19: Why You May Procrastinate Networking for Your Career and What You Can Do About It

0:00 If you're trying to get started on networking for a new job or for your career, the fear of reaching out to people you don't know isn't the only thing that might keep you from getting started. I think we've all been there. Even though you know that reaching out to people is the right next step, you just can't seem to motivate yourself to send out even a single email or DM. The reason could be that you're not even sure where you filed that contact or company list you had pulled together. And the notes from the few conversations you actually did have a few weeks ago, well, did you even take notes? And then there's that research you did in a fit of inspiration one night.

0:43 Do you think it might be in that notebook you saw on your coffee table last week? Or maybe it's in that new note taking app you were testing out for a few days but then abandoned? I swear, I've never done that one. Okay, from personal experience and the experience of the many people I've coached, it's more than a little apparent that getting yourself ready to network can potentially take longer than the initial networking outreach itself. So why bother if pulling together the information you need will eat up more time than you actually have to send out those few messages? Probably better to just get yourself a coffee and maybe a cookie while you're at it and plan to get started on your networking tomorrow.

1:28 Truth be told, when I was working as an executive recruiter at a top firm, there were a few more coffees and cookies than I'd care to admit to, but I ultimately did learn a better way.

2:20 One of the biggest barriers to networking can be overcoming the friction involved in just getting started. When I was working as a recruiter, I was often carrying four or five searches at any given time. Two or three could be in the networking phase simultaneously, and each search probably involved at least two to three hundred substantive contacts with people in the firm's network. In this case, substantive means that we exchanged messages that yielded some actionable information, or we had a conversation that went beyond,"Oh, I'm sorry, I can't help on this one." In a single day, I could end up making networking calls for multiple searches, and the networking took place in time blocks scattered throughout the day.

3:08 As you can imagine, that could get a little disorganized and confusing. Given that I couldn't control when people would get back in touch after I had reached out to them, I needed to switch focus at a moment's notice. I had to get up to speed on a particular search and my networking effort to support that search in minutes or, sometimes, even in seconds. I didn't have the luxury of time, with or without coffee and cookies, to find, organize and review my notes. They needed to be a click or two away, and I needed the confidence of knowing that I could rely on the information to be there when I needed it. To handle this type of load and the demands of professional networking, executive recruiters have well-developed and often customized systems to keep track of all the bits and pieces of information required to plan and execute searches for their clients successfully.

4:04 Having a reliable system that centralizes all the information related to networking for a search reduces the time and effort required to actually get the work done. If you know where to look to find the information you need, and are confident that it will be there, then you can react quickly when you need to, or when you feel inspired and motivated, even if it's just for 15 or 20 minutes devoted to networking. To set up your own networking support system, you don't need anything too fancy or complex. Based on my experience as a recruiter, when I was networking all the time, here's a pretty short list of the information, I think it's essential to collect and keep organized and accessible.

4:49 The basic information about a contact like their name, company, title, email, phone, LinkedIn, and other social media profiles and things like that. The dates you've been in touch with that contact and any related notes, messages or emails. Any follow-up tasks related to that contact. And any networking referrals suggested by that contact, and information about the suggested contacts you might need for reference when you reach out to them. It's not a really long list. The basic apps that most Mac or PC users have can often do the trick. No IT department or consultants required.

5:32 For Mac users, a combination of Contacts, Reminders, Notes, and your Calendar can work. For PC users, it's more straightforward. Outlook combines the functionality of the stand-alone Mac apps in just one interface. No need to switch back and forth. And if you want to go for the gold, then you can sync OneNote, Microsoft's notes app, with Outlook and get the added functionality that OneNote offers. Quite a few people, especially many of the MBAs I coach, may initially prefer to use a spreadsheet. But the ability to take good notes in spreadsheet cells is limited, and it's just awkward. And creating tasks and reminders in spreadsheets can be high maintenance.

6:17 Better to use something designed for task management like Apple Reminders or Microsoft To Do. I'm also a big fan of project and task managers like Todoist or Asana. I've used both extensively for years. And while they're not designed out-of-the-box to track something like networking or sales, I've created a basic CRM system in Asana to manage prospects and clients for my business Career Narratives. It wasn't too complicated to set up, and I could easily adapt the system I've created to general networking if I need to. I'll link to some resources that may give you some ideas in the show notes.

6:57 As for the notes you're going to take about the conversations and exchanges with your networking contacts, you can do that in a task manager like Todoist or Asana, but you've probably noticed that note-taking apps are becoming increasingly capable. Evernote and OneNote, which are pretty accessible and available, now incorporate tasks in some form of links or backlinks that allow you to connect notes to one another, as well as incorporating native calendar integrations. Add in a few tags, and you can design your own system of interconnected notes that link the notes you take about people and companies with calendar appointments and even tasks.

7:38 More serious networkers, or just people who are willing to invest in an off-the-shelf solution, might opt for a relatively simple and consumer friendly CRM or Customer Relationship Manager, like Streak for Gmail, Pipedrive, or a personal favorite, Covve, that's spelled C O V V E. You'll find a few videos about using Covve on my YouTube channel. There's a link in the show notes, and all cards on the table, I'm a Covve affiliate. If you use the link in the show notes, you'll get a 15 percent discount and you'll help support me and the content I produce like this podcast. And you might also consider the new wave of productivity apps like Motion that integrate your calendar tasks, email and notes with a bit of AI-enabled prioritization.

8:29 Whatever system or approach you create for yourself, be diligent and use it consistently. In the end, that is the most important thing. You could be using a paper notebook for that matter. Just enter the information about your networking contacts and your outreach. Take reasonable notes during your calls and meetings, and then take a moment to write a quick summary of your conversation or exchange and immediately create your follow up tasks after engaging a contact. This really is the most important part of having a system for networking. I can't stress how important it is to take an extra minute or two after engaging with a networking contact to write yourself a brief note.

9:16 I don't know about you, but my handwritten notes may make a lot of sense in the moment, but they can sometimes be almost impossible to decipher a week or two, or even three later, especially, if there was a lot of good information to capture and I was writing quickly or if I was typing my notes, which you can do, too. Sometimes you're typing quickly, and the things you type, well, they seem like code. And then, it can be really hard to determine what, if any, next actions might be required. So do yourself a favor. and make it easy to get started on your networking at any point. If you've got a simple, organized, and easy-to-access system and you've taken good notes based on your networking conversations and then written yourself a quick summary of the takeaways and the next steps, you'll be less likely to procrastinate one of the most consequential activities related to your career advancement.

10:19 In the next podcast episode, I'm going to talk about a trick that I learned from a fellow recruiter that helped me always feel well informed and more confident when I was engaging people during my networking activities. See you then.