NETWORKING IS NOT ABOUT GETTING A JOB

It is about making connections.

By: Frank McGrath

Networking is tricky if you are chasing an unspecific, yet oddly limited, goal: I need a job. I need a job now. I need immediate, directed help that I hope to get from indirect sources. This sort of networker is a supplicant, having little beyond selfish wants and requests, thus making everyone wary. No wonder the success rate for such networking is low.

This is a hard game to win. Broaden your goals so they are more about your life than just job seeking.

Make a list of interests. For example, my current list includes:

• Horse racing
• Trading macro strategies
• Good Manhattan restaurants
• Pro hockey
• Buying a second home in New Orleans
• A dream business on Moorea in French Polynesia as a post-Wall Street career.

Now that is a varied opportunity set, and successful networking in any of those interests brings the chance of something fun and worthwhile, and yes, maybe even paid work. Networking is not just about finding a job; it’s about improving your life without sanctimony.

Good networking allows people to match passions and goals .

Here’s an experiment: Write a paragraph to the owner of a restaurant about something you were inspired to duplicate at home. Compliment the place, specify when you’ll make your next visit, and ask to share with them your effort. I can almost guarantee you will be successful. Going forward, always let the owner know when you’re coming – who doesn’t make time for an involved, repeat customer? Suddenly, you have a darned interesting contact glad to see you.

Another tactic: Find your target’s interests and compare them to your own. A few years ago I wrote a chatty note to the head of a hedge fund about his farm in Kentucky, asking him how he picked his stock and admiring the results of some of the horses he ran that summer. It worked. People kill to get on this guy’s calendar, yet now he shoots me an e-mail twice a month to ask if I want to go out to Belmont to see a horse run or to give me a bet he likes. He has thousands of people to talk to about market jobs, but precious few with whom to kill a lazy spring Wednesday at the Belmont clubhouse on short notice. I’m not a supplicant. I am a nice person he cares to talk to.

Sure, these sorts of networking plans do not always work, but the rate for successful repeat interactions over common interests is surprisingly high, particularly when you aren’t asking for work or funding (no matter how cleverly). You are writing a fan letter, not a solicitation. It is far easier to discuss shared enthusiasms than job hunting, and by doing so you’ll have a broader target base and richer experiences. Even better, your contacts will self-select; the easily engaged will respond, the distracted will not. The resulting contacts can be richer than you imagine: a mentor or a friend who can give you new insight and experience, rather than a just a job.