Using Networking to Get a Job
What is it, why do it, when to do it and with whom
Why Network?
A critical element of every job search is networking. Everyone tells you to network, but there are few resources telling you how to do it.
The internet and large job sites like Handshake, Indeed and LinkedIn have made applying for a job as easy as it’s ever been. You just click on a link, upload your resume or provide the URL to your LinkedIn profile, and you’re done. But this also means it’s never been harder to get a job.
And this is especially true for college students applying for entry level jobs today in stark contrast to the past. When I was a college student in the 1980’s (yes, I’m that old), large employers carefully chose which campuses they would physically go to in order to recruit. And, lo and behold, most, if not all, of their hires would come from a select group of universities.
Bain & Company, where I started my career, was one of these companies. In fact, of the 71 of us who made up the 1989 class of Bain Boston associate consultants (that’s what Bain calls analysts), over 85% came from 7 Ivy League schools plus Duke, and the Universities of Michigan, Virginia and Chicago. Anyone outside of that group had to know about Bain and hustle to get an interview. The rest of us just submitted our resumes to our respective career centers.
Today, most colleges use Handshake as their preferred recruiting platform and that means that any college student can apply to any job on that platform. This has democratized the job application process.
But there’s a downside, it’s really hard for any applicant to break through. The ease of applying for a job means that recruiters get inundated with resumes, and applications far outstrip the number of job openings. To deal with this resume onslaught, employers use automated applicant tracking systems (ATS) that use AI and/or basic search filters to find those resumes that have the most relevant keywords. Every other resume gets ignored, or, at best, formally rejected.
So submitting an online application is not enough to actually get a job. As a recruiter friend said to me, “that’s just pushing a button, it’s not a job search.” The online application is necessary but not sufficient to get a job. You need to use networking to actually get your resume to be considered when the automated tools ignore it.
What Is Networking?
Google tells me that the Oxford definition of networking is ”the action or process of interacting with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts.” More specifically for a job search, it’s the creation of personal connections that increase your chances of getting a job.
When and with Whom to Network
Networking is a little like planting a tree. The best time to do it was 20 years ago. The second best time is right now. Networking is mostly indirect and has medium to long term benefits. Most networking conversations do not directly lead to a job interview. You get to know someone today and hope that connection can be helpful to you in the future. So the more people you meet today, the better your chances are in the future.
Who you network with depends on what you want to do. In general, you want to connect with decision makers at the companies you are most interested in.
When I left StubHub, I wanted my next job to be the CEO of a venture capital or private equity backed technology company. I knew executive recruiting companies were often hired for CEO searches, that boards of directors made CEO hiring decisions and most of the boards of these companies were populated by investors. So my networking included talking to many investors as well as recruiters. Over 3 years, I met over 500 investors in technology companies and CEO recruiters. Only a few of those connections led to job interviews. But I have returned to many of those connections since then when I am trying to help companies raise capital or when I am looking for an expert in a particular field. My networking had both a short term and long term benefit.
For those looking for a job right now, there are a few ways to maximize the short term benefits of networking by tying it to a particular job opening. This can be done both before you apply for a job and afterwards.
If you know you are interested in working in a particular field (e.g. management consulting), it is never too early to build out a network in that field. Try to connect with people who are working or have worked at companies in your field of interest.
While networking before you apply for a job is a good idea, the most leveraged time to network is after submitting a job application. Once you apply for a particular role, try to connect with people who are working or have worked at the company to which you applied.
In all cases, if you start with a target list of companies (where you have submitted an application or where you are interested in working in the future), you can create a target list of people who are working or have worked at those companies. You can prioritize that list by focusing on 2 criteria:
Who has the most decision making power?
Who am I most connected to?
The ideal decision maker to target would be the hiring manager for a role you’re interested in. Or you can target someone who runs recruiting for that role. But it may not always be easy to identify and get to that person.
That’s where the second criterion comes in. It may be easier to find someone you are connected to in some way. Connections can come in two ways. The first is a network connection or someone who is connected to someone you already know. If the enemy of my enemy is my friend, the friend of my friend is a potential connection. LinkedIn calls these 2nd degree connections.
The second mode of connection is a background connection. This means looking for people where you have something similar in your backgrounds or experience. This can be an alumnus of your college or high school, someone from your hometown, someone with a similar ethnic background (we Greeks stick together!), or someone who had some experience or interest similar to yours (e.g. the same major in college or the same interest in a particular sport or other hobby). Whatever it is, find something that you may have in common with the person to increase the chances that they will respond to you when you reach out to them.