Whenever I speak with women who are looking for their next opportunity or hear from someone who’s been job searching without luck, my advice is the same: focus on your network.

The reason is simple – a referral is often the difference between hoping to stand out in a stack of a thousand resumes and getting a guaranteed first interview. Not sure about you, but I like those odds!

I’ve seen the benefit in my own career. The connections I made at my very first job landed me two different opportunities down the line, including my first VP role. Not because these individuals contacted me out of the blue after so many years, but because I maintained my relationships with them.

When I give this advice, I often get questions and comments from women who struggle to network or don’t feel good about the effort they’re putting into their professional network. It sounds like this:

“How do I build my network on LinkedIn?”

“I’m terrible at networking. Where do I even start?”

“What do I say to people at a networking event?”

“I’m an introvert, and I hate networking. How can I make this work for me?”

So today’s newsletter is all about networking:

  • How to start building your network
  • How to navigate awkward networking events
  • How to maintain your network

Let’s dive in!

Building your professional network – how to meet new people

The game has changed. It used to be very difficult to build your network outside of your local geography unless you had a job that introduced you to people in other areas. Not anymore. LinkedIn has made it much easier to connect with like-minded people all over the world. This can open up a ton of opportunities!

The other cool thing about this is that you’re much more likely to find great people you truly connect with when you have such a big pool.

But if LinkedIn isn’t your jam, don’t worry. When it comes to building your professional network, the key is to do what works for you. Some people cringe at the thought of sending a DM on LinkedIn or engaging with someone’s post. Others can’t imagine attending local networking events. You need to decide what activities you’ll execute and focus on those. There’s no right answer.

I personally do both. I try to attend in-person events and also connect with people online. In fact, I met my business bestie on LinkedIn, and since then, we’ve supported each other in building our businesses and even took a road trip to Boise for a conference last month. This relationship began because we started engaging in each other’s content and, after some back-and-forth in the comments, decided to jump on a call.

My first tip is this: Focus on an area that interests you, which will naturally connect you with like-minded people. You can find groups and events locally or online. For example, you may be able to find women’s groups focused on sales, tech, engineering, or leadership (including mine!). You can also engage with content that interests you. Making thoughtful comments on people’s posts is a great place to start.

Now, I’m going to get real here. For most of us, networking is a little awkward at first, especially in person. If you’re attending networking events, it can be helpful to gamify it for yourself. I sometimes give myself a rule: speak to 5 different people at this event, and then I can go home if I want (spoiler alert, I’ve never actually bolted once I hit 5).

I was recently at an event where I did this, and I ended up connecting with some great people who I’ve kept in touch with since. I had dinner with around a dozen female creators (some serious powerhouses here) simply because I walked up and introduced myself to a group of women who looked like they may be my kind of people. So worth it.

Which brings me to my next topic:

What to say when trying to network

This is where most people get tripped up. They have the best intentions and maybe even force themselves to get to a networking event, but once they get there, they have no idea how to meet people.

I have 2 tips for you when it comes to what to say to someone new:

1. Get curious

Ask what they do and what led them to be where they are today. People love talking about themselves, so instead of trying to think of the perfect thing to say, just ask some questions!

I personally hate small talk, so I get right into it. What do they love most about what they do? What are their challenges? What are they hoping to get out of the event? You’ll be amazed at how people open up and how the conversation will flow from there.

2. Find a common connection

This is easier if you’re at an event based on an area of interest, but it’s possible in almost any situation. I had a sales rep who worked for me and was the master at this! Regardless of where we travelled and who we met, within about 2 minutes, he was able to establish a rapport by finding a common connection. It was pretty magical to watch.

Often people use geography (where are you from?), sports or education (I studied science too!), but as you can imagine, using step one of getting curious is going to help.

Remember, we put so much pressure on ourselves to sound smart when people will get more out of the conversation if you’re simply interested in them!

Now that you’re starting to build a network, we get to what I believe is the most important point of all:

Maintaining your existing network

Chances are, you already have people in your network from college or previous jobs with whom you would benefit from keeping in touch. Have you been putting the effort in?

Often, once we’re job hunting or looking for our next step, we think about reaching out to our network. In my mind, this is a mistake. You want the person on the other end to know that you are invested in the relationship, not just when you need something.

Your network can also come in handy as a sounding board if you’re running into challenges at work. The women in my community use each other to weigh in on challenges all the time. There’s so much benefit to this practice!

I mentioned landing my VP role because of a connection I had maintained, so let me share the story behind this:

I had been working at a company for almost 8 1/2 years. During that time (and over the previous years), I had made a point to keep in touch with my first-ever boss – the VP of Sales I worked for, who was now an executive at Shopify. I had no motive behind this, as I had already told him I didn’t feel Shopify was the right fit for me (yeah, I know), but I valued the relationship, and we would help each other out where we could.

Finally, after almost 8 1/2 years, I decided it was time for me to move on. The CEO I worked for was never going to see me as a VP, and I knew if I wanted to move into the next stage of my leadership career, it was going to happen somewhere else.

I was having lunch with my old VP and happened to mention this to him in passing. I said something like, “I think I’m going to start looking at other options… it’s just not going to happen for me here”. To my surprise, his response was, “I actually know of an opportunity that sounds perfect for you. Let me send you the job description – they are basically looking for you!”

It turns out my old boss was advising a company looking for a VP of sales with my unique background. Long story short, I got the job and stepped into my first VP role.

Here’s the important part—had I not kept in touch with this person over the years, had lunch with him that day, and mentioned that I was starting to look, this never would have happened. This person assumed I was happy where I was and wasn’t planning to reach out, but he connected the dots immediately during our conversation.

My background and interview were what got me hired, but this connection is what put me on the CEO’s radar.

Okay, so you’re convinced you need to maintain your network, but how?

My advice is to create a process around this. Mark your calendar once a month as a reminder to reach out to a few past connections and check in with them. Maybe try to have lunch with a former colleague or manager once a month as well. This doesn’t have to be terribly time-consuming. It may just mean an email or text to let them know you exist and see how they’re doing

So there you have it. I hope this newsletter inspires you to build networking into your weekly routine so you have a solid network to help you as you move through your career. Your network can be incredibly valuable. If you’re putting effort into leveling up and progressing in your career and you’re not networking on top of this, you’re at a disadvantage.

Trust me when I say, it’s well worth a few moments of discomfort.

Until next time friends… ✌️💜

Katy