Its getting cold, keep your contacts warm with this networking tip!

Published: December 25, 2014

We are so excited we get to bring you back to campus multiple times a year to speak to our students – they love your energy and your powerful advice every time!

Maureen Manion-Leone Senior Director, Career Management Center Emory University – Goizueta Business School, Georgia

Everyone always asks me… how do you keep in touch with people so the connection doesn’t go cold?  Many people send articles or other inbox fillers to feel like they are staying relevant, but most of the time this just adds more “to-do’s” to the Influential Individual’s inbox because s/he feels like s/he needs to read it and respond (they already have a lot to do, believe me – I was a recruiter for 4 years!)

The best way to keep a connection warm is to follow the Rockstar Approach and super-heat the relationship from the beginning by moving through the Relationship Hierarchy to achieving Support from the folks who can help you in your career.  But no matter where in the Relationship Hierarchy your connection might be, use the following tip to keep your contacts warm:

Send a non-career related, personalized note to your contact now.  The holidays are a great time to reach out and open up a more personal connection to the folks who can help you propel your career.  Here’s what to include in the email:

  • Hi, How are you?
  • This past [year/few months/semester] has been [describe it] and I just [give an update on what you are doing now]
  • I’m really glad we met [explain where you met] and I appreciate [the conversation/advice/etc provided]
  • Just wanted to wish you [happy holidays/happy new year! Etc]
  • Salutation, your name, AND information in your auto-sig of who you are (including a link to your LinkedIn Profile, like my auto-sig at the bottom of this email)

That’s it!  You do not need to mention anything about you “seeking a position” or “still interested in pursuing ____”.  None of that.  The goal here is to send a nice positive note and have that warm, positive feeling be associated with a memory of you.  The rest will unfold like magic.

This is an extremely important step, so be sure to add your own personalization to the outline above – remember the #1 rule of networking is to BE AUTHENTIC!

Keep Rockin!

Jaymin

Photo Credit: Jaymin J. Patel (free coaching session to anyone who can correctly guess where I took it!)

Jaymin J. Patel
The Rockstar Career Guy!
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