Networking appears to be filled with a lot of mystery, but it is actually a very obvious process.

What most people do when they reach a networking contact is ask them if they know about any open jobs that would fit their background. This is one of the world's worst questions. Consider for a moment: What is the likelihood that the person you are contacting would know about an open job that is an exact match for your background? Friends, it is close to zero. In addition, it is a yes or no question. Yes or no questions don’t generate conversations.

There are far too many complexities to your background. What are your geographic constraints? What is your target compensation? What are your primary skills? What kind of company would you like to work for? Now ask yourself, how would the person you are contacting know the very specific answers that would be appropriate to these questions?  Again, the odds are zero.

The appropriate question to ask is if they know people who will understand your background. If this is someone who knows you, they probably have a connection across some dimension of YOUR background. That’s how you know them. Therefore, they probably know people you should know. You need to take the further step and, even though they know you, define your most important “features.”

There is something called “the magic rule of threes.” There are many examples of the magic rule of threes. Past, present, and future. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Stop, look and listen. Why 3? Because that’s all that people can remember.

If you give people more than three things about you, say 5 or 6, they won’t remember ANY of them. One of the many things I have learned is that 90-second announcements should be focused on providing your audience with 3 things the listener should remember about you so they can repeat them to other people. As in: I think you should meet Matt Bud. He is an expert in (put 3 things here).

The final key in asking for introductions to people who will understand your background is to make clear that your “ask” does not require that these people have a “work requirement” at the moment. Again, how would the person making the introduction even know?

Assuming that you are now in front of a friend of a friend who has a background connection to you, what do you think they are going to do? Surprise! They are going to “dump on you” in the nicest possible way by telling you all their business problems. After all, there is no job description in front of them where they need to “check off the boxes.”

As they share their problems of the day, you will be well positioned to discuss solutions you have implemented to great success over the course of your career.

While the best result will be their discovery that the problems they have been struggling with are solvable and the solution is sitting in front of them, as in they will offer you a “work opportunity,” the worst case scenario is that they will be comfortable making more introductions for you. Not a lot of downside here.

Hopefully this clarifies your thinking about the networking process. It really isn’t as difficult as it appears to be.

Regards, Matt