Networking is tough. If you are in management long enough, you have definitely had the experience of someone who wants a job being extra clingy when it comes to making sure that their name is top of your mind. You know what they say, “all things in moderation”, but there comes a time when it crosses a line to both the uncomfortable and the unprofessional.
I totally get it. Competition is fierce and you need to do something to be able to stand out amongst the crowd, but along the way there is a switch that’s flipped from being seen as extremely competent to cringe. As a manager who looks extremely hard at human skills (shocker!) in addition to academic skills, here are some ways that I approach walking the tightrope between staying in touch, and turning off a hiring manager.
Building the Right Relationship
I want you to put yourself in the position of a hiring official. You have three resumes on your desk. One of these people who have gotten to know over the last several years and you have a very positive image of. The second person you have gotten to know as well but your impressions are much more negative. The third you don’t know at all.
Without looking at what is on the resume at all, going into the hiring process, who has the edge here? Obviously the one with the positive image built up. The person we don’t know can very much still get the job, but they have to overcome a bit of natural bias that has built up towards the person with the positive image. The person with the negative image has a tough road ahead.
Building a relationship before a potential job comes around is a fantastic idea. However, much like writing a cover letter, write a good one and you can catapult yourself into the lead. Write a bad one and it can be worse than not writing one at all.
Initial Contact
The first time you reach out to someone you potentially may want to work for should be well before any job postings hit the market. You need time to build a relationship and get into the mind of the hiring official on a regular basis.
In fact, that first contact shouldn’t be about a job at all. It should be about something that means something to the hiring official. In our world of science that could be some research they have worked on. Maybe it’s something about the organization or company they work for.
It could just be about the industry that you are in as a whole and someone who is looking for advice on something. People love it when you see them as the expert. They feel seen and needed and automatically puts you in an advantageous position.
Finding the Appropriate Cadence
The relationship doesn’t end with that initial contact, it’s only just beginning. I think the trickiest part of building a professional relationship, especially early on is finding the appropriate cadence to contact someone. You definitely don’t want to be the person that reaches out weekly with something new and starts to take a lot of time away from someone.
The trick is to be timely enough to not be forgotten but not so much that you become annoying. To start out this might be about once per quarter. I think any more than that and you start to become a figment of their imagination. On the other end of the spectrum, Monthly contact is probably a bit too much for someone you don’t know well yet, so I’d keep it to 2-3 months.
Remember, we are building a long term relationship so you need time to do that. Obviously this approach is going to be for our “dream job” type jobs. The ones we have our eye on for a long time. It’s really tough to build a long term relationship with a hiring official when you are applying for a job you didn’t know existed last week. We are playing the long game here.
Learn the Pain Points
As I mentioned before, the first contact shouldn’t be “Hey, I’d love to work for you some day.” Far from it. The more you can make the relationship about them and what you can provide them that would eventually make them say, “Hey, this person would be a really good fit with our team”, the better.
One way to do this is to learn the pain points that this particular person deals with on a daily basis. What are the challenges they face. What problems come up for the organization or the company. By studying these, you are showing that you are taking the time to learn about them and that goes a long way.
Not only can you learn the pain points, but if you can the show how you could help solve some of these problems, well now you are in a real good spot. I remember receiving a code that a student “just happened to be working on and thought it could be applicable to an issue I was having.” That was quite a flex. Talk about putting coins in the bank for later!
Only Turning it On When the Job is Open
On the opposite end of the spectrum, it can get cringy pretty quick if you only turn on the charm and goodwill when the job actually hits the street. I have seen this so many times over the course of my career.
It is really noticeable with those that already work on your team and they are looking for a promotion. People who have been stagnant for months, all of a sudden doing all the extra work and being extra nice around the office. Spare me with that. If you are only going to do the work when something is on the line for you, I’m not interested. Consistency matters.
Building Your Passive Sales Pitch
Like it or not, but you are in sales, and trying to sell what you have to a hiring official for a future job prospect is hard work. Just like with income however, there is active and passive ways to make sure you are in someone’s mind.
Remember, your social media profiles say a lot about who you are and what you believe in. Eventually, if they start to become curious about you and your future prospects with their team, they are going to start looking for more information about you, and your social media is one of the first places they will go. Make sure what you are saying and displaying online is in line with what you want to say about yourself.
Rather than just leaving it up to social media, I like to have a little more control over my online presence and building an online portfolio can be a huge advertisement for yourself and what you bring to the table. I highly suggest doing it and I have an article linked to help you set it up.
Leave No Doubt When It’s Go Time
Eventually, the day will come when it IS time to apply for that job. At this point, if you have spent time building up the relationship then it becomes almost anti-climactic because you will have put a lot of the work in ahead of time.
Now is the time to dot the I’s and cross the T’s. Remember the three parts of the job application stool; Resume, cover letter, and the interview. These articles are here for you to make sure you nail it and leave no doubt when it comes time to landing your dream job. You already put the work in, now it’s time to leave no doubt that you are the best candidate for the job.
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