Ask99
November 13, 2009, 3:00am
14
Informational interviews are such a formal term and make things complicated for no reason. Let me give you an example. I was looking at opportunities at GE, and a senior colleague from consulting days is the CIO for one of the GE businesses. I called him up and asked him if he can spend some time talking about what he knows about the business, GE approach to recruitment, work life etc etc.
I meet up with my boss all the way back from 99 every so often for coffee and chat about stuff. He is a senior guy at IBM, and its not like I am asking him for a job today, I ask him things related to career growth, work challenges and scenarios and how I should tackle them. I seek out people for advise on many things, My mentor from Consulting days, who I last worked with 7 years ago is over at my home off and on and before I made my last career decision I ran it by him.
So a network can do a lot, I had one of the guys who reported to me interviewing for a strategy role from a marketing role and needed help with interview prep and he had to make a presentation to the hiring manager and his team, and I shared frameworks I had used. Not sure how much it helped but he got the offer.
The key is build and maintain relationships, and the biggest thing is to be genuine, even on linked in those LION (linked in open networkers) are a strange breed, yes it is good to connect with people but just collecting names and asking them for stuff gets old very quick.
how to keep connected with the people, send them information you come across which may be of interest to them, even opportunities. One of my former mentors (the guy I sought advise from before my most recent career move) his last three jobs were because for the last 2 a head hunter I knew asked me if i knew anyone and I connected him with this guy. the first one because a previous boss of mine was looking to hire someone and asked me if i knew anyone (the guy that I meet up for coffee still)
So if you are willing to help people, they will help you. be genuine, understand each person’s style and adjust accordingly e.g. one of my former colleagues travels way too much to really plan for a meeting, so we drop each other notes, one guy hates email and calls me up every month or so just to chat.
dont make it more complicated than it is.
Thanks for your advice. I really like the suggestion of being genuine and to understand and adjust to each person’s style and go from there.
Another question, how do you streamline your network and convert it to a meaningful one? With me, I can pretty much talk with anyone and have a good conversation with, but it is hard for me to pick who I would like to keep in touch with. How do I narrow down the list?
With your network, it seems you have maintained it over the years, how did you narrow down the key people, and also do you keep on adding new people to your network?
Lucid_Chaotic:
Great thread Ask99… I think we all can learn a thing or two about networking, no matter how much of it we’ve engaged in over time.
To add to the valuable advice and suggestions provided by X2, I would also reiterate the need to think more laterally than vertically. This is something I notice a lot. Most people think of networking as an opportunity for career growth, especially, in terms of progressing to the next level. Consequently, people often tend to ignore or overlook the contacts that may be at the same job level as themselves, which is an opportunity wasted. In networking, you never know what might land you the opportunity that’s best for you.
Also, along with a lateral orientation, spontaneity is important - something as simple as saying “hello” to someone and striking a conversation with them, or signing up for a seminar or talk which might even seem somewhat peripheral to your interests and meeting people through such events. Such spontaneity often leads to planting of many seeds, and even if a few of those seeds sprout, it would have been worth it.
I really like the suggestion of networking laterally too.
I do attend some networking events from time to time. But as of yet these events have very few student attendance and more Professional people present. So for me all those would be vertical networking at this point, but you are right that its a good foundation to keep in touch with such people.