Part 2 – Staying In Touch With Your Network
Let’s jump back into it. If you haven’t read Part 1 from last week, you can find it here.
Remember, we want to build and maintain a relationship with our network that’s about helping each other and partnering. If it feels transactional – you’re friendly towards me because you want something from me – the relationship will likely fade.
This is a problem since it’s hugely valuable to have people who will give you a heads-up about opportunities, introduce you to members of their network, and vouch for you.
So, let’s keep going with the two categories of people in your network where you’re actively trying to maintain a relationship with them.
Medium Touch Category
Think of this group as your Council Of Advisors, so to speak. There’s probably going to be a maximum of a dozen people in this group, and they’re generally the most senior people you have in your network.
You want to ensure they are in the loop on significant things happening with you. So when you get a job or a serious promotion or change companies, it makes sense to send them a quick note to let them know. At this point, you could tell them how much you appreciate the help and advice that they’ve offered over time.
Now, here is where this is an art and a science. For some of these folks, you will connect for lunch once or twice a year. For others, especially more senior types, you will email them a question occasionally to keep them in the loop.
This group really does need to be handled with care. As I mentioned in the past, you are not their peer, and they’ve typically taken a special interest in trying to help you.
It’s especially important to think about things from their perspective.
A Quick Cautionary Tale
For example, let’s say you’re not really clear on your path from where you are now.
Tim Ferriss tells this story about how he managed to connect with one of the highest-ranking people at his company – someone who was viewed as a real thought leader.
After a couple of exchanged emails, Tim emailed the exec basically saying, this is where I am in my career, what should I do with my life?
This is an incredibly busy person with whom Tim had the opportunity to connect, just by luck. That question posed via email is a terrible question because there’s no really good way to answer that question without hours of back and forth.
Apparently, the guy abruptly made that point to Tim, and that was the end of their correspondence.
Be careful about posing imprecise questions in the wrong venue. This actually might not have been a bad question if it were posed in the right circumstances. For example, if he asked over an in-person lunch when a back-and-forth would be natural.
To wrap up this section – keep them informed and touch base at least once every 6 months or so, especially with people who are potential references for you. And be careful and respectful of them and their time.
High Touch Category
This group will primarily consist of peers and people maybe up to 10 years ahead of you in their career.
You will all be growing in your careers together, and you’ll potentially help each other over time.
But it doesn’t change the fact that you still need a good reason to connect with these folks.
Like the previous category, you should definitely communicate with this group when you get a new job, get a promotion, etc. However, you ideally want to connect with them once a quarter or so.
You can make this process much easier by setting yourself up to do it during your informational interviews with them or during your previous conversations with them.
During all your interviews, try to find an opportunity to ask a question that you can follow up on. It might be their recommendations of
- 📗 books you read
- 🎧 podcasts to listen to
- 👩🏻💻 skills to develop
- 👔 experience to acquire
Then you follow up on that over time as you read the books or acquire those skills – a great excuse for a follow-up email.
Once you have a sense of their interests, you can return the favor and share with them books/podcasts/articles you’ve come across.
Also, this is a group of people who you’d be wise to try to connect with for coffee when you’re in town.
Like the previous group, you should be actively thinking about ways you can help them. You may feel like you won’t be as able to do this as a student, but you’ll have more ability to do so once you’re working and growing your own network. Don’t underestimate your value.
Finally, one of the best times to reach out to your network is when you get a new job. That’s one of the few times they can be 100% guaranteed you don’t want anything from them.
How Do You Keep Track Of All Of This?
Long-time readers will know how useful the app Notion is and won’t be surprised that it’s integral to how I keep organized.
Earlier on, I suggested asking questions that give you reasons to follow up or ask about in a subsequent conversation. This is where you keep track of the information.
This is drawn from my Job Search HQ, which I’ve mentioned a few times.
I’ll jump into an individual page below, but the image above is the main page of the “People” database.
Many of these columns are links to other databases, which is part of what makes this so powerful – you can surface the right information in the right context in the right place at the right time.
Set this up however you want, but I strongly recommend you do this or something like this.
You want to have some info on how you met them, their interests, background, family etc. You may or may not get this info initially or it may come up that they’ve had a quiet summer because their kids are at camp – something you can ask about next time you meet them.
You also want to create a record of questions you asked them (so you don’t keep repeating yourself when you meet them) and questions they asked you.
The linked database view at the bottom (called Follow Up Actions) is to keep track of what comes next. It’s actually a view of the Master Task List, and it’s filtered to show only action items related to this particular contact.
This is an extremely helpful tool to keep track of when you last were in touch with someone and when to connect with them next.
The Elephant In The Room
Some of you may be wondering if it isn’t a little robotic to be tracking this information so closely.
People land different places on what they want to keep track of. My conversations and experience have led me to conclude that it takes effort to do this, and in a busy world, people appreciate the effort.
I also feel like an idiot continually asking someone what their kid’s names are – so I decided to do a better job of this.
Additional thoughts?
It’s important to be aware that different people will engage back with you to a different extent. Some will be excited to hear from you and reply quickly and extensively.
Others will be MUCH briefer in their response. Maybe you’ll get back something like, “Thanks, glad to hear things are going well.”
Today’s newsletter and last week’s are intended to serve as a guide. Ultimately, you’re going to need to use your judgment to take this guide and apply it to the way you interact with people in your network.
Hopefully, this helps, but I’d love to hear back from you about what works for you. How do you stay in touch with your network? Which of these suggestions have you used?
