this: http://tinyurl.com/5thzkf. Once you are set up,
start connecting with as many people as possible, including friends, mentors, professors,
and people you met on jobs and internships. Everybody is fair game –don’ the si
ta tet o
send them an invite. The other benefit is your LinkedIn profile will turn up higher on
search engine rankings, like on Google.

 MAKE A LIST OF PEOPLE YOU WANT TO SPEAK WITH: Think about

companies which interest you, in fields which catch your fancy. Go onto Google, look up
their corporate sites and search for a couple of executives at these companies. Write them
down. Go to the web sites of publications which cover the fields you are interested in (i.e.
ify ou’rec uriousa bouta dverti
s i
ng ,g otowww.adage.com or www.adweek.com). Look
for pieces of news that interest you and take note of the names of the people you read
about. Look them up too on Google. Do your professors know interesting people? How
about people from the alumni office or college mentoring program? What do your
fri
e nds’pa rentsdo?Addt he mt ot hel i
sttoo.

 ASK FOR INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEWS: Employers will have their guard up

for job interviews and may not respond, turn you down, or refer you to HR, which nearly
all the time is as good as being nowhere. However, if you send an e-mail or letter asking
for 15 minutes oft heirtimet olearnmor ea bouttheirpr ofessiona ndwha ttheydo,i t
’sf ar
less threatening. Al wa ysputt hepe r
son’sf i
rstnamei nt hes ubjectl i
neoft hee -mail (i.e.
Mr. Joe Smith: Informational interview request). People like to talk about what they do.
 They will be more receptive to having you come in and meet with them. And yes, have a
chatwit
hy ourf
riends ’pa r
ent s.Ma ybee venf r
iendsofy ourownpa rent
s.

 DO YOUR HOMEWORK: Before you meet anybody, go on to Google and learn

something about them and the company. Se
ewha
tthe
yar
eupt
ola
tel
y,deal
st hey’ve
been making, etc.

 MEET WITH THEM: Show up 10 minutes before the interview time, no earlier. I t’s
OK to bring a resume and give it to the person you are meeting, but remember why you
are there –to network. Thank them first and then ask questions about what they do, how
they got to be where they are. Ask follow-up questions. Be interested and upbeat. Listen.
Don’ the sit
atetotake notes. Tell them that you want to learn more and you hope to get a
job soon. Give them your resume. Do not overstay your welcome. Don’ tforge t-- ask
them if they know anybody else you can speak with. I ft heydo,pe rhapsthe y
’llg ivey ou
that info right t
her
e.Ort he y’llpr omiset oc ontactt
he m.This is where you build out your
next contact.

 SEND A THANK YOU NOTE: Within the first 24 hours. Very very important –it
really counts.

 MAKING CONTACT WITH THE REFERRAL: Take that new contact and drop
them an e-mail –us ey ourr eferral’
s name in the subject line (i.e. Ms. Jane Doe: Joe
Smith referred me to you). Again, ask for 15 minutes for an informational interview.

 LINKEDIN CONNECTIONS: Invite every new person you meet to connect with you
on LinkedIn. Don’ tbes urprisedi faf ew pe opledon’ tc
onne
ctort
aket
hei
rtime
connecting. You want to keep adding people to LinkedIn.

 FOLLOWING UP WITH YOUR NEW CONTACTS: You want to stay in contact

periodical
lywi t
he ve rybodyy ou’veme t.Youwa ntt oma intaingoodr e l
ationships in your
network and stay on their radars too. There are two good ways to do this: 1) create a
Goog leAl ertfort hec ontact
’sf ullnameso that anytime that person shows up in the
news ,you’renotified. Then drop that person a short e-mail saying you read about them,
congrats,ora skaque st
ion,lett hem know wha ty ou’redoi ng–no more than a two
paragraph e-mail. 2) If you see something online that you think will interest one of your
contacts,f
or wardi ttot he mwi thanot elike“ Thoug hty ou’dfindthisi nteresting.
”

 UTILIZING LINKEDIN: The beauty of this site is that you can see all the contacts of
your connections, all the people they know, what they do. I t’
sl i
keawonde r
fulroadma p
of contacts, so dig in and see who knows who. See somebody int ere
stingyou’dl i
ket o
meet for an informational interview? Drop a line to your contact and ask them if they can
introduce you to that connection of theirs for an informational interview.

 GO TO NETWORKING AND CLUB EVENTS: Download a free RSS reader to

quickly and efficiently read blogs and web site news. I recommend Feed Demon
(http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/FeedDemon/Default.aspx) and always keep it
running on your PC. Subscribe to sites like Mashable (http://mashable.com/) and Meetup
(http://www.meetup.com/), which are invaluable for finding local networking events and
groups, as well as providing excellent job hunting advice utilizing social media.