Question
I read your books after I saw you do a presentation at Cornell University’s Executive MBA program. Some of your methods for career success have worked really well for me. (I’m thinking about “do the job in the interview to stand out.”) Now I’ve been in the corporate world a while. In my company every manager has to mentor a young employee, and I really enjoy this! My current “mentee” is very worried about the current economy and job market. She asked me a good question: If I could give her just one “big idea” that would get her through today’s rocky world and optimize her career prospects the rest of her life, what would it be? I told her I’d have to think about it. How would you answer that?
Nick’s Reply
I think I’d start by suggesting she learn how headhunters operate, simply because if our methods don’t work, we don’t eat. Most headhunters work on contingency: we get paid a fee only when we actually fill a job, and we get repeat assignments only if we make good placements – new hires that succeed.
My bailiwick is teaching people how to use a headhunter’s approach to find themselves a job. It’s incorrect to assume that the headhunter’s approach is complicated or mysterious. Good headhunters are actually very simple business people, and our practices are even simpler. But, learning to “do it like a headhunter” can be a significant challenge because it requires some fundamental changes in the way most people conduct business (that is, in how they search for a job or recruit top talent).
Career Success: What’s the big idea?
The easiest way to explain it is to tell you how I learned the “big idea.” I learned it from my mentor, Harry Hamlin, who first brought me into the business in Silicon Valley’s early days. Our specialty was electronics. We recruited design and development engineers up to the VP level. Since I was green, fresh out of graduate school, and hopeful that there was a trick to this business, I asked him what “the secret” was. In his inimitable style, Harry perched both hands on the arms of his swivel chair, pressed down hard, and leaned forward right into my face.
“Go be nice to people. Do favors for everyone you meet. For free.”
Savvy recent student of cognitive psychology that I was, I asked him to be more specific. “Give me an example.”
Career Success: Be the hub
“Spend every nickel you earn this month taking engineers to lunch. Then, without divulging anything you learn that’s personal or confidential, find ways to introduce these people to one another. That’s the best way you can help them out. After a while, you’ll find yourself at the hub of the movers and shakers in the Valley.”
No one had ever given me permission to spend all my money. I had nice lunches almost every day; dinners, too. Within four months I learned more about the electronics industry than I believed possible. Engineers were calling me and introducing themselves; referring other good engineers to me; bringing me in to meet their managers, who became my clients; and inviting me to company parties where I met venture capitalists, bankers, real estate moguls, lawyers, accountants – all the people who made Silicon Valley work. Oh, and my billings soon resulted in more commissions than I could possibly spend. (Well, I was pretty naïve about what I wanted to buy – but the money was great!)
Most jobs come from this
The headhunter’s approach to matching people with jobs is very straightforward because it’s about helping ensure career success. It requires knowing lots of the right people in your professional community, and being privy to opportunities in good companies. This headhunter’s “big idea” is a life-long plan and it can readily be applied by earnest job seekers to optimize their career prospects. The more high quality relationships you have in and around your professional community, the better your career will be.
Here’s proof that it works: Most jobs are found and filled through personal contacts. That was true in pre-Internet days and it’s still true today.
And here’s why it works: Meeting new people leads to meeting more new people as all involved are drawn into a growing circle of friends.
Anyone can do it, but you must start by spending time with lots of people in your industry. You don’t need to always take them out for lunch or dinner, but it helps! Just don’t be transactional about it. Enjoy yourself! Then learn to introduce these folks to one another. You will become a respected hub of professional people in the real world.
That’s where jobs come from. And that’s where my best job candidates have usually come from.
Career Success: Go be nice to people
To say this is difficult to do because you have a full-time job is no excuse. If you don’t make time to do this, you will not have time to do it when you need to change jobs.
I was 24 and clueless about business. Wisely, Harry didn’t try to teach me anything about business too soon. He taught me about human nature. So, when perplexed job hunters and hiring managers ask me to reduce “the headhunter’s approach” to a simple statement, that’s what I say: “Go be nice to people. Do favors. For free.” It’s simple, and it works — if you do it instead of applying for jobs via automated systems that send you rejection mails five minutes after you apply.
Oh. There’s one other important thing Harry told me that you need to know. “Don’t expect anything in return.” (That will take care of itself, because after a while, the good you do for others comes around to you.)
I didn’t place more than about 10% of the engineers I met this way. In fact, sometimes they got jobs via my introductions without me always earning a fee. What I did always earn was their respect and trust — and loads of excellent referrals to engineers and hiring managers. Go be nice to people is the best strategy for career success I know. (For more about this, see How Can I Change Careers?)
What’s the best advice you ever got about career success?
: :
If making friends is the only or best way to get a job then I’m screwed. As an adult I’ve been mostly alone socially and romantically, and I’ve had long stretches of unemployment, including currently, because I still haven’t figured out what other people learn when they are children with respect to socializing. I never found my fit socially when I was younger, so I’ve had trouble finding my fit professionally, since places where I think I would fit into the organizational culture are places where I can’t get interviews due to not having clarity on what type of work I wanted to do until after I already had a bachelor’s degree that no one would hire me for. And whatever I’ve been trying to do to make the type of connections that can get me in the back door or side door, instead of having to go through the front door, hasn’t worked.
@Robert: I know it can be difficult, especially if you might be an introvert or just naturally a bit awkward socially. I have an answer for that. Don’t talk about yourself. Ask the other person about them. While they talk, the pressure will be off you for a bit so you can gather your thoughts.
I’m sure that although you wish it were otherwise, you probably consider yourself awkward. You’re not. Your behavior may be. And trust me, you can change that. I’ve placed candidates who were among the most shy, awkward, introverted people – by showing them how to change just a bit at a time.
Please read this article:
https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/9205/networking-for-introverts-how-to-say-it
Please especially note the comments posted there by Larry B and Jeffrey Mann. (And then don’t miss Larry’s comments below on THIS article! He’s shared sage advice here for years!)
You might also find this one helpful:
https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/7866/how-can-shy-people-make-job-contacts
I know it can be daunting, and I know I don’t have to tell you that you have to start somewhere. Please try. The worst that will happen is that it won’t work the first time. That’s why we try again.
I wish you the best. (If you try this approach, feel free to return here with questions.)
Nick
People love to talk about themselves.
Just maybe ask a question about something you know that they know about, or have a story to tell. Look interested (be interested if possible), and listen. Go, “Oh really?” or “Uh-huh!” now and then, maybe ask a brief open-ended follow-up question (e.g., “When was that?”). Chuckle from time to time if appropriate. You learn all kinds of interesting things.
Start with friendly people.
Be of service to others.
Hmmm… Nick, I have always tried to be useful to others only to find out that I was being used most of the time. I am now actually unlearning that attitude, regretfully so, but it has proven couterproductive for me. I know part of it is where you are setting the limits of your being helpful to others, and also in which area you are trying to be “the hub”. But in the corporate world you really need to have some ruthlessness in order to actually build a professional position.
I wonder what others readers think of it.
@Malgosia: I don’t think of it as ruthlessness but as perseverance. I get used sometimes, too, but I don’t let it slow me down. There ARE good people out there. Like good jobs, they’re worth finding. If I encounter 10 users in a row, I remind myself that I need just ONE person with integrity and compassion, and they always appear if I keep trying.
I’d love to know what others, think, too.
Great idea for “:neurotypicals.” Tough for some people on the spectrum who would otherwise be wonderful and productive additions to a company.
Not Nick’s job to cover everything for every reader, of course, so perhaps Nick could have a guest column from someone who helps people on the spectrum navigate the networking part of careers.
@Michael: Please check the links I suggested to Robert above, and add this:
https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/11709/good-networking
The classic book to teach social skills is Dale Carnegie’s “How to win friends and influence people”.
@Dale: I’m a fan of “your book!”
Absolutely agree with Nick. Meet with as many people as possible and be as helpful as possible. It keeps you in the middle of what is going on and gives you options when you hit a wall.
This has worked for me several times:
– as a PM I would wander over to designers and implementers I knew to see if they were free to work on my projects. I had a reputation for working with and protecting my people so they usually got onboard. The manager of the group was pretty amenable to this arrangement. One day he said “do you know why I’m happy to help”. I said I wasn’t. He said “when I was an Operator you took the time to discuss how the systems worked and it helped me”.
– my group got taken over by the manager from hell so my interactions with other managers allowed me to parachute out. I also managed to drag two of my colleagues out of the dumpster fire.
– I took two years off due to a health issue that was resolved. I applied to the outsource company that took over our roles. They said fine but you start on Monday. I only had an interview because I insisted they had a good look at me. Seems my old colleagues said “grab her”.
No ulterior motives. Just be generous and interested. Do a lot of listening and talking.
@Margaret: You’re proof of what I suggested to Malgosiai above. People like you exist. We gravitate toward you. We don’t need many of you!
Great story, Nick! It’s always interesting to hear about the foundations of a successful career.
I can’t say any one piece of advice really drove my career. It was more observing others and making mistakes that led to enlightenment. I’m retired now, but still get inquiries from students and recent graduates from my alma mater. I’m mentoring a couple right now, and always tell them, “When you’re the grizzled old veteran and a shiny new student comes for help, don’t forget how it was for you back then.” Also, the first thing I tell them is to subscribe to ATH and follow Nick’s advice. It’s like investing for retirement: The sooner you start using ATH methodology, the better off your career will be. So thanks from all of us to you.
@Larry: I’ll take the compliment and thanks for all the great advice you’ve generously shared here over the years. I love to tell people that the best part of this website is the comments!
Dear Nick, My approach to business is I give everything away for free, but I make it up in volume. The more you help other people, the more you help yourself. A very simple business philosophy.
Regards, Matt
I’m late to the party. Great article & advice, which is also a good treatise on “How to build a network”. I’m seemingly retired these days, & at times help job hunters & that’s one piece of advice I give them, which I think I got from you, directly or indirectly over the years.
I’ve a # of # 1 pieces of advice I picked up over the years.
#1 Good networking is about giving & getting. You help as well as asking for help.
#1. Most people want to help. But You need to help people help you. Make it clear to them how you want to be “pitched” in language they understand. e.g a profile of your targeted job content , the kind of company you’d like to work for. and the kind of person you’d like to work for. Ideally someone in your network will recognize the “perfect” match. More likely, as the song goes “Two out of three ain’t bad. Here’s an example of NOT doing that. On one of my unemployment gigs I had a friend/contact. We worked together at one time in the Software development world. Both in Software QA Mgmt. He had good contacts in a company that developed s/w. He offered to connect me inside. And took my resume to the Dept. head …..and pitched me as a Dev Mgr. Could I have done that? Yes. But to a goose stepping Dev Mgr…no. I assumed he knew that…my bad. I violated one of my own mantras ….never assume. I should have prepped him on how & who to pitch me.
#1. Got this one from an outplacement speaker. Never assume people you don’t like or vs versa won’t help. This is business. Note aforementioned idea that networks flow 2 ways. Example: I followed that advice & reached out to a past boss’s boss. One of those types whose picture you’ve pinned on your cork board…but with the pin through his head… Kind of the person you’d expect to laugh you out of his PC when you asked for help. To my amazement, he jumped on it, offering a lot of useful advice & leads.
#1. Follow up. If someone gives you a lead, respect that & them. Follow up ASAP. They most likely have paved a way for you within their network and/or directly to a decision maker lead. Even if for some reason it’s not your cup of tea follow up. Example: I was an expat back in the day. The company shut down my project & I was on the market 10000 miles and the Pacific ocean away from home base. A great contact/friend of mine, as soon as he found out, reached into his network & referred me to the CEO of a company in our industry/biz. A great contact. My world was falling apart & was juggling a lot of things. The next day I got a call from my friend (not a shy man) who tore me a new one!!! About my lack of timely follow up. Which I did and which got me an interview. So I’m a big believer in following up. In the world of networking, working, job hunting on both sides of the table one must respect the importance and value of following up. When I refer people to someone I’ve laid the groundwork for that someone to who I think is a good lead, based on knowing both of them & my belief there’s a fit. I don’t throw people’s names around without running it by them 1st. So when I follow through and set up a connection I don’t like hearing from my contact “Hey what happened to xxxx, I never heard from them.” When someone connects you their credibility is riding along with you. So respect that…and guess what FOLLOW UP. Even if on reflection, you don’t think it’s for you. Otherwise you leave your contacts street cred swinging in the breeze.
Nick’s advice is to learn to be your own headhunter. One of the things I found very useful being a recruiter (ditto for headhunting) is that it’s educational. You may be well acquainted with an industry, certain vocations, but in the course of career/job matchmaking you move outside your box and meet new people and their vocations. And with that, growing opportunities. So it’s not going to kill you to take the advice of someone seemingly you respect & explore new ground.