So you've gotta be genuine, and when you are genuine and when you actually leverage LinkedIn as a networking platform
the benefits are pretty insane.
Hey Badasses, welcome back to the Badass Careers YouTube channel, which is the place to be to build a career.
That's pretty freaking badass if I do say so myself.
So if it's your first time here, my name is Rosie.
I'm an ex-corporate manager, recruiter turned online career coach,
and I'm all about helping ambitious, high-achieving millennials to create or build their dream career.
Now today, we're going to talk all about networking.
And if that word makes you shutter a little bit like (ugh) networking
we're going to talk about building powerful relationships that can get you to where you want to go in your career
Because I'm pretty sure that you guys have heard the statistic, right?
That only 20% of available jobs are actually advertised in the first place, right? they're actually public to be found and seen by your average Joe
and yet, 75% of job seekers use applying to jobs online as the primary and only job application method.
So what it means is that if you are trying to land a job right now, you are competing with 75% of the population for 20% of the available work.
And how would the 80% of roles that are never advertised in the first place filled on the hidden job market?
How are they filled? They're filled through networks, Internal referrals, word of mouth
not only this but the higher the pay grade of the job. The more likely it is to have been filled through an internal referral.
Companies love them they have often referral employee referral programs. Where you actually earn a bonus for referring people you know
because it actually leads to much higher retention rates
where employees stay in the company for longer.
So basically if you want a much higher shot at landing your dream job
you may need an internal relationship or an internal referral.
And how do you get internal referrals?
Through Networking
Lucky for you though. There's a free tool which gives you access to the entire professional directory
of anyone who's basically highly educated and in a corporate role, working at a startup and a professional position, let's say and that's called LinkedIn.
And I know a lot of people think, Oh, it's so unfair that so many jobs are kind of being traded and being filled on the download.
And we don't even have a chance to apply for them.
But if you actually flip your thinking on this, another way of looking at it is that it levels the playing field.
Because you absolutely no excuses, have exactly the same opportunity which is to build relationships with people
and thought leaders and people in your dream job who and your dream target industry right now.
Like these people are right there on LinkedIn and the only thing between.
You building a relationship with them and someone else doing it is basically your proactiveness and your level of initiative.
It doesn't necessarily matter what school you went to, where you're from.
If you can find something in common with that person, or if you can connect with that person in some way, or build a relationship with them
you have just as much opportunity as getting an internal referral as anyone else.
And we're going to get to all of that a little bit later and in fact, in this video, we're going to cover off exactly.
How you end up landing internal referrals and recommendations and I'm even giving you the scripts, some ideas to reach out
to them and messages on LinkedIn and to email them as well so you've got to want to hang around, but first let me ask you,
what is your current mindset when it comes to the word networking?
Most people feel like it's creepy, stalker, fake, sleazy, salesy.
Like ughh! I don't want to do that.
And so now I'm going to tell you about my kind of networking, which is none of those things.
This is what networking actually is connecting with likeminded people from a place of genuine curiosity
meeting interesting people from all over the world, finding mentors and mentoring others, being generous and adding value.
And we actually talked about this in my video around how to post and how to show up on LinkedIn so go and check that out if you haven't already
I'll leave the link down below as well.
It's about curiosity. It's about opportunity. It's about getting out of your bubble and by the way, I hate to break this to you.
But every single time you go to the gym, you go to a hairdresser, you step into an elevator, you talk to anyone in the line at the supermarket,
whatever it is. You're actually networking. So you might as well learn to love it.
Now, what I want to make clear is that networking is never like
Hi, can I send you my resume or
Hi, Senior Director! can I pick your brain for a few minutes? or
Hi internet stranger, can you do something for me?
Now of course, I'm going to tell you what to do instead later in this video,
but you've got to keep in mind this is a real person.
Networking is just connecting with and conversing with people just as you would in real life.
When would you ever walk up to a random stranger on the street and be like
Hi, you look impressive. Can I give you my resume?
So you got to be genuine. And when you are genuine and when you actually leverage LinkedIn as a networking platform, the benefits a pretty insane.
So of course you can get employee referrals onto the lead recruiter or the hiring manager himself or even build a relationship with the hiring manager directly.
My clients have found champions who've literally.
Advocated for them throughout the entire hiring process and put pressure on teams internally to get them hired.
And you just meet really interesting people and never know when they might circle back, right? You nurture that relationship.
And who knows in three years and five years who might knock on your door and say, "Hey, do you still love this? We've got a roll going"
because no matter how experienced and charismatic you are, the hungriest person always wins and you will get results by doing this.
If you're hungry enough and you do it in a really authentic way and from a place of curiosity.
Okay, so how do we build relationships with these people and land informational interviews.
There's a 15-minute coffee chats, phone chats with people in your target roles or decision-makers in your target industry.
Well, first you've got to find these people and there's a few places I like to look first.
So the first I know we're talking a lot about LinkedIn, but look within your current network.
So once you've figured out exactly what you're looking for out of a next move, you might want to contact all your friends and family just via email and just say,
Hey, this is what I want, do you know anyone working in X, Y, or Z industries? I'm really looking to connect with people and have a chat about the day to day realities of the role
because you never never know your friends, uncle's cousin might be the director of the exact company you're after
and this is the power of telling people what you're up to and what you want out of your next step.
And it's exactly the same. I want you to talk about this to everyone, to your hairdresser, to your personal trainer. Like everyone needs to know
because you just never ever know who they know.
Another thing I like to do is look back at my first degree connections on LinkedIn because the people that you used to work with or have connected within the past,
you know, you're passing ships at a moment in time and who knows where they've gone, right?
So I like to refresh myself and look through my current connection is because, you know, one of my ex interns is now working at Google
and that's a good, you know, relationship to have. Not to see it just like that, like, Oh, good relationship, good in for me.
But it's interesting because someone that you met and completely different contexts could actually now be working In your dream company.
Now, when you go to LinkedIn itself, where do you find these people? It's the main ways that I find cool people doing cool stuff.
As I go to the company page of my target companies, click on people and type in some keywords,
some job title ideas, some areas that really interest me and see who comes up.
That's a great way to do it.
Another great way to do it is actually go to your school and look at the alumni.
And again, type in some key target companies or keywords, professions
and see who comes up. Because you've already studied at the same school, the likelihood of them getting back to you, reach out to them.
You've already got a connection there. So that's a really great resource to tap into as well.
Another great place to look is in groups around areas of interest.
So for example, I might look up a career coaches group or in organizational psychology group
And when you message people who share a mutual group with you, you're 21% more likely to get a response.
Now, big tip here is that networking is a relationship game and relationships, genuine relationships do take time to build.
So at first, what you might want to do instead of connecting with the person directly is actually just follow them, especially if they're sort of.
5, 10, 15, 20 years ahead of you in terms of your dream career trajectory.
And what you can do is that every time that they post or engage on the platform. You can comment on their things, you can like them.
And so by the time you eventually slip into the inbox, there'll be much more familiar with you and they've seen your face
And they've seen that you've been interacting with their stuff and adding value on their post.
Now, if you do want to just reach out to them directly, that's cool as well, but there's a definitely a way to do that.
Firstly, you're going to want to make sure that your profile is looking nice and slick and optimized.
I actually have free checklist for you as called Next Level LinkedIn.
I'll link it down the description box so you can grab that and just go through that and make sure I'm sure that your LinkedIn profile
is ticking off all of the points on that checklist. So it's nice and polished let's say,
so we know profile is looking good and you're ready to start reaching out to people. Now you do your research research, research research.
You want to find a point commonality or something meaningful to say, so firstly.
Do you have any mutual connections?
If so, could you reach out to that person, ask how they know them and ask perhaps for an introduction? That's always great.
Do you share something in common? For example, something about their story, their passions, or the interests with the values
like reading they're about may section is gold for this.
Cause you can see if you share anything in terms of values, passions, common interests or something about.
The way that they've approached their career, maybe they started out as a graduate and you're currently a graduate.
They may be a link there, the volunteering and clubs that they've been part of. Maybe you're from the same town.
Maybe you studied at the same school. Maybe you have the same nationality, right?
Like, I mean, if you're moving abroad, for example, like if I find a New Zealander living in France, they're probably going to be much more likely to respond to me.
And if I reach out to them saying, Hey, so cool to see a fellow New Zealander working in France, I'm actually targeting.
France has an international destination myself
Also check out their recent activity as well.
That gives you a lot of clothes. What are they engaging on? What are they liking? Are they posting themselves?
Have they written an article? Look into all the stuff because it would be so useful If you could genuinely read the article
pick out a few points that really resonated with you
and then use that as a lead when you connect with them.
You can also look into their social media and the website. You can jump on Google and be like interview with X person, you know, have they ever been interviewed on a podcast?
Is there some sort of information that you can find on this person to then create a mutual link.
And it basically comes back to, if you want 15 minutes of this person's time, you need to show them that you put in 15 minutes worth of research to get it
step number two is that, of course, you're going to add them on LinkedIn.
And when you connect with them you always make sure that you send a personalized message.
So here are three examples for you.
Based on what we've been talking about in terms of what would be a great way to reach out to someone for the first time on LinkedIn.
Hello, name, what an incredible career you've forged since common university.
I'm part of the 2015 alumni myself and was looking for inspiring leaders in the X industry.
When I came across your profile, I'd love to learn more about your career story and some of the decisions you've made along the way. Thank you, your name
next.
Hello X. I've just finished reading magazines interview with you on the learning technologies that will transform the employee experience.
I absolutely share the same convictions and see massive potential in AI and voice based solutions.
I hope to hear from you more on this topic in the future. Thank you, X.
Another one.
Hi X, a mutual connection. The wonderful Sarah post recommended I reach out to you i'm chatting to people in the HR profession right now to ensure it's the perfect fit
for me before I pivot on over from marketing, I would love to have your perspective. Cheers name.
Do you see how this always a personal and genuine connection there?
And at no point did you say, "Hey, can I send you my resume?"
Just to wee hack, is that when they do accept you, always send them a message saying
"Thanks!", so "Hey, happy to connect!" something like that
something simple or follow up and ask a few other questions if you want to, because it actually makes
Your activity on LinkedIn and their activity on LinkedIn, more likely to show up on each other's feed If you've exchanged messages with each other in the past
step number three, as I highly recommend finding this person's email address,
because people aren't necessarily on LinkedIn every day, right?
So you can do this either by just looking on their profile and then contact information area. Or by using a website like hunter.io
where you put in the company's website URL and the person's name, and it generates its best guests as to what the email address would be.
And that's when you can send them in an email asking them for an informational interview, just 15 minutes of their time.
It could go something like this.
Hello name, I hope this email finds you having a great Monday so far. We've just connected over on LinkedIn actually,
as I really enjoyed your interview on Podcast, what you said about (something I said) really resonated with me.
I would love to learn how you became a role as it's what I want to do in the future, too.
Would you be open to jumping on a quick call, even just for 15 minutes
I'd love to hear your story to reverse engineer how you got to where you are today and hear about some of your critical decisions along the way.
I know you're very busy. So give me a few options for you, and I'll get the calendar invitation sent through Pronto. Best, Rosie
this works well because you're very specific over what you're going to cover in the call. Just asking for a 15-minute call so you can pick someone's brains
or something that sounds overwhelming. And like, no, who wants to do do that, but you're specific about what the coal will be about
and you're making their life easy by offering it to send through calendar invitation and make it nice and quick and snappy.
The next step, of course, is getting on the phone, getting on zoom and having the informational interview with this person.
And what's really important here is that you lead it. You come highly prepared with five really powerful questions about things that you
specifically would like to know. You want to understand the realities of the role of the company, of the industry,
this is great clarity for you as well to really assist this is something I actually want to do.
And you also want to listen very actively and hear about their challenges and the things that are going on for them in their world, because.
What you might be able to do afterwards is follow up and say, "Hey, I was just thinking about that challenge you told me about,
and I found this really cool article here" or "Hey, I'd love to connect you with my ex colleague who I think would be really useful.
And you're thinking about this" or "Hey, I've just gone away and been thinking about what we spoke about on the phone,
and I've just drafted up a really quick framework, just some initial thinking on the topic.
I'd love to have your feedback, but anyway, thank you so much for the call.
All of this is just great relationship-building material.
Of course, something you can do on the call as well as ask them, "Is there anyone, in their network that they would recommend that you speak to next"
and then it just kept sort of going and going and going in terms of your informational interviews
and the network that you're building. So remember, you're not asking for anything at any time.
You're not asking for favours, for resumes to be sent for referrals. Nothing.
This is about connecting with someone, giving them a killer first impression, like great personal branding,
who you are, what drives you, you know, really coming across as that self-starter and then afterwards it's more around nurturing this relationship, right?
As I said, following up with them saying "Thank you so much" Looking at your LinkedIn notification on a daily basis to see who's changed positions.
Are there any birthdays or work anniversaries. Is their a national holiday that you could get back in touch and say, "Hey, happy 4th of July" whatever it is
but is there a reason that you can just keep in touch with this person and keep them in the loop and just appreciate and nurture that relationship
now with this really comes into play.
And this is why you should never network at the last minute when you urgently need the job, but you should build it up over time,
but should you see a job arise in that person's company? How great is it going to be, to be able to say,
"Hey, saw this amazing position in your company. I've pulled together my cover letter and my resume.
Even if you just have two, three minutes to have a look over, give me a bit of feedback. I'd be super, super grateful.
This supports really, really well because it's called a foot in the door phenomenon.
So basically if someone says, "Yeah, sure. I'll, I'll spend three minutes giving you some feedback" and they do that.
They're going to be much, much more likely to help when you ask them if they know who the hiring manager is
or the lead recruiter is, and if they could send on your application on their behalf
Now, usually this comes up quite naturally anyway, but you can always make the ask in a way that's not sleazy at all, but just saying
"Hey, if you know of anyone internally who may be involved for recruiting for this position, I'd really appreciate you forwarding on my
application, of course, I'm still going to apply, you know, like everyone else on the online portal"
but you know how these things work. It's always better If you know that the recruiters is actually seeing you a cover letter and resume, right?
So as you can see, just by building genuine relationships and meeting cool people, doing cool things over time
it can actually have a significant impact on your career and I have had clients have. Direct job offers and slide on that back door.
For all sorts of hidden job opportunities that were never advertised on the company website through following the simple but effective career ritual really it's a habit.
Now, if you are in a phase of life where you know that you want to do something bigger and better.
With your career, you want to make sure that you're really stepping into your potential and doing work that you find meaningful and engaging
and you actually want to land the job through having an amazing application and tapping into the hidden job market.
Then I highly recommend you check out my signature program, the career glow up.
Doors are opening for the next round.
So hopefully I will see you inside. I'll leave the link down below,
but basically click on the link, jump on a call with me and let's see if you'd be a good fit for the program.
Otherwise guys, thank you so much for watching.
Please remember to like and subscribe and I'll see you in the next video.
Stay Badass.
Bye.