Happy Saturday!
Welcome to the 30+ new subscribers who joined our community this week.
I have a question for you:
Is "networking" a dirty word?
Science says yes.
Research has proven people feel dirty when they think about networking. It's viewed as a negative, transactional experience lacking humanity.
Networking can often feel awkward, leaving many individuals unsure of where to start.
The cringy experiences people encounter when networking give it a negative reputation.
If you're aware of these mistakes, you can avoid them and keep networking from feeling slimy, salesy, or unsavory.
In this issue, I want to talk about common networking errors and provide ways to avoid them.
I'll also discuss the underlying cause behind these cringy mistakes.
This issue takes about 4 minutes to read.
But first, I want to introduce you to Dan Marzullo.
Dan and I connected because we both have newsletters to help people improve their careers and lives. We also both live in Colorado!
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Now, on to this week’s issue…
Cringy Networking Mistakes
Mistake #1. The Hard Ask on LinkedIn. This is when you accept a connection request and the other person immediately asks you for something.
"Can you get me a job?"
"Are you hiring?"
"Will you buy my product?"
You're thinking: "I just met you. I don't even know you. Does this approach ever work?"
Sending a LinkedIn message with an immediate request puts the recipient in an uncomfortable position. And in that position, your new connection is unlikely to help you.
There are better ways to get help from a new connection on LinkedIn.
In fact, this week, I saw this post from Diana Alt where she broke down exactly how to send appropriate, non-cringy messages on LinkedIn.
Go check out the post and if you like it, leave a comment saying you found it through this newsletter. Also, be sure to follow Diana for No BS Career Growth Strategies.
Mistake #2 - Making Others Do All the Work. When networking, don't burden others with overly demanding requests.
What's an overly demanding request?
"Hey, here's my resume. Can you pass it along to someone who might be hiring?"
Let me get this straight. You're looking for a job, but now I gotta go find someone who might hire you?
I know the person needs help, but there's a better way to get help than giving people your resume.
Instead, give them your Target Company List (TCL). We talked about how to create this back in TIN #006 - Don't Give People Your Resume (Do This Instead)
When you give someone your TCL, you're asking them to think of people they could introduce you to. You're doing most of the work here. All the other person has to do is think of someone and send an email to introduce you.
Makes you much easier to help, and people who are easy to help, get help.
Mistake #3 - Networking Without Permission. This is when you introduce someone to your existing connections without that person's permission.
Sally, a new connection, says, "I see you're connected to Bob. Can you introduce me?" If you say "Yes" and send an email to Bob and Sally saying, "Hey Bob, meet Sally," you're putting Bob in an awkward position.
Bob doesn't know anything about Sally or why you are connecting them. Also, Bob might be busy and not willing to meet new people right now.
A better approach is to ask Bob if he is open to connecting with Sally. Tell him why she wants to connect and make it okay for him to say no.
This is known as double opt-in permission. Both parties agree to be connected. Once Bob says it's ok to connect him with Sally, you can send an email or message introducing them, and they can take the conversation from there.
These are a few of the mistakes people make when they’re networking. I wrote a blog post about several more mistakes on my website this week. Are you making any of these networking mistakes?
Why People Make These Mistakes
These are easy mistakes to avoid, so why do so many people continue to make them?
To me, it comes down to one thing:
Desperation
Desperation happens when people need immediate results from their networking efforts.
This can lead to impulsive actions, such as making overly direct requests or approaching networking solely as a means to an end.
It also comes from the stress of finding a job or lack of traction in the job search process.
People get desperate and start making cringy networking mistakes. When they don't get results, they say, "Networking doesn't work."
The antidote to desperation is time.
Networking takes time to cultivate meaningful relationships.
Since you have to spend time for networking to work, you need to start now.
You need to be consistent with your networking time. To be an effective networker, you have to be a consistent networker.
Networking doesn't have to be cringy or transactional. Remember that networking is about building relationships, offering value, and fostering mutual growth. Keep these principles in mind and get started today, so that you aren't in a desperate position in the future.
Before You Go…
I tried something new this week.
You may notice I the podcast episode that goes with this post.
It’s the voice notes I used to create this issue. Each week, I use Otter.ai to dictate my newsletter idea into text. I spend a lot of time editing it into an issue that takes about 4 minutes to read.
But if you listen to the podcast, you’ll notice it’s about 12 minutes long. That’s because there’s a lot of bonus content in the episode.
So, if you want the behind the scenes look into my thoughts that go into my newsletter, give it a listen.
And, let me know what you think.
I know, the audio quality could use some work, but if this is something you like, I can do it each week.