In my last post, I shared some thoughts on who to target when career networking – whether you’re clear or somewhat fuzzy on your goals.
Once someone has agreed to talk, make it worthwhile, by making a good first impression and keeping their attention. You do this by delivering on what you promised, which is either:
- A conversation that triggers questions and valuable input, which makes them feel helpful about talking with you or telling someone else about you.
- An exploration between their needs and your qualifications.
Present yourself as someone with valuable skills, useful knowledge, beneficial experience, and enthusiasm.
Communicate with poised relevance.
When you talk about yourself, don’t bring up every detail, because not everything is relevant. The relevancy depends on what you want to do next! Relevance. It’s an important word here! It’s the key to marketing yourself in your new career. Too much information overwhelms people. Relevant information helps you influence people in how you want them to see you.
Whether you are sitting down for coffee with someone to pick their brain, or are in an interview and asked, “Tell me about yourself,” the person across from you wants to know six things:
- Are you an honorable person I can trust and would want to hire or refer to people I know?
- Why are you in this circumstance, wanting a job in whatever role or field?
- What were you doing before this?
- What do you know about and what have you done to prepare yourself for this career?
- What are your key strengths or most enjoyable skills?
- What do you want to do now, and how committed are you?
Converse human to human.
You want to have a conversation that does not sound memorized or rehearsed. Don’t write it out word for word. If you do, you’ll be focused on remembering. And depending on who you’re talking to, you’ll need to adapt content. Filling what you say with relevant (that word again) information that’s dowsed with your desire for why you want this career is your priority here.
My client, Jim, was an information technology project manager who was networking for a job with a coffee chain. In the first ten minutes of his meeting with a franchise owner in that business, he said, “I have no coffee shop experience, but I have more fire, a better work ethic, and more desire than anyone you’ll meet!” He got the chance to explain more, but “fire” is what hooked the coffee-business contact.
Create an outline that includes pieces of information you plug in or leave out; and that lets you elaborate, depending on the circumstances. The pieces might include any of the above six points.
Get a bit emotional.
You might have the credentials, education, and competence for your next career, but if you can’t unleash a little passion, it will be tougher to convince people to help you along the way or, eventually, offer you a job. Don’t be afraid to express your eagerness, through your words and enthusiasm for what you want to do next and why you want to do it.
Use emotional language. It’s okay to look someone in the eye and say, “I love helping children learn” or “I’m moved to want to give back” or “I feel so strongly about making this change, I’ve dedicated the next year of my life toward completing certification and earning hands-on experience.”
In my next post, I’ll share ways in which to deliver on the six pieces mentioned in this post!
I always love to hear from you! Please comment below.
