A Desi’s approach to Networking in US

Context: You’re in US of A pursuing masters. You’re puzzled on how to go about networking for Internships/full-time opportunities.

I am no expert in Networking. However, I offer a perspective since I’ve spoken to hundreds while pursuing Master of Engineering & Management and continue to actively network and help friends and acquaintances, by being a part of their job/opportunity search. On a weekly basis, I interact with 5 folks at least. Case Study presented below is a framework that I outline to folks who reach out.

Case Study

Let’s imagine it is November 2018. Ashok is a first semester student at University of Southern California pursuing Master’s in Computer Science. He aspires to get a Software Engg Internship/full-time opportunity in the following summer.

Note: I’ve left out fall career fair since Ashok is still a newbie in town and fall career fair may be his first US job/internship experience.

November 2018

He identifies top 8 metropolitan areas well known for IT jobs. Identifies folks in his network (1st Degree / 2nd Degree Connections) who reside in these cities and have a sound knowledge of hiring scenes in their respective cities. I call them ambassadors. I categorize Companies into three tiers. For the sake of simplicity I’ll mention just two.

Tier-1, consists of Facebooks and Googles — companies which have offices in all prominent US tech cities. They are part of Fortune 500 group and getting into these companies is obviously difficult even if you have a referral.

Tier-3 — Startups like FullStory, OneTrust etc, — which show a lot of promise and these may generally not be well published, and students outside of cities (these companies are from) may not have heard or know them.

The reason Ashok identifies ambassadors has got more to do with identifying and seizing opportunities at Tier-3 companies than at Tier-1 companies since these (Tier-1) are generally very well known and have > 200 applicants for a job opening on an average. Knowing locals gives Ashok an edge over others since he not only has to access to a traditional Startup Database like AngelList but also possesses or has access to contextual hiring knowledge thanks to these ambassadors. Since these startups have low number of applicants and with a referral, he stands a solid chance to get a call from a Tier-3 company.

Note: Above categorization is simplistic. It is obvious that there can be many layers in categorizing companies such as: Industry, Domain, Revenue Size, Public/Private, etc..

December 2018

Medium: LinkedIn

Ashok invests time in fine tuning his Linkedin profile. He composes a couple of original posts related to domain/line of work he is interested to work in. He gives a impression to his network that he is passionate about working in Software Engineering and is not in it only for money. He tries to reach out to folks via Linkedin but hardly gets any responses; the fact that one gets < 50% response rate shouldn’t deter him/her from continuing to network.

Most of the folks who reach out to me do not have original content related to their subject matter. Updating headline to say ‘Seeking full-time opportunities in X..’ does not make the cut. Just because you update headline, no HR recruiter would take time and visit your profile. Profile visits are driven by viral content. Invest time in original content. Make yourself visible in HR recruiters’ feed. LinkedIn is an awesome platform, make the most of it. Don’t expect a reply from your network if ‘Can you refer me for this job’ is the first thing you ask.

January 2019

Ashok contacts his immediate friends circle and their friends to know folks and expand his network. He engages them on a phone call or two to know their professional journey and see if opportunities exist at their respective companies. He tries to establish a good rapport by following a script for every networking phone call. He’s not going to ask for a referral straight away, a strict No-No!

• Can you tell me a little bit about your professional journey?
• What was your experience like when you first started off here in the US?
• What do you enjoy the most about your current role?
• I am planning to make a move into X industry. Do you have some pointers for me?
• Do you know if any opportunities exist for X roles in your team / organization?
• Do you mind taking a look at my resume? I’d like some feedback…
• Based on the conversation we’ve had, do you some feedback for me, positive or negative?

I prefer following agile methodology when networking for an internship/full-time. Have a Trello board setup with tasks to be completed in the next two weeks. In the end, review how many tasks get completed and conduct a retrospective to know what could’ve gone better, what went well, and take that feedback into planning the next two weeks.

February-March 2019

Ashok prepares a list of companies and roles he’s interested in that he came to know from the networking and exploratory sessions. Follow-up conversations ensue with contacts he’s already established good rapport with. Tries to apply for summer internships by seeking a few referrals. Practices mock interviews (content and rounds depend upon domain one’s trying to get into), Interviews for roles, and gets a summer internship.

Emphasize on getting resume reviewed during the course of networking. Complement the resume reviews done by your university career center with critiques provided by folks in the industry. Career center members will know English, formatting, and grammar but their critique may lack contextual knowledge of domain eg: Software Engineering, which will be accentuated by industry connections.

Having resume reviewed by several folks and a prior career fair experience, Ashok tries to spend some time prepping for Spring Career Fair. In my experience career fairs are usually not that successful for international students.

How much should one network?

Role: For highly technical roles, where attributes are measured along technical lines, online applications will mostly work and little bit of networking will not hurt. However, business/management roles rely heavily on networking since soft skills are the core essence of some of the roles. More you network, more you spend time talking to people, it only helps you step up your soft skills game and crush interviews.

Industry: For consulting roles straight out of college, pay heed to the career fair since these consulting companies usually have rigid hiring cycles (Spring and Fall Career Fair) and may not entertain lateral entries. From what I’ve gathered, hiring cycles in airline industry is similar to consulting; rigid and tough to get into outside of career fair(s). For early stage and growth stage startups, these hiring cycles may be irregular and not as rigid as consulting. They usually want to interview a candidate for full-time closer to his/her graduation rather than hire in fall for someone whose OPT starts next summer.

Key takeaways

Via the networking extravaganza, I’ve learned that everybody one talks to may not be resourceful or helpful. As Andrew Carnegie puts, “Dealing with people is lot like digging gold. To get an ounce of gold you’ve to move through tons of dust.” Never lose hope. Always believe in yourself. Always believe in the fact that answers you get are only as good as questions you ask.

I empathize with folks looking to break into their field of choice in the US. I’ve created a whatsapp group along with another like-minded individual in order to facilitate networking and open source my network for others. A sense of satisfaction descends when I come to know I’ve played a small part in someone’s journey towards their dream role in the US. In sum, my objective of networking has always been to build lasting relationships and not just seek one-off referral. With this in mind, I’m constantly trying to be of value to others in my network and seek feedback when necessary.

If you’d like to know more about my views on networking, or get your resume reviewed, or practice mock interviews related to product management, or would like help seeking opportunities, please feel free to contact me on LinkedIn.