I interviewed with 15 companies during my pivot. Here’s how I did it.
The main rule of networking is that it has to be targeted and focused. Targeted networking yields more meaningful results than a shotgun approach. You don’t want to spend valuable months spinning your wheels networking with the wrong people.
As a society, we don’t do such a great job teaching people how to network in a structured way. Everyone talks about how important networking is for career success, but no one talks about how to network effectively.
To network effectively, you need to know two things:
- Whom to network with
- How to network efficiently
Here was the playbook I used to manage the “job” of networking starting from finding the contacts to reaching out and following up.
Whom to Network With
Targeting is the most frequently overlooked and under-used job search strategy. The key here is to have a structured process to manage the job of networking so that it yields more meaningful connections.
If you are looking to pivot, and know your target industry, you have won half the battle. If you are still struggling with that, I would encourage you to read part 2 of this series to help narrow down your list of target industries.
Build a LAMP list (in Excel)
I knew I didn’t want to be shooting off a hundred resumes that would go nowhere. Focusing on key few companies would allow me to differentiate myself from the hoard. I could network with hiring managers ahead of time or at the least, email them my resume directly rather than getting lost in the applicant tracking system (ATS).
LAMP is an acronym coined by Steve Dalton, the author of “The 2-hour Job Search”. This book radically changed my approach to the job search process. It’s really about routinizing the process, so networking becomes a habit that you do without thinking, rather than as a chore. It stands for:
- LIST: Generate your List of potential targets (at least 40 companies)
- ALUMNI: Focus on Alumni (or friends and family) at the companies
- MOTIVATION: Rank from 1–5 your interest in a particular company
- POSTINGS: How many job postings? This is a proxy for if the company is in growth mode.
The author recommends focusing on generating a list of 40 companies. But how do you find the 40 companies? This is a research heavy phase that relies on website research, news articles, industry research etc. to figure out which companies to include in your LAMP list. The book also has a lot of ideas on how to find 40 companies, so it’s worth purchasing.
Dalton claims you can build your entire LAMP list in two hours. In practice, I found that finding the initial list of 40 companies can take two hours in itself.
Don’t worry about finding Alumni for now. Just populate your List with company names and your Motivation for working there. Here is an example LAMP list at the start of the process:
Rank and Prioritize your LAMP list
Once you have built up your LAMP list with companies and contacts, its time to prioritize it. Rank your list based on Motivation from highest (5) to lowest (1). For the companies where your motivation is 3+, find the number of postings they have currently posted on LinkedIn. Give the company four or five in the Postings column if they your target job titles posted. If they have lots of postings in unrelated fields, then score the company three. Do this for all the companies in your list.
Rank and sort by Motivation followed by Postings. These are the companies you will reach out to. Practically speaking, I would focus on the top 20 companies on your list. Here’s how the final List will look like:
But what if you don’t have any contacts at your target companies?
It is unlikely that will have a meaningful network in your new target industry. I wasn’t any different. I had to spend a few months building mine from scratch. This isn’t difficult, but does take time and effort.
The simplest way to build your network reach out to people who are currently doing what you want to be doing. Here are the steps I used to quickly find potential contacts to network with:
- Go to linkedin.com
- Type “job title” and “city”: mine were “product manager” and “calgary” OR
- Type “job title” and “company name”: for eg, “product manager” and “benevity”
- Look through their profile. Try to find some commonalities such as: same undergrad/master’s degree/previous company; common contacts; successful pivots from your current industry
- Reach out to them
It’s best to add someone you have something in common with as it increases the chances that they will respond. Try adding at least three people per company. Do NOT add them to your LinkedIn network yet, just your Excel spreadsheet. You need to be efficient and if you start getting into the rabbit hole of sending out connection requests, your efficiency will fall.
Personally, I leveraged my MBA and previous company a lot. These almost guaranteed that someone would get back to me. I often didn’t have a common connection, but this wasn’t really a detriment, but it does increase the odds of someone responding to 75%. Else, it is about 20% or 1 in 5.
How to Cold Email Naturally
Once you have a target name, the next step is to reach out with a call to action. You have to reach them directly in their inbox, ideally at work, which they will guaranteed check
You could reach out via LinkedIn, but some people don’t check LinkedIn as often, or they may not choose to accept your request.
Head on over to mailscoop to find someone’s professional email address. Type in their name and company website, and viola!
If all this is too much work or you don’t feel comfortable, then you can also reach out directly via LinkedIn. Most people do check their messages, and will accept your offer to connect. It’s just a lengthier process as you have to wait for them to accept and then play a lengthy game of LinkedIn or email ping pong to get an informational interview.
Organic ways of reaching out
If you don’t have anything in common, which is commonly the case, you can still add them to your LAMP list. Unfortunately, this means the likelihood of your target responding is almost zero, especially if they work at a company that is popular with job seekers.
In that case, you have to take a slightly different approach. Sometimes people will leave their social media contact in their LinkedIn profile. In my opinion, this is fair game to harvest. Feel free to head on over to Twitter, Medium, and Clubhouse to follow them. This way you can build a relationship with them organically by commenting on their on posts. Authentic connection goes a long way in building relationships.
Parting Tips
There’s a false narrative in our culture that introverts dread networking. In fact, introverts are the best at networking as it is really about listening to the other person and demonstrating curiosity by asking really great questions — two things introverts excel at.
A word of caution: Don’t be an annoying networker. Do NOT simply add contacts to your LinkedIn network without mentioning why. I get a few connection requests every week with zero explanation as to why. I almost always decline.
In the following post, I will detail how to craft an email for reaching out to potential contacts and how to conduct an effective networking coffee in person or virtually.
This is Part 5 of a multi-part series focused on how I executed my career transition from oil & gas into tech. Using this approach, I landed interviews with 15 companies and received four offers for product management positions. Follow my blog @medium for regular updates.
