Establish Rapport: You certainly cannot establish rapport with another person by mailing a resume or a Broadcast Letter. You must meet that person face to face. You want to meet as many people as possible, and to Have them like you and want to help.
Get Advice And Reactions: There are all kinds of good advice out there, but advice is worthless if you don't hear it. You must meet with people to give them a chance to offer their advice. This includes general advice about your field, comments about your resume; reactions to your presentation, maybe even an observation about how you part your hair. You must get out there and talk to people.
Obtain Specific Information: Answers to questions such as: Where you might go next to find the right opportunity? Which industries should you approach and how best to approach them? The names of companies that might be hiring. Specific names of people to contact.
Build Your Network: The more people aware of your availability and your talent, and the more people who regard you as a valuable person, the more likely you are to find that special connection you seek. Job hunters sometimes feel embarrassed to be out of work and looking for a job. Some see it as a stigma, something of which to be ashamed. Nonsense! Is a lion ashamed to be hungry and looking for prey? Job hunting is a fact of life. It happens to nearly everyone at one time or another, so let your friends know without apology. They will not be able to help you if they are not aware of your situation.
Strive to be Remembered: This may be the most important objective. The day you walk into that decision maker's office there probably will not be a job available. But a week, or a month, or several months later an opening may develop. Then is when you might get the phone call asking you to come back for another meeting. Then is when you know you were remembered and your Networking might pay off.
Many job hunters accept a job and then a few months later receive a phone call from some person they had met while networking. There have been some new developments. Would they like to come in for further discussion? Wonderful!
So far we have discussed why you should Network. Now we should move on to how to Network. There are four steps in the process.
- The Letter of Approach.
- The Follow-up Telephone Call
- The Network Interview
- The Thank You Letter
The Letter of Approach
As preparation for your Letter of Approach, you must first consider the resistance you will encounter to your Networking efforts. For what reasons would a business person not want to meet with you?
Selfishness: Some people are so involved with their own egos and problems, they are simply not interested in helping anyone else.
Too busy: Many business people cannot find enough hours in the day to deal with their own problems. Some managers work ten or twelve hours a day, yet never seem to catch up. They really cannot spare any time for you.
Wariness: They have been stung before. What are you really after? Maybe you will get into their office and ask them for a donation or try to sell them something. Worse still, maybe you plan to hit them up for a job and then they will be in the awkward and embarrassing position of having to reject you.
Recognizing these possible objections, your Letter of Approach should anticipate the obstacles to getting an audience, just as any good salesman anticipates customer objections and prepares a response to every kind of buyer resistance.
In discussing the Letter of Approach the emphasis is on the word LETTER. This does not mean a telephone call, as phone calls often come at awkward times and catch the listener unprepared to deal with your needs. Your letter can be set aside for reading at a later moment when the recipient is not under stress.
Write a letter that is easy to read and not too long, no more than three-quarters of a page. You are writing to busy people, asking for a favor, so don't force them to wade through a lot of verbiage to find out what you want.
Your letter also will be valuable during the networking interview when it will serve as an example of how you will approach any leads given to you by the interviewer. You are more likely to be given names of people to see if the interviewer is comfortable that his personal friends and business associates will be contacted by you in a low pressure and dignified manner.
Your Letter of Approach has six parts, which are:
- The Compliment
- Stating the Problem
- No Job Expected
- An Enclosed Summary
- Brief Meeting
- Will Call for Appointment
Most people will always respond kindly to a compliment, provided it is sincerely tendered. A most effective compliment is when you can quote something flattering that someone else said about the person you wish to see. For example, if Norman Brown suggests that you might want to see Fred Delong, you should immediately inquire as to why he feels Delong might be able to help you. His reply might provide the compliment you need for the beginning of your letter.
"Dear Mr. Delong: Norman Brown has told me of your superb record in the construction business and felt you might have a few minutes to assist me in my campaign."
The compliment doesn't have to be lengthy. In another situation you might be able to start your letter,
"Dear Mr. Johnston: Our mutual friend, Sam Cahill, suggested that your broad knowledge of the garment industry would be a valuable source of guidance toward my present objective."
What you need is a short statement that will please the reader and encourage that person to read the rest of your letter. If you start off by saying, "Dear Mr. Jones, I am looking for a job," he will stop reading at that point.
Stating the Problem: It is important to tell the reader why you want to meet. One thing that makes you feel uncomfortable is when someone wants to see you and you have no idea as to the purpose of the meeting. It is human nature to be suspicious. You are either going to get sold something or you are going to be asked for something. By refusing to see the person, you will avoid potential confrontation that might cost you money or cause you embarrassment.
Make it perfectly clear to the addressee that you are in the midst of a job search. Don't try to hide it. You can say in your letter something along the following lines: "Recently I resigned from the XYZ Corporation, and I am currently involved in a search for a new position." Explain that what you wish to receive is advice and reactions to your presentation. It is not unreasonable for you to hope the meeting may lead to some opportunity for you, but make it clear, and mean it, that you are not going to put the person on the spot.
No Job Expected: Your explanation as to why you want to see the person leads to the third part of the Letter of Approach. You must write a simply stated explanation that you do not expect them to have a job for you. So, say exactly that. And mean it. Say:
"It is not expected that you have a position available for me, or that you know of one elsewhere."
If you engage in Networking but have the attitude that you will get into someone's office and then hit them up for a job, forget it Deceptive tactics like this will backfire on you. The other person will resent your trickery and you will lose any help that might otherwise have been extended.
Go into the interview with the expectation that there will not be a job available. If one develops, wonderful!
But, consider the other good things that can come out of a Referral Interview. You may get valuable suggestions. You may get precious leads to other people. You may be remembered when an opportunity opens up thirty days later.
An Enclosed Summary:
This means you enclose your resume, but you refer to it as your Summary, as "resume" sounds threatening. The resume screams out, "I want a job!" So, soften it a bit and call it your "Summary."
By the way, this is the only time in the job hunting process where using the resume is recommended by this author. Most of the time, the resume will hurt you, but when you are Networking, you are soliciting another person's advice and suggestions. Therefore, it is only courteous and practical to include the information about your background as set forth in your resume.
Brief Meeting:
Your Letter of Approach should include the statement that your meeting will be brief, no more than fifteen to twenty minutes. This is enough time for you to accomplish your main objective which is to meet with a decision maker and impress that person with your personal appearance, your attitude, your value as a potential employee. You are not on a job interview, so your meeting will not have to go into job content details.
Your request for only fifteen to twenty minutes should help overcome the resistance caused by the person's being too busy to see you. Even the busiest executive takes one or more fifteen minute breaks during the day, such as a coffee break, a breather between one task and the next, and a few minutes to stretch the legs or to chat informally with associates.
Will Call for Appointment:
The final component of your Letter of Approach is the statement that you will telephone. "I will phone your office to set an appointment for a brief meeting." Your telephone call should be timely. If you write someone on Tuesday, you should call on Thursday or Friday while the latter is fresh in the addressee's mind.
As you see, each part of your Letter of Approach tries to anticipate possible objections. You have tried to appeal to the person's ego to overcome possible selfishness. To overcome the wariness, you have explained what you want, and given reassurance that a job is not expected. You have provided the information contained in your Summary (Resume). You have asked for only a brief meeting, acknowledging the importance of time to a busy decision maker.
Following are a couple of alternative opening paragraphs to the preceding letter:
Your company's successful introduction of its new line of hair styling products is obviously the result of your experienced leadership. You must be very proud of the success being enjoyed by the new range of products.
Knowledgeable people in your industry agree that the success of your company during the past three years is largely due to your guidance and tough decision making. An opportunity to spend a few minutes with you would be of incalculable value.
Keep in mind that, no matter what you say, there are some people who just will not see you. Some individuals are just too selfish. There are also people who are legitimately just too busy to see anyone. Some business people are always traveling, or in meetings, or on the golf course, so it is almost impossible to get their attention.
What are the odds of getting to see a busy executive? If you write to a person who knows you, or to someone recommended by a mutual acquaintance, you should have at least a ninety percent chance of getting an interview, if not to do you a favor, then as a courtesy to the mutual friend.
When you write to a stranger, someone whose name you found in a directory, you should bat around 500. In other words, about fifty percent will see you and fifty percent will not. Some people have impenetrable defenses or just don't care about anyone but themselves. Be philosophical about this and be happy with the ones you do get to see.
