3 networking mistakes (and what to do instead)

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Reader,

When you’re networking, keep this in mind: People WANT to meet with smart people.

That means YOU! But you have to put your best foot forward when introducing yourself and making a first impression. That means sending a great email, asking incisive questions, and being interesting.

If you’re prepping for an informational interview — or even meeting a new friend — avoid these top networking mistakes:

Asking worthless questions that can be answered with a Google search. “Dear Ramit, what should I do with my money?” Uh….read the last 15+ years of my site?
Rambling. “Hi I’m blah blah and I’m really interested in blah blah and once when I was a kid we went to the park and blah blah and…well I guess this got really long, so…yeah. Thanks for reading.” asdfjsLKFSDJFosjdlk WHAT IS THE POINT OF YOUR EMAIL?
Only talking about yourself. "Hi Mr. Senior Exec at a Fortune 100 company, let me tell you about my background, what I studied in school, what I’m interested in….” You are there to LEARN FROM THE IMPORTANT PERSON.

Ok, so let’s talk about what makes a GREAT informational interview.

I’m using myself as an example of someone who gets a lot of emails/day (600+) so it’s challenging to reach me. Here are the people who have reached out to me and stood out, and who I’ve met with and helped find jobs (or even hired them myself).

They reached out through a warm contact. If they didn’t have one, they spent the time to find one by studying who I know. (The info is out there. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, 8 million pages I’ve written, the “Acknowledgements” page of my book. And this isn’t just about me, it’s about any busy person you want to meet.)
They explained any similarities we had. An alum reaches out to me who seems genuine? I’ll almost always take a phone call or, if convenient, a coffee meeting. Maybe they grew up in my hometown, or went to my high school. Even I have a small semblance of emotion, leading me to occasionally act like a normal human being.
They reached out with a BRIEF, CONCISE EMAIL. I will show you the exact words to use in my Dream Job course so you don’t instantly eliminate yourself.
They met with me and asked very insightful questions. GOOD: "I noticed you did XYZ. It’s interesting because Very-Important-Person took a different approach and did ABC. What was your thinking?" BAD: "I’m so unhappy at my job. What should I do with my life?" Ugh. Get a bowl of soup and a therapist. That’s not the kind of question you ask at an informational interview.
They asked questions for 90% of the informational interview, interjecting insightful comments once in a while, showing that they’d done their homework. In the last 10%, they mentioned what they were working on and asked for advice. When they were especially impressive/likable, I offered to introduce them to people I know, or outright offered to hire them.
They never outright asked for a job, which you never, ever do in an informational interview. They also gave me an “out” in case I couldn’t/didn’t want to help them.
NOTE: These were not all the most socially smooth people. Some of them were downright socially awkward. Doesn’t matter! Sometimes, awkward can be endearing! Not everyone is Rico Suave. But the very best showed a remarkable level of preparation, which anyone can do, but few actually do.

As a result, many of these people stood out among tens of thousands of others who left comments/emails/tweets.

Not only do the very best top performers have an uncanny ability to reach extremely busy people, but they can turn a one-time meeting into a long-term relationship. And over time, that is worth more than almost any technical skill or amount of experience.

I cover more in my upcoming Find Your Dream Job course, including live negotiation teardowns, behind-the-scenes confessionals from hiring managers, perfect answers to the hardest interview questions, word-for-word negotiation scripts and so much more. I’ll be sharing more on that soon. Stay tuned.

P.S. If you want to learn more about the game being played around you — including my full Dream Job System — be sure to attend the live workshop I'm hosting on Monday, 4/19.

It's free, but one night only and you do need to register: