Why a strong professional network matters

By now, you’ve likely seen a million tweets from me and other peers on twitter about why having a professional network matters.

Instead of just jumping into a bunch of boring bullet points, here’s a story for you.

There was a woman that used to work at my company. For convenience, let’s call her Jane.

Jane was a total badass, and one of the top producers here after only a few years. She grew her book of business to over $1M in recurring profit/year focusing on placing creative professionals at some of our F100 clients. She had a great attitude, spoke her mind, was eager to help, etc. Needless to say, she was an A-Player.

As good of an agency recruiter Jane was, she didn’t enjoy the constant hustle that agency recruiting demands. Especially in contract recruiting & the natural, yet constant, turnover that comes with it.

Jane ended up leaving us for one of the premier Big Tech companies.

I kept in touch with Jane. She was doing very well. Hitting all her goals, put together some high visible projects, helped revamp some of the interview processes, etc. But then the tail end of 2023 hit, the market starts to crash, and Jane was laid off.

Jane turned out to be just fine.

Why? Because of her strong professional network.

Let’s dive in to see what she did right throughout her young career.

She kept in touch with everyone she worked with.

Past and present. She kept in touch with some key people that are still at our company & that used to work with us. After she posted about her layoff on LinkedIn, she said she had at least a dozen people from our company’s network reach out to her immediately.

From there, few of them were able to introduce them to their managers, refer her to apply to a role, and point her in the right direction. After taking a week to collect herself, these connections helped start up her interview process.

Jane didn’t burn any bridges.

Jane interviewed at quite a few companies before taking her new role at Big Tech Company.

When she declined other offers, she did so professionally.

She thanked them for taking the time to speak to her, made a great impression on them during the interview process, told them what she linked about their company/team, but told them the best opportunity for her at the time was Big Tech Company.

She reached out to some of these companies and some of them ended up either putting her through interviews for other groups or helped to refer her to other roles.

She utilized social media.

As a recruiter, we all dish out advice on XYZ topics to gain attention & put eyes on our content. One of the most commonly topics are related to helping candidates through their job search.

Jane decided to document her job search publicly - almost in real time on LinkedIn. She did this for two reasons:

1. To show she doesn’t just talk the talk, but she can walk the walk

2. Give confidence to others effected by layoffs during a recession that it’s still possible to land a new gig relatively quickly.

Jane focused on having at least one conversation or new connection per day.

She had a network of people she already knew, but she wanted to keep it growing.

Relying on just job applications can quickly discourage you if you don’t receive feedback. An old network will only get you so far.

A recruiter’s job is to connect with people every day and she realized that. She made it a point every day until she landed the job she wanted to speak with one new person each day that she can consider a new part of her professional network.

Finally, the result.

A recruiter from one of the companies she declined before taking the Big Tech Company offer - referred her to a connection of theirs. That person ended up interviewing & hiring her within 3 weeks.

If that didn’t pan out, a few of the contacts from our company were ready to hire her, and she had interview activity from her new connections going on as well.

So, what can we all learn from Jane?

1. Layoffs effect everyone, including A-Players. They are not personal, they’re a business decision. They’re not a reflection of you - but the company’s financial standing.

2. One of the easiest ways to build out your network is with the people you currently work with & by keeping in touch with them when they leave the company

3. Don’t burn bridges - no matter how hot the candidate market is for you. For every candidate like Jane that kept things professional, you had another that went the other way. Bri turned a rejected offer into a new 2nd degree connected into a new job - that could be you if you play your cards right.

4. Figure out a way to get noticed. You don’t need to live-document a job search, but you need to find a way to get eyeballs on your LinkedIn & Resume. There are 800M users on LinkedIn, how will you stand out? SEO Optimize your profile (old posts on my previous newsletters, and I’ll make this a future post). Comment on target company’s posts and decision makers from there as well (recruiters, managers, peers, etc). Don’t just rely on job applications and job boards.

5. Focus on new connections. Old & current connections are great, but they have a ceiling. Break past that ceiling and open new doors by challenging yourself to meet new people. LinkedIn, Twitter, Meetups, tons of ways to meet new people in today’s new world.

Well, hopefully you enjoyed my first newsletter on SubStack. If you enjoyed this, share with someone you love. If you didn’t enjoy it, share it with someone you hate. Either way, appreciate the share to somebody