Networking for college students, be the “1 percenter” that gets the interview

Are your networking efforts getting you noticed?

Networking to stick-out in a crowd

When the Seattle Mariners Safeco Field opened for the first time, a friend and I attended the highly touted event.  I was a huge baseball fan, and what’s not to like when your team takes to the field for the first time at a brand new state-of-the-art stadium?  Our seats were in the outfield, and because we sat underneath the Safeco sign, everyone in our section received a t-shirt commemorating this first game on the field.  We felt pretty special.  With everyone else in our section, I immediately threw on my t-shirt. 

My buddy didn’t put his on the entire game; his thinking was this: They will be taking hundreds of pictures today. If he is the only guy in this section of red t-shirts not wearing red, he will be able to see himself in all the posters and pictures memorializing this day.  Turns out, his foresight was correct.  There were a lot of photos and posters of Safeco field on opening day. Looking closely enough, you can see a few white dots in a sea of red T-shirts.  The guy was in marketing and always thinking about how to get noticed.

Networking

Today’s post is about getting networking; specifically, it is about networking so you can land an interview.  A couple of times a year, I visit a few of the local colleges and talk for an hour or so on the topic of interviewing and resume writing.  This is all very high-level stuff because there isn’t much you can do with 1 hour and a class of 100.  To me, it is like trying to teach someone how to fly a plane in one hour.  It may give the student confidence, but at the end of the hour, someone is going to crash and burn.  (I always offer my contact info for additional time to anyone interested in following up.)

In my own networking efforts, I just had coffee with a founder-entrepreneurial friend who also visits college campuses; the difference is that he talks about being an entrepreneur and working in start-ups.

The scary commonalities

I think it would be beneficial to share, and hopefully, readers can take some of the learnings and apply them to their own networking efforts.  Although we discussed different topics to different demographics, our experiences were uncannily similar.    

• We both go to classes of 50 to 200 graduating students and talk for 45 min to a couple of hours.
• There are always a couple of very attentive students, a few students bored, and the rest mildly interested. 
• When the talk is over, there is the polite “golf clap,” and then the young future minds of America exit quickly.

There is always 3-5% of the audience that will hang around after the presentation. These graduating student’s networking efforts also share a common theme: 

• They say “Thank You” for coming to the class because they know this is volunteer work. 
• They introduce themselves, and we shake hands.
• They usually have a few follow-up questions or personal observations related to our presentations. 

3-5% numbers are pretty consistent

Maybe our talks are so polished and informative that we have answered all the questions.  Maybe we fail as public speakers.  If the class is smaller than 30, it doesn’t surprise me if no one swings by to say hello.  For the record, we appreciate it when the audience comes up to validate our efforts.  Yes, it makes us feel like the time was well spent and that we may “actually have a clue” in our areas of expertise.

Here is where the similarities continue:   

Within the next day or so, we both received LinkedIn requests for networking connections from the 3-5% that stayed after the presentation to introduce themselves.   Most LinkedIn requests have no personal message; they are just “requests.”  See my sentiments on that attitude here.  

• One or two students will have a short intro in their LinkedIn invitation, reminding us where we met and expressing additional appreciation. 
• Within the same week, we receive an invitation or two to have coffee or an invitational interview.  These will come from that 1%.  
• We hear nothing from the rest of the class.  Silence.  Trees falling in a forest and a cricket’s “silence”. 

Moves to hit a home run 

Of course, we will meet with the young co-eds, I mean young students, and out of those two invitations, one of these students will KNOCK IT OUT OF THE BALLPARK.  They make an impression that will stick with us for a long time. I am not talking pigtails and short plaid skirts.  They do this by coming to the meeting and mastering Networking 101.

• Insist on paying for the coffee, even when I know they probably can’t afford it as easily as I can (I have a job, they are a struggling student). 
• Conduct LinkedIn research on my work history.
• Research the company I work with.
• Ask questions about how I progressed in my career.
• Ask for career advice.
• Follow up with a thank-you note.

As June approaches and the students are getting ready to graduate, the similarities between our two experiences continue down the Uncannily Scary Road.    

• Students requesting a LinkedIn connection increases significantly.
• The requests are followed up with a short and to-the-point note.  “You spoke at my school; how can you help me find a job?”
• My entrepreneurial friend and I are reminded of the HBO series “Shameless.”  If you aren’t familiar with it, you should check it out. The program gives new meaning to the word. 

And the home-run hitter who invited us to coffee a few months back:

• Sends us a short note reminding us how we met and the coffee we shared.
• Sends a cover letter, resume, and a note that we can cut and paste into our email to be sent out to a potential employer. 
• They usually search our LinkedIn network pick out 1 or 2 companies of interest (but no more than 2), and ask for an introduction.  This candidate eliminates all barriers to entry and makes our efforts to assist their search frictionless for us. 
• Our home run hitter usually gets a job, and we keep in touch with that person for a long time.  That job may or may not have come through. They keep us updated and thank us for the help.
• I recently received a Soiree wine aerator from a young Product Manager who appreciates design.  I helped him with his resume as it went through several iterations. Yes, I did ask him to interview with our company, and I am confident he would land a position.  The gift was an over-the-top gesture, but you bet I will remember this guy!  I met this PM through an introduction to our entrepreneurial friend who spoke at one of his classes.  This PM would be the proverbial one percenter.  Thank you, Big D!  Woot!

The right moves      

I don’t know where our Home-Run Hitters learned how to execute their networking skills.  Maybe the parents are senior execs in business, or they are professional executive recruiters. This is EXACTLY how I would approach the opportunity.  This candidate demonstrated the behavior I want to work with. 

The students who went the distance did what we consider the absolute minimum regarding networking.  They didn’t do anything special; they showed common courtesy and made it easy for us to help them.  I am confident if we asked them what they thought of their efforts, they would also say this wasn’t any special effort on their part.    This minimum level of follow-through sticks out like a young pregnant girl with a black eye pushing a baby stroller at your upscale shopping mall only because the rest of the field did nothing.  It doesn’t take much to stick out these days. 

Next time someone presents on a topic, stick around after the show and introduce yourself.  It’s easy to stick out in a crowd.  

See you at the after party,

HRNasty 

nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky, and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone good at something. “He has a nasty forkball”.

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