Networking Their Way To CEO & Head of Recruiting

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In this issue:

• Why to network internally

• How “Dwayne” networked his way to becoming a CEO

• How “Jane” networked her way to becoming a head of recruiting

Networking doesn’t have to mean meeting random strangers in person or on the internet.

Networking internally at your company matters just as much, and arguably more than networking with new people outside your company.

For me personally, I wouldn’t have had the success I’ve had (especially at such a young age) if I didn’t prioritize networking internally.

I was able to develop relationships with high performing individual contributors who became my mentors. I developed great relationships with management. I was introduced to the executive suite. I developed my personal brand within the company over time.

Networking internally opens the doors both in the short term at your current company, and long term as people move on to bigger and better things over time.

Why it matters:

Mentorship:

You’ll develop relationships with high performers who will take you under their wing. The more junior you are, the more important this is. Mentorship will accelerate your learning curve and save you weeks/months/years worth of making mistakes.

Even if you’re a top performer, continuous learning should always be a priority for you and what better way to do that by networking internally with other top guns.

Personal Brand

Further, you’ll begin to gain clout within the company. The more clout you gain, the bigger your personal brand will become. The bigger your brand, the more attention and recognition you’ll receive.

The more this happens, the more likely you start climbing the ladder internally.

Outside Job Opportunities:

Last but not least - as you build relationships with people on the inside, over time it’s only natural that they move onto bigger and better things.

They’ll either move into a higher title/role, better logo/company, and overall better situation.

If you start building a relationship with them today, you never know where they can take you down the road.

Story Time:

Two examples of two people I’ve worked with previously where one networked his way into becoming a CEO, and another into the Head of Recruiting.

The interesting thing is, I never thought of them as amazing leaders/innovators that you’d think of like Steve Jobs, Elon, or Zuck.

They were good operators and can do the jobs, but nothing really stood out from them.

The main differentiator was their network. They had a brand, people knew who they were, and were comfortable putting them in the positions they were in because of that brand.

Dwayne:

Let’s call the CEO guy, Dwayne.

Dwayne’s been in the recruiting industry for 20+ years. He his career on wall street and somehow found his way into recruiting, which was a natural transition for him because he’s a natural born salesman.

He was an excellent individual producer at a smaller midsized firm out in the midwest. His main account was a large healthcare company, and he built his book of business to ~80 consultants on billing at his peak. He was the top producer at his company, so naturally he developed a good relationship with the CEO, let’s call him Jerry.

Jerry sold his company to a large staffing company. He eventually worked his way to becoming the president of the company that originally bought his.

As Dwayne got older, he realized he didn’t want to continue the grind of being a salesman and wanted to get into strategy and management. He was willing to give up those big commission checks for something more fulfilling by becoming a leader.

Since he had a good relationship with Jerry, and Jerry knew his potential and what he was capable of, Jerry promoted him into an Account director. So Dwayne wasn’t doing day to day selling of the account, but he hired a few new sales reps to do the day to day work as he was in charge of the strategy.

Eventually, Jerry left the big company to go to another midsized company as President & CEO.

Jerry needed someone who could not only just lead an account, but an entirely new division, so naturally he called Dwayne. Dwayne was a top producer, had the ability to strategize to grow one account, and called on Dwayne to grow multiple accounts at this new company.

Dwayne performed very well and also got promoted at this company a few times.

Finally, that company also sold. Jerry retired. But someone Jerry knew who was a CEO wanted to take a step back, hire a new CEO and just perform as a President. He asked Jerry for a referral.

Low and behold, Dwayne lived just a few miles away from where that company was HQ’d. Made the intro, and now the CEO of that company.

Jane:

Jane networked her way to multiple companies through multiple people.

She spent most of her career at a large staffing company but navigated her way into a senior leadership position internally after 15-20 years.

She was a good recruiter, having anywhere around 50 consultants on billing any given year.

Similar to Dwayne, she was getting burnt out about the grind of working on commission and wanted to spread her knowledge as a leader.

She started partnering with other teams within the org to get her name out there.

She partnered with other accounts, teams, and mentored people to success on other teams where she received no financial benefit. But she did benefit because as those people became successful, they obviously credited Jane which grew her name out there.

She used this momentum to grow into a recruiting manager. From there, her own team grew, but she also was more than willing to help out other teams grow as well, again without any financial benefit.

As those other teams credited her, she continued to get promoted.

She eventually grew into the regional vp of recruiting at this org, and that was probably the highest she’d be able to get to at this point. However, the regional vp of sales left to become the coo of another company.

A few years later, that coo needed to hire a new head of recruiting because the current guy wasn’t cutting it. He had the perfect person, someone who demonstrated growing performance with her teams, but also someone who demonstrated how to scale that growth as shown previously in her current job. Although she didn’t have the job on paper, she was already doing it.

That COO called Jane, and hired her as the only person who interviewed.

…..

So take this as your sign to start networking. If these guys can do it, you can too.

If you’re looking to figure out ways to navigate how to network internally, let’s book a call here:

If you’re a hiring manager and need some recruiting support, let’s book a call here: