Oh noā¦. Not networkingā¦
I get it.
Networking is transactional. Networking seems so fake. LinkedIn is soā¦ewā¦
I get it.
I still remember my first time reaching out to a stranger on LinkedIn two years ago. It was a form of outreach Iād never done before.
It feltā¦foreign. It felt uncomfortable.
Fast forward 3 years - Iāve gotten to a point where I canāt even recall how many people Iāve talked to. And I know the list will only grow longer.
Iām not saying this to brag in any way. For those out there who are afraid to network, I want to help you by sharing what I learned.
So, letās start withā¦
Why the hell should I network? It feels so fake!
To answer this question, let me share how networking has helped me as a designer:
The list goes on and on.
If you like what I listed, you should consider networking as a designer.
Now, you might be wondering:
You network only to get referrals right?
Well⦠not really.
When Iām looking for an internship, I do have that intention in mind. But, I never mention that upfront. Instead, I focus on what I believe is more important:
Being genuinely curious about a person.
To me, networking is a great opportunity to talk to a designer/design manager Iām curious about. Itās a bridge for me as a student to understand the āreal worldā of design.
Most importantly, talking to these professionals grounds me. It reminds me:
Damn, I have a lot of things to learn in this field... Iām just getting started!
Also, what I realized is that the design community is incredibly supportive. And thatās what motivates me to give back as well.
Now, if youāre now feeling better about networking, here are some things that are good to know.
As I mentioned, networking is not just for referrals. Itās a chance to talk to cool people.
People often think that you have to become a different person when networking.
You donāt have to.
Obviously, itās not the same as meeting your friends. But itās just like meeting a new person.
And the more calls you do, the more comfortable youāll feel.
Ghosting is when you reach out but donāt get a response.
Itās very common. And it sucks.
But, it just happens - Donāt take it personally because people are busy with their life. Just continue to reach out to people and eventually someone will respond.
Now, I want to get practical. I want to share my way of networking. You donāt have to follow my templates/methods, but hopefully, this can get you a head start. I broke it down into
I will provide templates for some of these sections. Note: These were also listed in my past article about landing design internships.
My most common outreach method is LinkedIn, with the second being ADPList then email.
Let me share the templates I use for these:
LinkedIn Connect
To connect with a person, you should always add a note to make it more sincere & personal. Note: LinkedIn note has a character limit of 300.
Here are a few templates Iāve used:
Hi (Name)! Hope all is well! Iām reaching out because I know (Company) opened its summer design internship! I know it's a big ask coming from a total stranger, but if you have 20 mins next week, I'd love to chat about (type of experience)!
Hi (Name), I hope you're having a great week! Iām reaching out because (Reason to reach out)! I know it's a big ask coming from a stranger, but if you ever have 20 minutes next week, I'd love to hear about (types of experience)!
For the (types of experience), try to be specific! Here are some examples:
Do this only if the person has not accepted your request for a while.
From my experience, people are much more likely to respond on LinkedIn than on email. Here are a few templates I used:
Mentioning the internship position
Subject: Virtual Coffee Chat
Hi (Name),
Hope you're having a great week!
My name is (Your Name), and (Short intro)!
As I was navigating through the internship search, I realized that XYZ Company has a design intern position open for Summer 2022!
Thus, I know it's a big ask coming from a total stranger, but I was wondering if you ever have 20 minutes next week for a call? I would greatly appreciate learning about (Types of experience)!
Please feel free to check out my LinkedIn profile and portfolio which are listed below!
I appreciate your time and thank you in advance.
LinkedIn: (LinkedIn link)
Portfolio: (Portfolio link)
Best,
(Your Name)
Not mentioning the internship position
Subject: Virtual Coffee Chat
Hi (Name),
Hope you're having a great weekend!
My name is (Your Name), and (Short intro). I was browsing through LinkedIn and came across your information. I hope you donāt mind me reaching out of the blue here.
I saw that you (list out the types of experience the person had).
As a young designer interested in (interest), I would love to learn about (specific experiences / themes)
I know that your time is extremely valuable so please donāt feel the need to respond in depth. If you do have 15 minutes to chat next week, I would really appreciate it.
Please feel free to check out my LinkedIn profile and portfolio which are listed below!
I appreciate your time and thank you in advance.
LinkedIn: (LinkedIn link)
Portfolio: (Portfolio link)
Best,
(Your Name)
Congratulations! This is the start of your relationship with the person. Letās quickly break down what to do afterward.
The first thing Iāll do is send over a scheduling link. This makes it easier for the person to schedule a time. The goal here is to make it as easy as possible for them to book a call. Iāve been using Cron Calendar for this.
Then, once the date & time is set, Iāll start my due diligence. Iāll look over their LinkedIn profile, portfolio, and any relevant media.
Generally, my questions tend to follow their career journey in chronological order. A general format will be:
Another potential format is asking about general themes. For example, for an upcoming call I have, here are some of the themes I wrote down:
The point here is to do your research and prepare thoughtful questions.
Once you finished the call, here are a few things that you can do:
This is something that a lot of people donāt do. But itās so, so important. To me, this is an absolute no-brainer because it not only helps the person to remember you, but also shows that you care about the details.
Always send a thank you note and learnings after the call.
But not immediately after the call.
Iāll normally message the person after a week unless itās urgent. Here is the template I use:
Hi (Name)! I hope all is well!
I know it's been a while since our last call, but I saw that LinkedIn opened up a Product Design Intern summer internship! And I was wondering if you would feel comfortable referring me for the position!
Here's the intern position: (Link)
And here's my portfolio: (Link)
If this is possible, please let me know what other information you may need from my end! If not, it's totally understandable! Regardless, I hope you have a great week! :))
For me, one of the biggest struggles of networking happens after the call.
How can I maintain a connection?
Thus, this advice of sending gifts came from my Tufts professor - Beth McCarthy.
A gift can be a video, article, or piece of content that relates to the person youāve talked to. And sending a gift is what it sounds like. Every once and a while, you can send over a āgiftā to the person you want to keep in touch with.
A sample message can look like this:
Hi (Name)
Hope all is well!
I know itās been a while since weāve chatted, but I came across this article/video that reminded me of our conversation! (Gives an overview of the article/video & how it relates + link)
I hope you enjoy this article. And if you have time next week, Iāll love to catch up via call! Let me know what time will work for you here: (scheduling link).
Thank you!
Best,
(Your Name)
But, if you want to do it a simpler way, all you need to do is ask.
For example, maybe once per two/three months, you can just ask the person:
Hi (Name)! Would you be down to catch up this Friday via call?
Or, you can ask
Hi (Name)! Would you be down to catch up sometime this week? Let me know what time will work for you here: (Link)
Sometimes, all you need to do is ask.
This was also another piece of advice from my professor Beth.
Before, I had a hard time keeping in touch with everyone I talked to.
It was impossible.
Thus, when I brought this up to Beth, she recommended me the 20/80 rule.
The essence is:
Identify the 20% of your network that you truly want to keep in touch with thatāll give you 80% of the outcome.
This changed my outlook completely.
This helps you identify who are the people that you truly want to keep in touch with. It makes your life so much easier.
If you feel like 20% is too much, feel free to go with 10% of your network.
CRM stands for customer relationship management. In short, itās a list of people you want to keep in touch with.
Honestly, I do have a CRM on Notion, but itās not the best at reminding me when to reach back out. In the future, I do want to create an automated system thatāll notify me when to reach out.
For reference, here is a Notion template I created.
Networking can be intimidating. Talking to strangers can be daunting.
As an introvert myself, I completely understand. But, the moment you stop seeing networking as something āfakeā and more as a way to meet cool people, networking will start to feel different.
And, like exercising, the more reps/calls you do, the more comfortable youāll feel.
Thus, start small. Start with one call per week. Find a comfortable cadence.
I cannot imagine where Iāll be without networking and coffee chats. So I hope you'll find networking as great as I do. If you feel better about networking after reading, I have accomplished my goal.
Thank you for being awesome and reading this far! :)If you have any questions, feel free to reach out on LinkedIn or by email. Will love to set up a casual call and chat!
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