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Chapter 4. Networking / Self-Marketing
"Networking" is exchanging information.
Networking also includes swapping services and establishing personal
connections. Some synonyms for networking are: connecting,
engaging, meshing. Networking is valuable and widely practiced
because something useful can be learned from just about everyone and if
we seek information from many people we increase the probability of
achieving our objectives.
People network mainly by conversing one-on-one in
many different settings: on the telephone, in hallways, in company
lunchrooms, at professional conferences, at trade shows, company
meetings, classrooms, lounges, hallways, elevators, airplanes, trains,
busses, hotel lobbies and waiting rooms. Some networking is
carefully planned and some just happens. Networking is friendly,
low-key and essential in our complex society.
Why do so many people network in so many different
places? They network because they are looking for information or
connections that will help them to:
1. Do their work better.
2. Advance their careers by:
a) Obtaining an increase in pay.
b) Expanding their responsibilities.
c) Obtaining a promotion with their present employer.
d) Recruiting employees or consultants.
e) Selecting a school or a major field to study in school.
f) Getting a better job.
3. Advance their own business by:
a) Starting, joining or investing in a new business.
b) Getting new clients.
4. Increase their impact on the world by:
a) Meeting people and making a favorable impression.
b) Reestablishing old contacts.
c) Arranging to publish an article or give a presentation.
5. Improve their social lives.
Networking also provides a less tangible benefit,
but one that is just as important. If you network, you become
well informed about your field and related activities. You
develop and keep a competitive advantage. Networking should be
one of your continuing activities.
Students find career networking especially
productive. Therefore, many of the examples in the following
discussion focus on career networking.
1. Prepare and Maintain Your Accomplishments File
Many of us do not really
appreciate how much we have accomplished because we have been taught to
be modest. The problem with excessive modesty is that it doesn't
get you where you want to go. The first step in breaking down
excessive modesty is to start an Accomplishments File (AF).
Your AF will serve you in several
ways. The immediate purpose will be to provide basic data for the
Problems and Opportunities discovery that you will be doing soon.
A subsequent purpose will be to provide the building blocks of résumés
you will be customizing for various recipients. The third purpose
is to give you quick guidance in making decisions about work
assignments, selection of a school or a major field of study.
The AF includes all the things
that you have done that could influence potential employers, investors,
partners and other participants in your professional life.
The surest way to impress them them is to show them that you are very
likely to produce important benefits for them or their organizations.
The most convincing way of doing that is to show them what you have
accomplished in the past and are accomplishing now that might be
relevant to their objectives.
If you work in the profit-seeking
sector, your AF should focus on what you have done to help business
firms to increase their profits, specifically to increase their return
on investment, or ROI. Quantify your accomplishments.
In government work, the focus of
your AF would include cost reduction and client satisfaction. In
the private not-for-profit area, cost reduction, client satisfaction
and fund-raising would be important but quantification is still
necessary. Several very brief examples follow, by job title:
Sales Manager for a Computer Retailer
Supervised
five sales representatives, whose total sales were $17 million a year.
Reduced travel expense from $30 thousand a month to $27 thousand.
Increased sales by $3 million a year.
Operations Manager in a Manufacturing Company
Reduced
inventory investment by $2 million, without increasing stock-outs or
increasing transportation or delivery costs.
Contracted out
one step in the production process with cost savings of 5%.
Reduced cost
of goods sold from 50% of sales revenue to 47%, without reducing
customer satisfaction.
Service Manager for an Automobile Dealer
Increased
customer satisfaction, as measured in surveys from 65% to 82%.
Reduced employee turn-over from 25% a year to 15%.
Service Development Supervisor for a Bank
Developed two new services which became profitable within one year.
Eliminated
five unprofitable services, reducing training costs by $18,000 a year.
General Manager of a Catalog Division
Supervised a
$10 million a year catalog business, with a 5% net profit margin.
Increased number of active customers from 58,000 to 62,000.
Credit Manager for an Office Equipment Retailer
Reduced "Accounts Receivable" by $1.5 million, without losing business.
Dean of Business School
Raised $125 million in unrestricted gifts.
Secured funding for six endowed chairs.
Manager of Opera Company
Increased ticket sales from 67% of capacity to 95% of capacity.
Increased season tickets as a percentage of sales from 51% to 53%.
Business School Professor
Published 100 articles in academic and professional journals.
Developed six
courses, all of them successfully offered at least once a year.
Served on 15 faculty committees and chaired six of them.
Conducted
seven surveys of graduating students to track their satisfaction.
The conclusion is that you should
dedicate your time to maximizing the power of your accomplishments
file. Evaluate all the ways of using your time in terms of their
ability to add to your AF: jobs, work assignments, schooling and
volunteer work. Invest your time in high value, high visibility
work or self-development.
Activities that do not contribute to your Accomplishments File deserve a low priority.
2. Prepare a Résumé
When you prepare a résumé, select
accomplishments from your AF that will influence the intended
recipients as favorably as possible. Even though you may not have
a specific demand for a résumé right now, you should prepare one to
obtain evaluations of its readability and attractiveness.
Your résumé should communicate
non-verbally, but clearly: "Read this résumé first!" Provide
information that will influence the recipient, in a sequence that will
grab and retain the reader's interest. Follow this outline:
1. Your name, address, telephone and fax numbers and e-mail address.
2. "Value
Offered" section: a summary of the valuable things you will do for the
reader or his/her organization.
3. Work
experience and accomplishments that give credibility to what you said
in the "Value Offered" section immediately above.
a)
Current or most recent job. What you accomplished, with
numbers.
b)
Previous job. What you accomplished, with numbers.
c)
Next previous job. What you accomplished, with numbers.
4. Education: Degree(s), school and year granted.
Your résumé should consist of
short sentences. To maximize readability, use a laser printer and
allow enough space around each paragraph. Sample résumés are
available on the Internet, in word processing programs and at the
Career Planning Office.
Show the résumé you have just
prepared to at least six people whose judgment you trust and ask them
to tell you whether the appearance of the résumé influences them to
read it. Revise the résumé and have your critics evaluate it
again.
Don't forget that for actual
usage, your résumé must be customized for each purpose, with an
appropriate "Value Offered" section and the most appropriate selection
of accomplishments.
3. Evaluate Your Career Situation
Do a mini-SCAN to your career situation.
I. List your
career objectives. Here are some ideas you should consider:
A. Change your field? To what new field?
B. Move to another company? Which one?
C. Seek a promotion in your present job?
D. Try for a lateral move? To what area?
E. Start a new business?
II. Rank your
objectives. Ask the "Why?" and "How?" questions as shown in
Chapter 1. Identify the Top Rank Objective (TRO) for your career.
III. Discover
your SWOTs with respect to your career TRO. Consider the
following ideas:
A.
How does your boss rate you? How do these people rate you:
your peers, subordinates, higher-level managers?
B.
What obstacles are in your way? Examples: antagonistic
boss; lack of contacts; your goal will take many years of training or
education; your next-step job is not open; you have no opportunity to
develop the skills you need in your present job.
C.
Evaluate your AF. Note the Strengths and Weaknesses of your
AF.
IV. In order to achieve your Top Rank Objective,
A.
What information do you need? What do you need to know?
B.
What contacts do you need? Whom do you need to know?
4. Start Networking to Obtain Information and to Make Contacts
You have prepared an
Accomplishments File, written the first draft of your résumé and
mini-SCANned your career or starting your new business.
Now it's time to choose the kinds
of networking that would benefit you the most. Review everything
you have done so far and prepare a list of the kinds of information and
contacts you need for advancing your career. Rank the items on
this list in terms of importance and the select the first order of
networking business.
Important Note: Help Other
Networkers. Your objective in networking will be to help
yourself. That is a "given." What may not be obvious, but
is also important is that you should take every opportunity to help
others. People that you help will look for opportunities to help
you and by making networking a two-way street you maintain the
viability of networking as a career building and entrepreneurial
activity.
5. Easiest Networking: Friends, Family and Others
A good way to start is with the
easiest kind of networking: close friends and relatives, not including
people at work who might be in competition with you.
Ask people who know you for a
long time for their opinions about the feasibility of your career Top
Rank Objective (TRO) and your Problems and Opportunities with
respect to the TRO.
Here's an example from my own
experience. Some years ago, I was working for IBM as a "Business
Scientist," basically an internal consultant in scientific and computer
applications for solving management problems. I had my Ph.D. from
the Columbia Business School and I was teaching graduate business
school part-time in New York City.
One evening after dinner, I was
conversing with my father-in-law and a good friend of his, Jason
Gretzky, a rather direct type of person. Out of a clear blue sky,
Gretzky asked me what my job title was at IBM. I told him.
His reaction was: "What kind of a title is that? Why aren't you a
professor? That's a title everybody understands."
That provocative remark set me to
thinking about my prospects at IBM, what I really liked to do and what
my strengths and weaknesses were.
Within a year, I took leave of
absence from IBM and I started teaching graduate business classes full
time, with the understanding that after one year, I could still return
to my job at IBM.
I never went back to IBM, except
as an outside consultant. I have been a professor for 33 years
and it probably suits me better than anything else that I might have
done.
The moral of this personal
anecdote is that it may be useful to get outside opinions about your
career goals and your Problems and Opportunities. You don't have
to agree with everything you hear. On the other hand, you may
hear something that will make you think creatively and develop
alternatives which may lead to greater career satisfaction than you
would have found otherwise.
Another kind of easy networking
involves neighbors, former employers and former fellow employees, as
well as classmates if you are in school. After you have
determined your career goals, you could ask these contacts to recommend
anyone for you to see for more information and employment or
entrepreneurial opportunities.
6. Networking with Alumni
Alumni of your school are another
rich source of networking contacts. You should focus especially
on alumni who work in fields that interest you and who have achieved
the level of success that you aspire to. The career planning
office of your school should have a list (with addresses and telephone
numbers) of alumni who are willing to advise students and alumni of the
school. The alumni relations office of your school may also be
able to help. Join the alumni association and attend their social
functions.
Interview alumni about their
jobs, key success factors and aspirations. Tell them about your
interests. Ask them for advice or suggestions: what you should
do, whom you should see. Here are some specific topics for you to
ask about:
A. Their job
title, description of a typical day (activities and percent time in
each), reports to ______, flexibility in work, best and worst parts of
the job.
B. Advancement path: How did you get here? What is the next step?
C. What experience and education are appropriate for your job?
D.
Recommendations for me: whom I should see for information
or opportunities?
E. Don't forget to send a "thank you" note.
7. Network Within Your Employing Organization
Be very tactful (discreet,
sensitive, subtle) in networking in your employing organization.
Be careful not to upset anyone with your questions. If you sense
resistance in any of the situations described below, take time out to
evaluate why you are encountering resistance and decide what actions
will be most favorable to advancing your career at acceptable risk.
Network with your boss.
Discuss his (her) objectives and yours. Ask about your career
prospects, as perceived by your boss and for suggestions about what you
should do to improve your chances for pay increments, promotions and
career advancing transfers. Meet other people in your company at
your level and higher. Make appointments with managers of other
departments to visit and find out about the work they do. While
you are speaking with these managers ask the about openings in the
foreseeable future.
Arrange lunch meetings with
people at your level in other departments and ask them the same
questions you would ask of alumni of your school.
8. Go to Meetings
Meetings provide some of the
finest opportunities for networking. Here are two examples that show
how meetings have helped me.
The first networking venture
required two meetings. I needed guest speakers for my
entrepreneurship class, so I attended a meeting of the Planning Forum
when the guest speaker was a venture capitalist. After the
presentation, I asked the speaker if he could visit my class. We
checked dates and he said that he would be away at the time of the
class, but he gave me the names and phone numbers of three other
venture capitalists that I might call.
I called the three people and two
declined for good reasons. The third one accepted and when I
asked him if he could recommend someone else as a second speaker, he
invited me to attend the next lunch meeting of the New York City
association of venture capitalists. I gladly accepted the
invitation. It was a very pleasant and informative meeting and
during the half hour of networking that preceded lunch, I exchanged
business cards with five people and with two more during the lunch
itself. I left the meeting with seven contacts that I followed up
by phone and was able to obtain guest speakers for that semester and
the next, as a result of this meeting.
The second networking venture was
more of a stroke of luck. I went to a demonstration of a new
computer system with nothing more in mind than to learn about the
system. After the presentation, a member of the audience asked a
question that I thought was really good. Later, as the meeting
broke up, I sought out the questioner to compliment him on his good
question. We introduced ourselves and he told me that he worked
for IBM. I told him that I was a former IBM'er, and this led to
instant rapport. This encounter led to five meetings at IBM and
at Pace University in which I exchanged ideas about strategic planning
and case analysis methodology with twenty IBM people.
The immediate outcomes of these
meetings were improvements in the strategic planning procedure that IBM
uses in an important division and refinement in the case analysis
method my students use at Pace (SCAN).
Another outcome was consulting
work for me with IBM and later, with NYNEX and other clients. All
of this happened because I attended the computer demonstration and
complimented a man who had asked a good question.
9. Participate in Organizations
Professional organizations
provide rich opportunities for networking. In fact, some
organizations appear to exist mainly to provide networking
opportunities for their members. To get an idea of what happens
at networking meetings, review the list presented at the beginning of
this chapter.
Network to find and select the
most suitable organizations. Ask friends, associates, your boss,
your teachers, anyone who seems to have many contacts. Ask them
what organizations they belong to and what organizations would be
helpful to you. Then go to a meeting of the best organization as
a non-member and if it appears to offer good networking opportunities,
join up.
After you have identified the
organization and chapter that you should attend, obtain a copy of the
announcement of the next meeting by calling the local chapter.
You will then know the name of the speaker and the topic.
Next, you should learn about the
topic itself and other subjects that are likely to be important to
members of this organization. Read the best newspaper and one or
two magazines or journals in the area. This may seem like a big
commitment, but if you want to develop your career, being well-informed
in your field is a necessity. It also prepares you for
networking encounters. The people you meet will respond to you
more positively if you bring them new and useful information.
The next step is to practice
introducing yourself. Only rarely do organizations provide
official greeters and introducers. You will have to introduce
yourself to strangers. Practice in front of a mirror and with
friends saying: "I am _____________, with ___________ Company."
Imagery, which you have seen
previously in the Influencing and Negotiating chapters, helps by
eroding the strangeness of introducing yourself to new people.
Practice with friends and imagine it enough times and it will seem like
an old routine.
It will help you a great deal to
have a specific purpose in mind before you go to the first meeting of
an organization. Examples might be: to find out about career
opportunities in a specific field, or to find out what the current "hot
topics" are, or to get some ideas about solving an important problem,
or to find out what is currently being said about a major issue
confronting the field, or simply to start meeting people who share some
interests and goals with you.
When you go to the meeting, it's
much better to arrive early rather than late. First, you will
have more time for networking. Second, if you arrive early, you
have an opportunity to become familiar with the surroundings and you
avoid arriving on a scene of a hundred people talking to each other and
you are the only one alone.
Arrive early and greet someone
who is there or someone who is just coming in, when he or she is just
as alone as you are. Chat a bit and if it appears that you share
some interests, exchange business cards and move on and introduce
yourself to another new arrival. Keep circulating, introducing
yourself, making small talk, exchanging business cards and continuing
to meet new people. Make notes on the backs of the cards to help
you remember what you talked about.
Your pre-meeting reading of
newspapers and magazines will come in handy during this round of
meeting new people. If the conversation lags, you could mention
something you have read and allow the other person to comment. On
the other hand, they may ask you for your opinion. Don't be
surprised however, if all they want to talk about is some sports event.
Expect to receive a
self-introduction in response to your self-introduction. Repeat
the other person's name to help yourself to remember it. Next, to
keep the conversation going, you could say that this your first meeting
of this organization and ask some easy question, like "Is this turnout
about average?" Alternately, you could mention something about
the weather or any interesting event in reaching the location, or you
could ask a question about the speaker or the topic. Whatever you
say or ask, don't make it too personal. Make it easy for the
other person to respond.
If you encounter a boorish
person, just move on to someone else. Look for someone else who
is alone and introduce yourself. If there is no one alone, move
toward the entrance and wait for the next arrival. Alternately,
join a group that is conversing and see if there is room for another
participant. If there isn't, move on.
Keep circulating, meeting people
and you will see that the time allowed for networking just melts
away. Usually, this period is followed by lunch and a
speaker. Introduce yourself to the people at your table, chat
with your neighbors and as before, exchange business cards if it
appears that you share some interests.
After the meeting, review the experience. Did you meet people who . . . ?
Share your interests and goals.
Have information that is of value to you.
Have the power
and money to offer you desirable jobs or consulting work.
Might join you in a great new venture.
Can help you to implement the strategies that you devised in your SCAN.
If the answers are favorable,
join the organization and go to more meetings. At the next
meeting, again arrive early. Introduce yourself to people you
have not met previously and refresh previous encounters. If you
keep attending meetings, you will learn a great deal and make many new
friends in your professional field.
If you find this activity
rewarding, you can help it along by becoming active in the
organization. Volunteer to serve on committees. If you
perceive a need for a survey or any other service to the organization,
suggest it to the appropriate officer of the organization. If the
organization needs candidates for office, volunteer to serve. All
of these activities will increase your visibility and enhance your
networking. One of the by-products of your involvement with the
professional organization is that you will acquire good information
about members' concerns. This will enable you to write articles
and give presentations that will be well received by members of the
organization and thereby will increase your stature and enable you to
advance your career even faster. In my experience, publications
and presentations lead to job offers and consulting contracts.
Other people have reported similar results.
10. Give Presentations
Select a topic that is of value
to your audience. Develop new information on the topic. A
quick way of doing this is to conduct a survey. If you have not
had training in survey methodology, obtain advice from a professional
person or review a marketing research text to learn the proper
procedure. Sometimes, depending on the topic, an informal survey
of 15 to 20 well-informed people is sufficient to develop interesting
new insights on an important topic.
After you have gathered the
information, analyze it, draw conclusions and prepare tables, graphs
and lists to be presented to your audience. Overhead
transparencies are better than 35 mm slides because they don't require
darkening of the room, which may cause some people to fall
asleep. Organize your presentation around the visuals so that
your audience will hear and see your story and will understand it
better and remember it more clearly. Six foils should be about
right for a half-hour presentation.
Your presentation should follow this sequence:
1. Objective of your study or project.
2. Your conclusions.
3.
What you learned, enough detail to convince, but not enough to
bore.
4.
Methodology. Describe how you did your work. The
purpose of this part is to enable your audience to decide whether your
work is good enough to be believed. To make sure that you pass
this test, check with other members of the group ahead of time about
the usual standards maintained by presenters. If a presenter is
booed off the stage unless he or she interviewed at least 3000 people,
don't expect to get by with 75.
Allow at least 15 minutes for
questions. If the meeting ends at 2:00 o'clock, finish your
presentation by 1:45.
Practice your presentation until
you feel totally confident and you have your timing exactly
right. Don't put yourself in a position where you have to rush or
skip important parts to finish on time. Imagery, as always is a
help.
On the day of the presentation,
arrive at least a half hour ahead of the group. Accustom yourself
to the room and very importantly, check all the equipment to make sure
that it's working. If you discover a malfunction early enough,
there may be enough time for a repair or replacement.
Shake hands with audience members
as they arrive. Chat with them so that you feel at ease with them
and they feel at ease with you.
When you are introduced, thank
the the person who introduced you and tell the audience how pleased you
are to have been invited to speak and tell a little amusing story about
some related event. This gives your audience a minute or two to
tune up their attention so that they hear your presentation from the
beginning.
Speak clearly and maintain eye
contact with your audience. Make sure that your visuals are
visible and that you are audible. Permit some questions but not
so many that your timing is disrupted. Stay on schedule.
Finish on time. Bring business cards with you in case anyone asks
for one. Accept business cards if anyone asks you to call them.
11. Publish Articles
Another career-enhancing way to
exchange information is to publish articles in print media such as
organization newsletters, magazines or journals. You approach
this task the same way as the presentations discussed above. The
topic and the method of your work must be timely and must contribute to
solving problems or achieving goals.
Obtain several publications that
are seen by your target audience and determine which one is most likely
to publish a paper that you might offer them. Contact the editor
and find out whether they are looking for papers and what topics are
particularly interesting at the moment. Newsletter editors often
attend organization meetings, so that networking with them should be
quite easy. You may also contact them by phone. Find out
the approximate length of paper they are looking for.
You will find that publishing a
paper is less taxing than giving a presentation, but less
gratifying. It's very nice to see your name in print, but you
don't get the invigorating experience of standing in front of an
audience, commanding their attention, telling them your story and then
exchanging ideas and information during and after the question and
answer period. On the other hand, your ideas and reputation will
reach more people.
Both publishing and presenting
will fortify your networking and help you develop important
skills. Both will make important additions to your AF.
12. Arrange "Information" Interviews
Another rich source of
information and contact-building possibilities is the "Information
Interview." Steps to follow are:
1. Select industries that interest you.
2. Select interesting companies in each industry.
3. Call each of
the companies you select and ask for the literature they supply to
prospective employees, their annual report and their most recent
publicity releases.
4. Study these
materials and choose the company that is most interesting and
geographically convenient. Call them and ask for an information
interview. If they don't know what that is, explain to them that
you are not looking for a job right now, but you are very interested in
the company and you would like to learn more about opportunities in the
_________ department and you would like to arrange an interview with a
person in that department. They should agree to this. If
they do not, try the next company on your list. Eventually, you
will get an information interview.
5. Conduct the
interview, covering the same topics outlined above for the alumni
interview, with some additional areas that would be specific to the
company, such as objectives, strengths and weaknesses, opportunities,
current strategies, career paths and expected requirements for
employees such as you. By the end of the interview, you should
have a great deal of information about the company. After the
interview, write to all the people you saw and thank them for the time
and information they gave you.
6. Evaluate the
information you have and decide whether you are interested in the
company. If you are, call them and try to arrange a regular job
interview. If you prefer, write them. See the following
section for suggestions about the structure of the letter.
13. The Broadcast Letter
A broadcast letter gives you
access to the many job openings that are not advertised or given to
recruiters or headhunters. However, do not send out a broadcast
letter if you are employed and you are concerned that you might be
penalized if your employer hears about your efforts.
A broadcast letter should be sent
to the highest ranking person in the department or division of interest
to you because the highest ranking person is the one most likely to
know about all the openings that you might be suitable for.
Send out 100 letters to people in
companies that you might want to work for. Your broadcast letter
should have four parts:
1. Opening
paragraph to grab attention. Cite a major relevant accomplishment.
2. Second
paragraph: "Your company may need a (job title) and therefore you
may be interested in what I have accomplished as a (job title).
3. Next three
to eight paragraphs are lifted from your AF. List specific
accomplishments. This section proves to the recipients that they
must invite you for an interview.
4. The last
paragraph suggests specific action they should take: "I would be
glad to discuss further details of my business experience in a personal
interview."
Do not enclose a résumé with your
letter! If you do, your letter will be sent to the
personnel department and your chances of being invited for an interview
are diminished. Also do not state salary requirements because you
do not know enough about the job to be able to estimate its worth.
If you don't get responses,
rewrite your letter and try again with the same list of names. Do
not use a letterhead, so that recipients are less likely to remember
that you have written them previously.
In addition to sending out the
broadcast letter, you should also answer "Help Wanted"
advertisements. Use a letter similar to the broadcast
letter. Again, do not send a résumé or state salary
requirements.
14. Using Headhunters and Employment Agencies
Think of headhunters and
employment agencies as people who expand your network of connections to
potential employers. They may know about desirable job openings
that you could not discover on your own. Consult these
directories: "Directory of Members of the Association of
Executive Search Consultants," published by the association and
"Directory of Recruiters," Kennedy Publications, Fitzwilliam, NH.
Headhunters' fees are paid by
employers. Contact them to explore your opportunities because it
costs you nothing and they are discreet.
Because they receive thousands of
résumés, write them concisely and to the point. Your letter
should answer the following questions:
1. Are you working now?
2. Are you looking, or just staying in touch?
3. What do you want to do?
4. What parts of the country (world) would you consider working in?
5. How much money do you expect to make?
You must send a résumé with the
letter. Make it as persuasive as you can in support of the
position you specified in point 3 of the covering letter.
15. The Internet
The World Wide Web on the
Internet provides a wealth of opportunities to obtain advice on how to
market your services and a multitude of job leads. Use search
engines, such as Google, Excite, Lycos, Yahoo, Web Crawler, and AltaVista to
find the Web sites that are of greatest interest to you.
The Internet also offers many
sources of information on entrepreneuring and raising money for new
ventures.
16. Conduct Interviews
Accept every invitation.
You need the practice. Do your best to get a job offer every
time. Make the interviewer feel that he (she) works for a fine
company, one that you are really interested in. Be positive and
enthusiastic. Get the interviewer to do most of the
talking. Keep asking short, pertinent and informed
questions. Do as much research before the interview as you can
and bring your notes with you. It's acceptable to refer to your
notes. Formulate your questions on the basis of the notes.
Ask about their business: How do they promote their products? How
do they distribute them? Keep the questions focused within the
range of your specialty. Ask about their objectives.
Demonstrate your depth of understanding, but keep the interviewer
talking. He (she) will reveal some problems eventually.
Probe tactfully about strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats. Ask about current strategies.
Defer all questions about salary
until after it has been established that you are a strong candidate for
the position.
The first interview is the
opening round in your effort to influence the company to make you a
great offer. You establish rapport and you get information about
the company and their objectives and problems. Follow the 14
"commandments of interviewing:"
You don't know enough yet about their objectives and problems. Therefore:
1. You do not have a customized résumé, so don't give them any résumé.
2. Don't talk too much. Instead, ask questions.
3. Don't "sell" yourself.
4. Don't tell them what you will do for them.
5. Don't
interview or discuss salary on the phone or send a résumé in answer to
a telephone request because you can't customize the résumé until you
have interviewed the company.
You need to establish credibility. Avoid antagonizing anyone. Therefore:
6. Don't
criticize the interviewer or tell him (her) that he (she) is wrong.
7. Don't argue. You can't win.
8. Don't lose your temper, no matter what.
9. Don't
suggest that you can do everything. Suggesting that you are a
"jack-of-all-trades" reduces your credibility and value.
10. Don't brag about the influential people you have met.
11. Don't
discuss religion, politics or personalities in your previous
company.
12. Don't write
a flowery thank you letter. Instead, review the highlights of
your visit. Suggest that you can help them to achieve their goals
or solve their problem(s) or identify new business opportunities.
13. Don't
discuss salary until they have made an offer. Then decide whether
to ask for more now or a commitment to a salary review in six months.
You should not "wear out" your references. Therefore:
14. Don't name references until you and the employer have reached an
agreement. Prepare a customized résumé after the first
interview. Show how you, with your accomplishments will be able
to help this company to achieve its goals or solve its problems better
than anyone else. Send the résumé and the covering letter
described above in commandment #12 to the person who interviewed you.
17. Prepare to Network for Your Entire Professional Life
This networking experience was
oriented toward your career. For this purpose networking is
extremely useful. However, networking is a powerful technique for
many other purposes as well. Examples were listed on the first
page of this chapter. Three realistic situations are developed in
some detail below:
Save Time and Improve Quality. --
You have (or just got) a desirable job. Your boss gives you an
important assignment that has many new aspects. Networking with
experienced people may help you discover ways to save time and improve
the quality of your work in performing this assignment.
Hire a Competent Assistant.
-- Some time later you need a competent assistant.
Networking may help you to locate such a person.
Enrich Your Job.-- Your
career is in good shape and at the moment you do not have any novel
challenging assignments, nor do you have any need for additional
assistants. This might be a good time for you to think about
expanding your responsibilities. Networking with people outside
your usual circle of acquaintances may reveal some new activities or
techniques that are not well known in your company or industry.
You may discover practices in other fields that will help you or
your company.
The advantages of networking
continue as long as you are active. The future is unpredictable
and you will always be ready for whatever happens if you are an active
networker. Maximize your opportunities and defend against the
possible threats. Make networking a way of life:
1. Review your progress and set new goals.
2. Plan next steps: the many uses of networking.
3. Plan specific projects, with a timetable for achieving your networking goals.
4. Write up your networking
experiences, following the outlines shown at the end of this
chapter. Review your experiences and learn from them.
5. As a dedicated
networker, help others at least as much as others help you.
Stay well-informed, write articles, present papers, share your contacts
with other people.
Ideas for Improving Your Networking
1. Maintain a log of all
your networking activities.
2. Regarding business cards:
a)
Have business cards printed. Carry them with
you.
b)
Ask people you meet for their cards. Make notes on the
back. Keep them in a file.
3. After each networking
encounter, make a record using cards as shown in Exhibit 4 or use an
appropriate computer program.
4. Realize how valuable you are.
5. Be persistent.
6. Think positively - consider every idea.
7. All meetings and
conversations are potentially important:
a) Any
contact may lead to an important connection.
b) Any
conversation may lead to a valuable action.
8. Make no enemies, no matter what.
9. People in high places
are often very helpful. Network with them.
10. Network informally in
different places: company gym, lunch room, library.
11. Make friends in other
departments, besides your own.
12. Network with former
co-workers. They can give a genuine recommendation.
13. Consider letting your
immediate boss know your goals.
14. Attend workshops: learn
and network.
15. Prepare and update your
Career Marketing Plan (CMP). See the Appendix of this chapter for
a suggested outline for your CMP.
16. Improve your
networking, influencing and negotiating skills. Attend seminars
and read books. See the list of books at the end of this
chapter. Visit bookstores and browse in the "Careers"
section. Also visit the Amazon.com and the Barnes and Noble web
sites.
How to Report Your Networking Experience
For the Progress Report,
prepare a 2 to 3 page paper covering these topics:
1. Your Accomplishments File (outline format).
2.
Your Mini-SCAN: TRO and SWOTs (outline format).
3. Evaluations by friends and relatives (summary).
4.
Time-table for your networking experience. What you will do
and when,
between now and the due date for the final report (an "activity:"
would be a
meeting, an interview, a session on the internet, etc.)
1st activity completed by (date)
2nd activity completed by (date)
3rd activity completed by (date)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9th activity completed by (date)
Follow this outline for the Final Report of your networking experience:
1. Objectives of your networking experience.
2.
List of completed interviews, meetings and other networking
activities.
3. List the most important things you have learned:
a) About networking,
b) Directly relevant to your objectives.
4.
List the most important personal connections you have made.
5.
Whom have you helped in the course of this project and in what
ways?
6. Your plans for future networking.
7.
What advice would you give to future students about maximizing
the
effectiveness of their networking?
Appendix. Career Marketing Plan Outline
I. Your objective: What position do you want to have 7 years from now?
II. Based on your networking and
other research, what do you need to do to achieve this objective?
A. What is the first step up in your career ladder?
B. What is the second step up in your career ladder?
III. Your SWOTs.
IV. Planned strategies and programs, including:
A. Self-development programs.
1. Knowledge to be acquired.
2. Skills to be developed.
3. Experiences to be gained.
a) Global.
b) Innovation and
entrepreneurship.
B. Promotion and public relations programs.
1. Planned expansion of your personal network.
a) Professional organization
memberships.
b) Committees and offices in
professional organizations.
c) Other networking
activities.
2. Professional presentations.
a) Topics.
b) To be presented where.
3. Papers to be written.
a) Topics.
b) To be published where.
4. Internet usage
5. Headhunter contacts.
6. Letter writing.
C. Other programs tailored to individual objectives and SWOT.
V.
Expected career outcomes: Titles, responsibilities and
dates.
VI. Contingency plans.
Skill-Building Books
Karl Albrecht and Steve Albrecht, Added Value Negotiating, Irwin, 1993
Harry Beckwith, Selling the Invisible, Warner Books, 1997
Richard Nelson Bolles, What Color Is Your Parachute? Ten Speed Press, 1997
Lee Boyan, Successful Cold Call Selling, 2nd ed., AMACOM, 1989
Rick Brinkman & Rick Kirschner, Dealing with People You Can't Stand, McGraw-Hill, 1994
Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People, Simon and Schuster, 1981
Peter Economy, Business Negotiating Basics, Irwin, 1993
Roger Fisher and William Ury, Getting to Yes, Penguin USA, 1991
Paul S. Goldner, Red-Hot Cold Call Selling, AMACOM, 1995
Ford Harding, Rain Making, the
Professional's Guide to Attracting New Clients, Adams Media Corp.,
1994. Excellent chapter on Networking
Frank Jefkins, Public Relations Techniques, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1994
George N. Kahn, The 36 Biggest Mistakes Salesmen Make, Prentice-Hall, Inc, 1963
Chester L. Karrass, Give and Take, Harpercollins, 1995
R. L. Krannich and C. R.
Krannich, Dynamite Networking for Dynamite Jobs, Impact Publ. 1996
Michael Kublin, International Negotiating, International Business Press, 1995
Tom E. Lambert, The Power of Influence, Nicholas Brealey, 1996
Harvey Mackay, Swim with the Sharks, Ivy Books, 1988
Gerard Nierenberg, The Art of Negotiating, Pocket Books, 1991
David F. Ramacitti, Do It Yourself Publicity, AMACOM, 1990
Douglas B. Richardson, Networking, John Wiley & Sons, 1994
Susan RoAne, How to Work A Room, Shapolsky, 1988
Carl Sewell and Paul B. Brown, Customers for Life, Doubleday Currency, 1990
Betsy Sheldon and Joyce Hadley,
The Smart Woman's Guide to Networking Career Press, 1995
Raymond Simon and Joseph M.
Zappala, Public Relations Workbook, NTC Publications, 1996
Philip Zimbardo, Shyness, What It Is, What to Do About It, Addison-Wesley, 1977
Note: Libraries and book stores have lots of books on networking, career development and job hunting.
This Page was last update:
Wednesday, September 28, 2005 at 4:17:32 PM
This page was originally posted: 8/17/2005; 2:13:32 PM.
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