Humans are social creatures, and networking continues to be a critical skill to master to get the most out of your career.
A personal connection with someone in the hiring process can go a long way in helping you land a job. A 2017 Jobvite study discovered that referred candidates were 5x more likely to be offered a role than online applicants, even beating out internal candidates. Beyond that 70-80% of business roles are filled by networking, and that many roles are shadow roles that are never formally advertised, but distributed and filled via networks.
Yet networking is often something that falls to the bottom of the to-do list and feels uncomfortable.
So how can you frame networking as a positive, social experience? How do you do it well? And how can you use it to get a real career advantage?
Benefits of networking
We stress the importance of networking because the benefits are so great. When people have a strong professional network they get more:
- Opportunities – You hear about roles before they are advertised, and might find other opportunities like advisory or speaking at events.
- Support – You have a wider group of people to go to for emotional and practical support. This might include mentors as well as informal support.
- Perspective – You understand your industry and career better. You know when things are going well and you should stay, and when things aren’t and it’s time to move on.
- Innovation – You get exposed to new ideas that you wouldn’t have come across before. This could also lead to collaborations that you wouldn’t otherwise have found.
- Future hires – You might meet people that you will hire in the future. As a leader it’s incredibly valuable to be able to reach out to people you know to fill key roles.
As a result, top performers tend to be excellent at nurturing and maintaining a large, strong network around them.
Types of networking
The benefits of networking are clear, but what does it actually look like in practice?
Broadly, there are two types of networking:
- Undirected networking – You’re building out your network in general, without a specific goal in mind. You know that this investment will pay back at some point. This is less focused and more curious.
- Targeted networking – You’re looking to speak to particular people for a specific purpose. Typically you’re looking to get a new job, or find a mentor. This is targeted and often time constrained.
In an ideal world, anytime you have a specific need (like you need a new job) you have already done enough undirected networking to have a big pool of people you can reach out to for help. Quantity isn’t everything – your network is only valuable if it’s high quality, but volume sure helps.
Of course, with the best will in the world, few of us have time to continuously nurture our network alongside the demands of our jobs, families and other commitments. As a result, most of us network at a low level continuously, and then in bursts when we have a specific need.
We’ll run through tactics for undirected networking in this article. If you want to deep dive into targeted networking, check out these related articles:
How to frame networking
“I think one thing that I see with PMs is that they get hung up on the idea that “I don’t like putting myself out there and I don’t like talking about myself and I get really nervous talking to other people…” But there’s a way to reframe that fear, which is to think about it not as networking, which is a word that can feel a bit icky. It’s about getting to know people and sharing experiences and sharing expertise. So take away the fact networking has these connotations, just get to know people on an individual basis. Be curious about people.”
– Caroline Clark
Many people are shy about networking and avoid doing it as a result. And unfortunately, this has real, meaningful career consequences if you can’t get over this block. Framing this process as building authentic relationships might help you see it as a more sincere activity and better aligned to who you are as a person.
The reality is that people at all levels want to expand their network. Leaders are always looking for people they might hire now or in the future, everyone is keen to make connections that might lead to a job or another opportunity, and most people are keen to help others and give back to the community.
Whilst networking can feel daunting to start with, once you get going you’ll realise that lots of people are glad you reached out, and extremely welcoming.
Undirected networking
If you’re just looking to build your product network in general, then there are a few low effort ways to stay plugged into the local community:
- Getting involved in online communities
- Going to in-person events
- Accepting incoming recruiter calls
Let’s look at each of these briefly.
Online Communities
There are several online communities that serve product managers. These are great for asking specific questions, seeing what other people are talking about and finding in-person events to attend. They can also be a great source of reassurance if you are feeling down. Someone will have struggled with the same things as you before, and most of the communities are very welcoming and supportive.
Occasionally jobs are posted in there, and dependent on the level of anonymity within the community, they might be a good source of people to network with on a deeper level as well.
Some online communities worth checking out include:
- At Hustle Badger our community is broken down into chapters of 50-100 people.
- Reddit’s product management channel has >100k users and is very active and welcoming.
- Women in Product has a community of over 2k women working in product in the UK.
- The Hive Index has a directory of other popular product management communities.
Additionally Medium, Twitter and HackerNoon have plenty of content and personalities, and often cover frequently asked questions in either long form pieces or threads.
10 Twitter accounts to follow to get you started:
- Shreyas Doshi
- Lenny Rachitsky
- Melissa Perri
- Teresa Torres
- Janna Bastow
- Gibson Biddle
- Sachin Rekhi
- Ed Biden
- Jason Knight
- Deb Liu
… or simply follow our list.
Events
Meetups and free events are a great resource. You’ll typically get a talk from someone experienced in the craft, get to meet a bunch of like minded individuals, and be guaranteed there’ll be someone there recruiting – typically the speaker and/or whoever is sponsoring the event. It’s useful to get face time with recruiters and it’ll help with expanding your network. By going to one or two you’ll quickly pick up the events that everyone else is going to, and other resources and communities they have found valuable.
Here’s a picture of Ed Biden (Hustle Badger founder) recruiting at a Meetup to prove the point:
Ways to break into Meetups:
- Go along to your next Hustle Badger chapter meetup
- Follow the organizers and speakers on social media – they’ll likely mention other events they are doing in the future
- Follow your heroes: an additional benefit to building up your network on Linkedin is that you’ll see where they’re speaking
- Check out ProductPints, ProductTank, Eventbrite and Meetup for local events.
- See what events are recommended in any online communities you are part of.
- Stick clear of paid for conferences until you have a clear idea of why you are going – they can be an expensive way of dipping your toe into the water
Interviews
“Interviews are one of the easiest ways to cultivate relationships with a hiring manager, and to build a relationship with a more senior manager. And I’ve got lots and lots of different use cases where someone’s gone to an interview, they haven’t got the interview for whatever reason, maybe that business runs products a little differently, or maybe the rest of the team didn’t quite like them, then the hiring manager or the senior interviewer in the process has moved. And they’ve been the first person that they’ve called and hired them in the next company that they’ve gone to.”
– Miles Cunliffe, product recruiter
This might seem counter-intuitive – maybe you just landed your dream role – but rather than seeing job hunting as a means to an end, you can think of it as continuously training your future job hunting muscle.
In technology the average tenure is under 2 years and finding a great role often takes anywhere between 3-12 months. You might want to get out there before you think. That doesn’t mean that you should interview for everything – flex the intensity you are networking with, and your quality bar for having conversations depending on how happy you are with your current role.
Taking interviews when you’re not actively looking for a job has a couple of clear benefits:
- Gets practice in – interviewing is a skill which is honed through practice. You don’t want the interview for your dream job to be your first interview in months or years. You want it to be a performance perfected after many rehearsals. Take some interviews where you aren’t interested in the role. Get some reps in.
- Builds your network – interviewing will expand your network and the number of opportunities that come your way over a long period. You might not be ready to move right now, but you can start building a relationship with a company and hiring manger for later.
You might have concerns that your existing manager may find out that you are interviewing elsewhere. This fear is often out of proportion to the real risks, but you can always check Linkedin relationships before starting a process if you’re concerned about this.
In the UK and EU it is illegal to fire an employee or take retaliatory action if you find out that they are looking for another job (if you live there). Most hiring managers are fully aware of the risks to current employees in interview processes and will be discreet. The risk of being ‘found out’ is fairly low, and even if your line manager does have a direct conversation with you about it, it’s likely to be beneficial for you. Either:
- You’re a good fit for your current role -> your line manager will be keen to keep you and may offer you more pay or different responsibilities.
- You’re not a good fit for your current role -> your line manager will be happy to see you exploring other options, and may even support you (e.g. make introductions, coach you, or give you time for interviews).
Summary
Networking is incredibly beneficial for your career, helping you find new opportunities, get new ideas, and providing you with emotional and practical support.
Networking is particularly valuable when you’re job hunting, because the biggest drop offs in any hiring funnel happen before you meet the hiring manager. If you can get in front of them, then you’re in a much stronger position than you would be otherwise.
Most people will network at two intensities: undirected, when they don’t have a specific goal in mind, and then targeted when they are looking for a new job or a mentor. Online communities, events and taking inbound recruiter calls and interviews are all great ways to build your network in an undirected way.
Don’t forget that if you’re a paying member of Hustle Badger you’ve already got access to our digital community and monthly local events (where possible).
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