There’s no doubt the US is in a recession and there are many less jobs available than a year ago.

So with less openings, how do you find out about the potential jobs before they’re listed, or even potentially create an opportunity for yourself? 

You probably know the answer: networking.

First, networking (which is really just a fancy word for talking to people), is a great way to find out if the thing you’re interested in doing next is, in fact, the thing you’re interested in. Second, it’s through these more informal conversations that people first hear about potential opportunities and jobs - or even get to create their next piece of work.

Research has shown that we’re more likely to find out about new opportunities and get connected to them through our weak ties. As Adam Grant says, “Strong ties provide bonds, but weak ties served as bridges: they provide more efficient access to new information.” And when we’re hunting for jobs and an understanding of what’s happening in our industries, we need efficient access to new information to help us inform our search. 

So how do we strengthen those weak ties and find out about opportunities in the midst of, not only a recession but also a global health pandemic?

Over the last few months I’ve seen Kevin, one of our past Pivot clients, have dozens of conversations with new people and build out his network, and create multiple new opportunities for himself. 

I couldn’t resist asking him a few questions to hear more about how and why he’s having such luck building new relationships and finding new ways for him to plug into existing work. My hope is the below might give you a sense as to what effective networking looks like during a recession and pandemic. 

Thanks so much for chatting with me, Kevin. 

I know when the pandemic started you were actively job hunting and ran into hiring freezes. Tell me what your job situation was and what you were looking for? 

When the pandemic started I was, and still am, working as a senior learning designer full-time at a digital learning company. I also freelance as an instructional designer when interesting projects come along. I was looking for more learning and development roles and trying to branch into an enterprise role. Actually, I was in the references stage of a series of successful interviews that was left in stasis as a result of a COVID-related hiring freeze. I'm always looking for opportunities to help digital technologists better design their tools for learning.

How did you start approaching networking during the first few weeks and months of the pandemic?

Initially, I looked through the ‘jobs’ tab on LinkedIn for interesting roles AND researched companies that I follow in the Learning and Development (L&D) space. From there, I would search my LinkedIn connections and do a cold reach out via LinkedIn Messenger. If I had personal connections to them, I would reach out via email OR by text message. I really leveraged my personal connections and even targeted certain groups of friends to make the introduction via their networks. To do this I might say, “I saw a role at company x and I saw you’re connected with person y. Could you introduce me?” I think this works because your friend networks should be more than happy to help you.

When you reach out to people and get good responses, what do you think works about your outreach?

The short answer is that I engage their curiosity and let them know that I’m working on my own stuff too.  

The longer answer is that I use one of three templated asks that I send out, tailored to my audience. For example, If a company or individual is engaged in L&D at the moment, I drop in hints about a project that I’m working on. Other times if this person has work issues to solve, I may prompt them about a similar problem that I’m working on and am soliciting their advice.

Unless I know the person very well, I’m not going to mention that I’m looking for a job outright.

How many people do you think you’ve connected with over the last 3 months or so?

I connect with 1-2 people per week.  I limit myself to that because of the research and preparation that it takes to do it well. When I’m asking to talk with them, I may mention Zoom fatigue and offer that a phone call would be just as welcome.

Have you uncovered any new opportunities or created any opportunities for yourself as a result of these conversations? If so, how did this happen?

Yes - three!

The first, back in March, was the result of connecting with someone from my old company that had reached out on LinkedIn. We hadn’t worked directly together, but we work in the same space so we spoke on the phone. Three weeks later, I was on a team responding to RFPs about digitizing conferences that were forced to move online during the crisis. 

The second was an internal referral for a notable consulting firm, which got a response right away - I was told the positions were under a hiring freeze, but that I would be top of mind when operations were back to normal.  

The third opportunity so far I’ve found involved getting pulled in to consult for an educational technology company designing learning for their platform. I stumbled upon this opportunity after a conversation with a completely different person who had been asked to flag anyone involved in the EdTech space (which is the space I’m in).

What advice would you have for someone who’s struggling to make meaningful connections with people right now?

Curiosity is your most powerful tool when making these connections. Everyone is looking for jobs right now and no one wants to guarantee that they have a position. Instead, figure out what you’re interested in and dive deeply into that area. Look for Meetups, conferences, and online talks about that content and become an expert. The opportunities that I got plugged into came up when I mentioned my passions, education and digital transformation work. Once I became “that person” and word got around, I was “that person” in many people’s digital rolodex.

The other piece is stick with it and keep digging for a hook. Often I’m 25 minutes into a 30 minute phone call and wondering to myself what on Earth I’m doing talking to this person from a completely different industry with a different vocabulary. Then in the 29th minute, something useful or interesting will strike me and I’ll ask a question about that.  If you’re really unsure about where to start with these networking conversations, look at that person’s LinkedIn and have them connect the dots between two positions that they had that interest you.

Anything else to add for people who are stuck on networking right now?

Keep small and achievable goals and do a little bit every day. Networking is a habit and not a one-off action. I’ll stress again that I limit myself to 1-2 people per week. If you are networking on top of looking for a job, on top of being isolated, on top of not eating out at your favorite restaurant, on top of scrolling for unwatched shows, on top of failing at baking sourdough bread, etc…then do just a little bit every day.

Awesome Kevin - thanks so much for sharing!