I was the person that hung out along the walls at my high school dances (I went to two). As an adult, I would scan the room awkwardly, clutching my drink at professional mixers, and I’ve never walked up to the speaker at conference keynotes. Some of you have met me in person and know precisely how awkward in group settings I can be, but I am good with that. I am comfortable in my skin.
However, being unwilling or ineffective at networking is a massive handicap in your quest to find a new role and ultimately grow your career. Did you notice what wasn’t in the publishing schedule?
How to write the best cover letter ever
Streamline your application workflow
Templates for your resume
I didn’t bother with these topics because they are related to the application process. While I encourage you to look for work and apply for positions that interest you, applying for a role where there is no means to connect the company to you is likely going to result in an archived application in the software recruiters use (commonly referred to as an applicant tracking system or ATS). Said another way, you’re more likely to get a call if someone at the company knows who you are or someone who might know you because they could provide a direct referral or a backchannel reference.
There are three reasons for this:
Desirable jobs have a disproportionate number of applicants, so most application reviewers spend less than a minute per application
Some sourcers may outright archive roles based on your last company or last job title to whittle the list down
The ATS provides incomplete or otherwise stale information, so reviewers look at candidates on LinkedIn anyway; in fact, the system we used at Greenhouse even had a link to an applicant’s LinkedIn to make it easy
So, here’s the rub. Most professionals are not nearly connected enough on LinkedIn. I don’t work for LinkedIn, and I have some grievances with their trust and safety posture, but if you’re looking for work, you have to be where the recruiters are - which is on LinkedIn.
I took a gander at some of the folks who signed up for Project Voltron, and I noticed that even folks on the go-to-market side have relatively thin networks, which LinkedIn defines as less than 500 people. In a contest of who has the largest network, I believe I beat all of you at 3,666 as of this morning.
In practice, what this means is that I will often find a connection or lead into almost any company because I am leveraging my 3,666 connections.
Leveraging the power of your network to “Apply”
As an example of how I would use the power of my network, I will go through my application process if I were to apply for a role at Apollo.io (which grew from 238 employees to 320 employees in the last six months).
At the top of every LinkedIn company page, you’re always presented with people you know who “follow” the company. When I view the link, I noticed that I have 19 direct connections that follow the company. Each of these first connections might have some ideas regarding how I could get an introduction to the company. This approach works for smaller companies but doesn’t work for larger ones (e.g. Google).
Once you’ve decided to apply to the company, you’ll need to figure out who can refer you. In the people section, I have 49 first and second-degree connections that work at the company. If I were interested in a specific job listing at Apollo, I’d tried to find a way to connect with a second-degree connection through a first-degree connection which I think is likely closest to the decision-maker I am applying for (LinkedIn shows you your shared connection) and, of course, reach out to any first-degree connections to refer me. You are far more likely to get an interview using this approach than blindly clicking “Apply” in the jobs tab. It’s more work - but you will get more interviews.
However, none of this sorcery is available to you if you aren’t connected to many people.
For the first ten years of my career, I didn’t network at all, and my career trajectory illustrates this to a degree. It wasn’t until I got my big break at eBay during the Great Recession (the founder of my company prior hired me) that I realized how important an extensive network was. In the 14 years since, I’ve taken a consistent approach to grow my network, and as a result, I have not applied for a single job in the traditional sense since. In most cases, the opportunities come to me.
How did this awkward introvert out connect all of you on this list? I’ll tell you how.
Do these five things to grow your network
Connect with people you know or “may” know
Frequency: one-time exercise that could take hours, then opportunistically every day (in real life or online)
You have met or worked with more people than your LinkedIn profile suggests. Even at Recharge, are you connected to everyone you chatted with or people you directly messaged on Slack? When you’ve met customers, clients, or potential partners, did you connect with them? When you interviewed someone, did you connect with them? When someone interviewed you, did you connect with them? These connections may sound weak, but they are critical. Don’t take my word on this - this MIT study, supposedly the largest longitudinal, randomized controlled experiment on the strength of weak ties, makes the case.
To get started mining:
Navigate to My Network
Click Search with filters
Select People, “2nd”
Then, connect with everyone you know or may know. Because some of the people you just added have changed your graph, you may need to re-run the exercise. If you’ve been behind, you may also need to filter your list by company to make the task less daunting.
Ask and provide recommendations
Frequency: when you leave a position, whenever it is not awkward to do so
As a hiring manager, I read LinkedIn recommendations and mainly focus on the quality of the recommendation (is it specific, is it thoughtful, etc.) and the quality of the person who gave it.
Some people leaders give more recommendations than they receive - typical of a leader who is generous with their time or interested in mentoring people. Still, the recommendations they receive can be telling because, in many cases, they likely did not solicit for them.
If you have your first-degree network set, you can build up the number of recommendations on your profile by asking your first-degree connections for them per the directions here.
The process of asking for recommendations is also helpful because it is another way of letting people know that you are looking for your next role. After all, the request for recommendation will open up conversations regarding what you’re looking forward to doing next.
Conversely, providing a recommendation can open doors for you. If you’ve never done this, follow the directions here. People always love pleasant surprises, and what could be better than someone saying you’re awesome through a LinkedIn recommendation? I wouldn’t necessarily start recommending people who work at companies you want to work for; that feels inauthentic. However, people will often reciprocate an authentic goodwill gesture at some point. If you’ve accepted that you’re not likely to get a job stone cold without the help of others, then generating goodwill can only help you.
Respond to and resurrect old messages from recruiters
Frequency: when you leave a position, and network when new messages come
The biggest career mistake I see people make is ignoring recruiters and their LinkedIn InMails or email messages. Recruiters are people too, and the thing with recruiters is that they have careers as well. A recruiter with whom you develop a relationship transcends the role they are recruiting for. They will advocate for you if you make a strong impression now or in the future - it’s their job to know good people! Moreover, just like in any other field, recruiters know recruiters and do trade notes.
To undo this sin, start today by digging through your email and LinkedIn messages and letting every recruiter know you’re looking for work and willing to talk. They probably don’t have a role right now, and it’s also possible they’ll ignore your message since you ignored them, but the ones you re-connect with will be helpful.
When you have a job you’re satisfied with and aren’t looking for a new one, be polite to your recruiters and offer to help them fill the role they are working on through introductions. If you help them, they will help you one day.
Engage your LinkedIn feed
Frequency: minimum 1x or 2x a week
Once you have a network, you have to care for and feed it. Not engaging with your network is like planting seeds but never watering your garden. In practice, this means being helpful to people in your network, engaging with their posts, and even posting some of your content to spark conversations.
Along the way, you’ll likely learn new things and be kept abreast of new opportunities, not just in the context of looking for a new role but potential partnership and co-creation opportunities if you’re operating at the management or executive control plane.
Meet people
Frequency: minimum 1x a week
It turns out that even if you are an introvert, you still have to meet people to network - I know, shocking, right? However, if you’ve followed the other four steps, you’ll have something to discuss!
While at a job, I’ll meet up to two people outside of work (online or in-person) each week. Under-employed, I cap my activity to about ten meetings a week. For me, this strikes a good balance between networking and executing my overall game plan.
Activity for today
Connect with people you know or “may” know
To fully leverage your job search, you have to make sure your network is as complete as possible
Ask and provide recommendations
There’s a delay between when you ask for a recommendation and when you receive one, so it’s important to do this early in your job search