**Building a Network to Unlock Job Opportunities**

When it comes to finding a new job, having a strong network is crucial. The people we know can become our most valuable connections, leading us to new opportunities and experiences. However, if we're not intentional about nurturing these relationships, they may wither away over time.

The key to building a robust network is to think expansively about the people we know. This includes family members, friends, former colleagues, and even acquaintances from social media platforms like LinkedIn. We should be open to reaching out to anyone who might be able to introduce us to someone in our desired field or industry. The idea is not to ask for a referral per se, but rather to build a genuine relationship with people we admire or aspire to work with.

For example, if we're interested in working at a particular company, we should think about the people who already work there. We can find them on LinkedIn and reach out to them for conversation, asking about their journey and what led them to that role. This approach helps us build relationships with potential connections, making it more likely that they'll be willing to help us or refer us to job openings in the future.

**Looking Ahead to the Future**

Another crucial step in building a network is to look ahead to our future goals. We should ask ourselves where we want to work and what company we'd like to join. From there, we can identify specific people who might be able to offer guidance or advice. By doing so, we can create a plan for getting to that point, whether it's through reaching out to people in the industry or joining online communities related to our desired field.

It's essential to approach these conversations with an open mind and a willingness to learn. We shouldn't just be asking about job openings; we should be genuinely interested in hearing about someone's journey and what they've learned along the way. This approach helps us build trust and establish meaningful relationships, which are critical for unlocking new opportunities.

**Embracing Serendipity**

While targeted networking can be effective, it's also important to leave room for serendipity. Sometimes, we need to take a chance on meeting someone new or attending an event where we might strike up a conversation with someone in our industry.

To do this, we should start by identifying the cities and industries that are most relevant to our job search goals. We can then join online communities related to those areas, such as Slack groups or LinkedIn forums. By doing so, we'll be more likely to stumble upon people who share similar interests or passions.

One strategy is to use a keyword search on LinkedIn, looking for people in the city and field of our choice. From there, we can scan through their profiles and identify three to five individuals with whom we'd like to connect. By starting conversations about their journey and what led them to their current role, we'll be building relationships that can lead to new opportunities down the line.

Another approach is to attend in-person events related to our industry or interests. These gatherings often provide a chance to meet people who share similar passions or goals, and they can be a powerful way to build connections and unlock new opportunities. By putting ourselves out there and being open to meeting new people, we increase our chances of stumbling upon someone who can offer guidance, advice, or even a job lead.

**Leveraging Online Communities**

Finally, we should join online communities related to our industry or interests. These groups often serve as hubs for networking and job searching, and they can provide access to valuable resources and information.

When selecting online communities to join, we should consider three factors: location, industry, and identity. We might start by joining Slack groups or LinkedIn forums focused on specific cities or regions where we're interested in working. Next, we can explore communities related to our desired field or industry, whether that's EdTech, fintech, manufacturing, or something else entirely.

We should also consider the identities that we hold, such as being a woman in tech or an entrepreneur. By joining online communities centered around these aspects of our identity, we'll be surrounded by people who share similar passions and experiences. This can help us build meaningful relationships and stay motivated on our career journey.

By combining targeted networking with serendipity and online community-building strategies, we can create a robust network that will help us unlock new job opportunities and pursue our career goals with confidence.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: encommon misconception about a network is that you don't have one or that you don't know the right people and this can feel really overwhelming especially when you're looking for a job in a competitive market I'm going to share with you some insights that I use with students and clients every day to make this more manageable and doable I want you to start with the people that you know your friends and family members do they work at tech companies maybe they don't have the exact role that you want but they work at a tech company you can have a conversation with them not about getting a referral or a job but genuinely being curious about what it's like working at that company and then if you feel like that company might be a fan ask them to introduce you to somebody to the team that you want to be a part of maybe it's ux designer software development or data science whatever it might be so start with the people that you know and ask yourself do they work at companies that I might want to work at do they know people who work at companies that I might want to work at and that's where LinkedIn and Facebook stalking in an ethical way is really helpful I want you to think of concentric circles at the very core is your friends and family and then you start moving apart looking at institutions or things that you have in common so for instance maybe people that you went to school with even if it wasn't at the same time even if you weren't friends at the same time if they went to your alma mater they're going to be more likely to want to talk to you so you can reach out to them or maybe wherever you have worked former colleagues or people who worked at the company after you even if you didn't coincide or if you're still like hey hi from a fellow and certain name of company they're going to be far more likely to want to talk to you I want you to think expansively about your network and this includes your family members your friends your friends friends former lovers anybody that you know who has a job or has had a job is it a potential introduction to a company into a world of possible opportunities the second thing that I want you to do is to look ahead in the future and create the life that you want go ahead two years five years in the future and ask yourself where do I think I want to work what company then come up with a list of maybe like three to five companies and then reach out to people who are in the role that you want to have or were already there and you can find them on LinkedIn you can book calls with them on websites like amazingdesign people list ADP lists and then add a conversation about their Journey their career what allow them to get there so that you can make sure that you're actually taking the right steps to get to where you want to be now again what's critical here is you're not asking for a referral you're not making this transactional you actually want to build a relationship with those people so that they can coach you and Mentor you as you go along the third thing that I want you to do is open yourself up to Serendipity so so far it's been very targeted who do I know if it works at a tech company or no somebody who works at a tech company or let me look at the companies that I admire and reach out to people who work there very directed I also want you to have a more serendipitous approach and what I mean by that is go toward the opportunities are go to where the people are and I specifically want you to do three things number one the city that you want a job search in and it might be where you live or somewhere aspirational so what I want you to do is go on LinkedIn and type the position that you want so that might be ux designer and look for people in the city that you want a job search and so maybe that's New York now if possible I want you to find points of commonality so maybe if you attended the same school at the school or people who worked at a specific company that you worked at that's only going to make it more likely because remember degrees of connection if you don't have that that's okay ux designer in New York you're gonna get a lot of people now go through those profiles and see who do you think seems interesting then I want you to connect with three to five people and have a conversation about their Journey so now you're expanding your network based on curiosity and now you know people who have jobs in the city in the field that you want I actually had a student do this in Denver he connected with five people one of them said hey do you want me to refer you to the first company that hired me after I became a US designer and he was like yeah so that's what opening to Serendipity means it's amazing now the second thing I want you to do is attend an in-person event there's a lot of energy that happens in person you can't predict it and I want you to expose yourself to meeting somebody who's going to be exciting meeting your next friend meeting somebody who's going to connect you to somebody else and the third thing that I want you to do is join relevant slack and online communities a lot of times hiring managers instead or before posting a job on LinkedIn they're going to post it on curated slack communities why because there's fewer people so they're placing a bet on fewer candidates but higher quality so you want to be where those opportunities are so I want you to join at least three relevant communities when I say relevant I really mean three things one is location so if you're going to be job searching in Austin join those slack communities the second thing is industry so do you have a sense of what industry you might want to join maybe it's Ed Tech or fintech or manufacturing join those groups so that you can also find people in Opportunities and the third one is identity any identity that you're a part of I want you to join those groups in my case I would join women in Tech and it's a great way to open myself up to Serendipity and meet people who have something in common with because remember if I have degrees of common quality it's more likely that I can build a relationship and have a conversationcommon misconception about a network is that you don't have one or that you don't know the right people and this can feel really overwhelming especially when you're looking for a job in a competitive market I'm going to share with you some insights that I use with students and clients every day to make this more manageable and doable I want you to start with the people that you know your friends and family members do they work at tech companies maybe they don't have the exact role that you want but they work at a tech company you can have a conversation with them not about getting a referral or a job but genuinely being curious about what it's like working at that company and then if you feel like that company might be a fan ask them to introduce you to somebody to the team that you want to be a part of maybe it's ux designer software development or data science whatever it might be so start with the people that you know and ask yourself do they work at companies that I might want to work at do they know people who work at companies that I might want to work at and that's where LinkedIn and Facebook stalking in an ethical way is really helpful I want you to think of concentric circles at the very core is your friends and family and then you start moving apart looking at institutions or things that you have in common so for instance maybe people that you went to school with even if it wasn't at the same time even if you weren't friends at the same time if they went to your alma mater they're going to be more likely to want to talk to you so you can reach out to them or maybe wherever you have worked former colleagues or people who worked at the company after you even if you didn't coincide or if you're still like hey hi from a fellow and certain name of company they're going to be far more likely to want to talk to you I want you to think expansively about your network and this includes your family members your friends your friends friends former lovers anybody that you know who has a job or has had a job is it a potential introduction to a company into a world of possible opportunities the second thing that I want you to do is to look ahead in the future and create the life that you want go ahead two years five years in the future and ask yourself where do I think I want to work what company then come up with a list of maybe like three to five companies and then reach out to people who are in the role that you want to have or were already there and you can find them on LinkedIn you can book calls with them on websites like amazingdesign people list ADP lists and then add a conversation about their Journey their career what allow them to get there so that you can make sure that you're actually taking the right steps to get to where you want to be now again what's critical here is you're not asking for a referral you're not making this transactional you actually want to build a relationship with those people so that they can coach you and Mentor you as you go along the third thing that I want you to do is open yourself up to Serendipity so so far it's been very targeted who do I know if it works at a tech company or no somebody who works at a tech company or let me look at the companies that I admire and reach out to people who work there very directed I also want you to have a more serendipitous approach and what I mean by that is go toward the opportunities are go to where the people are and I specifically want you to do three things number one the city that you want a job search in and it might be where you live or somewhere aspirational so what I want you to do is go on LinkedIn and type the position that you want so that might be ux designer and look for people in the city that you want a job search and so maybe that's New York now if possible I want you to find points of commonality so maybe if you attended the same school at the school or people who worked at a specific company that you worked at that's only going to make it more likely because remember degrees of connection if you don't have that that's okay ux designer in New York you're gonna get a lot of people now go through those profiles and see who do you think seems interesting then I want you to connect with three to five people and have a conversation about their Journey so now you're expanding your network based on curiosity and now you know people who have jobs in the city in the field that you want I actually had a student do this in Denver he connected with five people one of them said hey do you want me to refer you to the first company that hired me after I became a US designer and he was like yeah so that's what opening to Serendipity means it's amazing now the second thing I want you to do is attend an in-person event there's a lot of energy that happens in person you can't predict it and I want you to expose yourself to meeting somebody who's going to be exciting meeting your next friend meeting somebody who's going to connect you to somebody else and the third thing that I want you to do is join relevant slack and online communities a lot of times hiring managers instead or before posting a job on LinkedIn they're going to post it on curated slack communities why because there's fewer people so they're placing a bet on fewer candidates but higher quality so you want to be where those opportunities are so I want you to join at least three relevant communities when I say relevant I really mean three things one is location so if you're going to be job searching in Austin join those slack communities the second thing is industry so do you have a sense of what industry you might want to join maybe it's Ed Tech or fintech or manufacturing join those groups so that you can also find people in Opportunities and the third one is identity any identity that you're a part of I want you to join those groups in my case I would join women in Tech and it's a great way to open myself up to Serendipity and meet people who have something in common with because remember if I have degrees of common quality it's more likely that I can build a relationship and have a conversation\n"