#networking guide

Working (or worked) at companies I was interested in, or had an accomplished career path

Bonus if they went to the same college I went to! Whoo, a mutual interest. That way, you can personalize your message with “Go Bears!” or whatever your college mascot is. They’re more likely to respond to a personalized message.

Bonus if they seem active in the field. You can tell this if they’re in any professional organizations, for example.

Bonus if they use LinkedIn regularly! If they’re never on LinkedIn, well, chances are low they’ll reply to your message.

Once I found a suitable match, I’d connect with them AND INCLUDE A PERSONALIZED MESSAGE. There’s a character limit, so you gotta be short & sweet. Include a greeting, an introduction, some sort of similarity you have with them, and why you’re reaching out.

Something along the lines of this would work well:

Hi Bob! I'm an incoming UCSB grad student (Go Gauchos!) & interested in working in finance. I noticed you work at Bank of America as a Financial Analyst. Would you be willing to have a quick phone call? I'd love to hear about your experience & any insight you may have! ^^Change the bolded text to match your scenario.

To be honest, I was expecting most people to ignore my message. I mean, why would they give up 30 minutes of their time to help someone they’ve never met?!?!? Right?!?! But to my surprise, out of the 8 people I messaged, only two never responded. The other 6 responded and said “sure!” ???? Wow, people are nice. All 8 of the calls were super helpful (some more than others, tbh) and made me feel like, “damn I can’t believe I called a stranger and networked!” Other little tidbits:

Plan for the calls to be about 30 minutes. In my experience, this has been a good length of time for calls -- not too short, and not too long. And honestly, anything over 30 minutes for a call with a stranger may feel like you’re imposing on their time! Of course, if the conversation is going well and you both are willing to talk longer, go for it!

Schedule the call soon after they’ve accepted a call - maybe within the next week or two max. 

Always start off the call by thanking them. Start by saying “Hi XX! It’s XX. I just want to first off, say thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to help answer my questions about the xx field.”

End the call by thanking them again. 

After the call, thank them in writing (this can be via email or LinkedIn if that’s how you communicated). This can be a little optional in my opinion, since you literally thanked them on the phone two seconds ago, but still.

Make sure you have a list of questions prepared and some background of your field. While the point of these calls is to learn more about the field and help you explore your options, you should already have some knowledge about the field. Trust me, I’ve learned through trial and error that man, is it awkward when there’s pauses in the conversation! Also, people can help you more when you have an idea of which subfields you’re interested in versus if you had literally NO idea.

Remember: they’re not going to give you a job. I saw this on a LinkedIn post and it was saying something along the lines of “How would you feel if a friend asked you to lunch? And then said, ‘Oh yeah, I’m single by the way.’ You’d feel uncomfortable and put on the spot right? That’s how I feel when people ask me for a job on our networking calls.” Interesting, right?  The point of these networking calls is to explore and learn more about the company/position/industry/opportunities. It’s not a one-way ticket to a new job and please change your mentality if it is!

Take notes! I personally have a tracking spreadsheet to keep track of the people I’ve reached out to/networked (columns include: Name, Position, Company, Date Reached Out, Responded? Y/N, Phone Call? Y/N, Phone Call Date, Contact Information, Met [where did I meet them, etc], & Notes [of the person/interaction; not of the phone call]). I have a separate notebook where I physically write down notes of the phone call. Just my own personal style.

Another perk of LinkedIn networking is that it’s all through a phone! No in-person interaction (yet, at least)! So I’m calling them from the comfort of my own room and it’s not as nerve-racking! It’s as easy as: 1) Finding a connection 2) Sending a personalized message 3) Call them & have a set list of questions! I mean, obviously if you happen to meet them in person later, at least you’ll already have a phone call with them and it’s not as awkward, ya feel?  Here are my some of my go-to questions:

What skills or courses do you think would be beneficial? What skills do you use a lot of in your work? [List some skills you think might be beneficial here]

I’m wondering about the process of being certified/getting licensed in XX. What’s your take on this for this field?

What are the different subfields within this field? I know of xx, xx, xx...

What are good professional organizations to join relating to this field?

What’s the difference between working in public versus private sector in this field?

Would you say networking is important in this field?

I want to share some of my results of networking:

Discovered TWO new professional organizations to join

Joined a newsletter and found out about an organization looking for committee members & applied (tbh idk if I made it in, still TBD)

Found out about scholarship opportunities 

Found out about a mentorship opportunity in one of the professional organizations (which had a deadline just around the corner!)

Cemented my list of companies that are reputable/well-known for the work I’d like to work on

Learned more about the hiring processes at various companies

... and much more!