Networking around the Grille

This is probably my 16th posting on networking since I started blogging. Why? Because it’s very important. So, it’s summertime; people are barbequing in the back yard, picnicking and Networking!!! Let’s look at networking again this time... networking at parties, cookouts and picnics.

   Remember the old Nat King Cole song, Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer... but summer is no time to be lazy when you’re looking for a promotion or a new job. It’s really a great time to connect with new people in a pleasant atmosphere. People are feeling good, having a beverage to drink and some good comfort food.

   It’s a great time to connect, but!!! Yes, what do you say to folks? (Well I’m going out on a limb here, against stuff a lot of people before me have told you.) What do you say, not your elevator speech. Yes, you’ve read that correctly. My friend and management guru Joe Takash is quoted as saying:

   Most 'elevator speeches' make the listener want to take the stairs. If you struggle, (which most of us do), in swiftly describing what you do and the value you provide, practice and get feedback.

    Take the pressure off yourself and go the the party, picnic or cookout to have fun. Instead of looking for opportunities to give your elevator speech, look for opportunities to say hi. I like to hang out near the drink cooler or keg. “Hi, can I buy you a beer? By the way, I’m Thomas, here you go.” (I only offer beer or wine to persons over 21 years of age with appropriate identification.) It’s a great way to meet everyone at a party. And by introducing myself, people tend to introduce themselves.

   At many cookouts the “guys” hang around the grill. It’s a guy thing. My wife says that the only reason why men will cook food on a grill is because there is an element of danger. That may be true, or it may be because our ancient ancestors cooked their fresh kills over an open fire and it is in our DNA and it just feels right. Regardless, it’s a safe place to hangout and listen and talk to the fellas.

   At those parties, the ladies congregate with one another over a number of different activities. Sadly, I really don’t have any idea what the women are doing, because I’m a guy and I’m hanging out near the dangerous Weber Grill. But, this is also a great place to say hi, meet new people and connect. It’s been reported to me that women are far more likely to talk and share than men do and I pretty much believe that to be true.

   It doesn’t matter which group you are in, just meet new people and then connect with them. Ask if they are on LinkedIn or Facebook or Pinterest or Google+ or any social media. Then follow up, invite them to join your network, friends, follow your pins or join your circles. Then follow up again and invite them for coffee and there you can share your elevator speech.

Act Professional Even When No One is Looking

I hear this all the time and I repeat it often. You never know who you’ll run into during the day. This really makes sense for folks looking for promotions and new jobs. Yet, I am amazed by the way people act out in public.

People will tell me, “I’d never do that at an interview!” and they believe it. But, some folks won’t ever get the interview because of the poor impression they created at a conference, a talk, a get-together, or a job club meeting. Manners are so often absent in these and many common daily activities, and I’m not even talking about when we get behind the wheel for the commute to and from work. (That would be a blog post all by its self.)

The words “Thanks You” are getting lost in so many situations these days. Try holding the door open at the store or mall for people and listen for the “Thank You.” (If there is a Psychology student out there looking for an experiment ideal, run with this and let me know your findings.) I’m guessing that less than half the time people will fail to say thank you. But that’s not the worst part, I’d guess that 10% of folks won’t even acknowledge that you are holding the door for them. I wonder what the frequency is of “God Bless You,” “Salud” or “Gesundheit” when someone sneezes.

I’ve been at conferences where someone in the audience asks the speaker an embarrassing question or even calls out a typo or miswording in the presentation. Why would anyone want to put down or embarrass a speaker at a conference? I cannot imagine some manager leaning over to his boss and saying, “Bill, we really need a guy like that on our team. How about I talk to him regarding a job offer with us?”

I teach classes on social media in a job search and the question of Facebook always comes up. People posting pictures of people (themselves) being unprofessional. We get asked if a company asking for your Facebook login ID and password is legal? I’m not a lawyer and I cannot say. What I can say is don’t post pictures of yourself or anyone doing something you would not want your mother to see. Then legal or not you've nothing to fear from having a Facebook account.

Hold doors open for people and say bless you when someone sneezes, see the smile on their face. Offer someone the opportunity to go in front of you at the grocery checkout line. Make space for the BMW driver on the highway when the traffic is heavy. Smile at people and say hi as you walk past them. Doing these things will not only bring people’s smiles out; they’ll make you feel good. And you never know, your future employer might be in the crowd and you’ll make a positive impression.

Hunters & Gatherers

    The world is broken into two groups, hunters and gatherers. It is the hunters that go out and seek prey and kill it and bring it home. The gatherers go out, look for what is ripe and collect their bounty and bring it home. Both kinds of people can be successful in a job search. It is not an absolute that men are hunters and women are gatherers. Men can be gatherers and some of the best hunters I know have been women. It’s just a what works best for you.


    Both hunters and gatherers have a plan before they start. Some plans are very detailed and others are more open to spontaneity and going with the flow. The detailed planners plan start with a defined goal and strategies then build in contingencies. The spontaneous folks start with a picture or an ideal of what they are after and then go to work. Again both approaches are equally valid, although regardless of how you plan you’ll probably never understand how it works for the other type of planner.
     So the world we live in is often viewed in binary terms; polar opposites. Left - Right; Up - Down; Woman - Man; Cubs - Sox (or Mets - Yankees if you live around New York). The job search has two parts or phases that are not polar opposites however. These phases are sequential. First get the job offer. When you have an offer you can then evaluate the offer.

    Many job seekers do not see these two phases as separate and distinct... and then they wonder what happened. Folks that recognize the two different steps know that until you have an offer in hand, you really don’t have anything to evaluate. Also any energy you spend evaluating or judging a potential job is not only premature, but could negatively impact your interview, the follow up or other opportunities beyond.

    Before you have an offer, you waste time fretting about salary, working conditions, personalities. All of these things are important and you’ll be collecting data regarding these and more; however, until you have the offer you’re in sales mode and still need to make the sale not expend energy and effort on questions that may never matter.

    When you get the offer, it’s time to take all your impressions and concerns and evaluate the pros and the cons and the salary and the benefits and the boss and the commute and make an informed, calculated decision about the next step in your career. Here is where the research, that we mentioned last week, comes to fruition. Once you have the offer you’re no longer is sales mode, the hiring company is now in sales mode... it’s time to ask all those questions you wanted to ask during the first interview. So go ahead and ask.

    Whether you’re a detailed planning gatherer or a go with the flow hunter, you want to remember the two phases: Getting the job offer first and evaluating the offer second. And have fun along the way.

Do Research; Don't Become Mr. Know-it-all

Remember the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons? They were a wonderful part of my growing up. There was a part of the show where Bullwinkle took on the persona of “Mr. Know-it-all,” and Rocky watched in dismay as Mr. Know-it-all tried to demonstrate something and always made a mess of it. Every time Mr. Know-it-all demonstrated how to do something he ended up learning a much harder lesson.

This is true for job seekers and people interviewing for a new job. There is a point where you need to research a company and learn what you can about the products, the market, competitors and get a feel for the company. The goal here is to become familiar with the company and its external persona or presence. This will help the job seeker or interviewee to be more confident and comfortable during the interview.

Some folks take it a little too far, however. The feel anxious about the interview and the lack of control one has in the whole process and they attempt to exert some “wisdom” into the interview. The take the opportunity to show the interviewer all they know about the company, to show off a little. And like Mr. Know-it-all they end up on their backside, stars twirling around their head, wondering what happened.

I remember one candidate who chose the end of the interview to ask me questions about the company, demonstrating to me his knowledge and insight into our company. He started off by quoting the current stock price and pointing out the fact that the price had dropped 14%. Then he asked what I personally was doing to change that trend. I was the company’s head of Quality at the time, therefore, everything I personally did was focused on the betterment of the company, and I said that and ended the interview with, “Well we’re out of time. Someone will be in touch with you regarding next steps.” 
I’m still not sure how pointing out that my personal wealth was down 14% was going to make me see him as a good fit. We didn’t hire him. But, I believed that he had done his homework about the company.

I’m not a big fan of candidates asking questions in the first interview anyway, but being familiar with our product and understanding what I was referring to when I went over the company and our products would have been a better approach. Nobody likes a show-off or a Mr. Know-it-all and this is very much the case in an interview. Do research and be prepared to respond to the interviewer’s questions. That will show them just what they need to know about you and how you may fit into their company. Next time we’ll go over the two phases of a job search: getting the offer first and then analyzing the offer second.