Welcome to Honor & Purpose Premium Edition Newsletter. Here we will take a deeper dive into topics relative to military - civilian transition. Each week is designed to help develop strategies, discover new techniques, and learn from those who've gone before you.
Networking
Have you ever experienced that phenomena where you barely notice a word for a long time than once you hear it with some context and focus it suddenly seems that you see and hear that word everywhere? It seems like everyone is talking about it and using it and you’re late to the party. That was my experience with networking. Once I started my transition that seemed to be the thing that everyone talked about. Update your LinkedIn, join this group, talk to this person, and the list goes on. Just to build “my network”. Like many, I of course, started blindly doing the above but never was really sure what I was supposed to get out of it, how to approach it, and definitely how to measure if my efforts moved the needle or not.
I think most of us have a general sense of what networking is and how it could be beneficial in theory. We get that by definition networking is: the exchange of ideas and information between professionals to expand their network, learn about job opportunities and stay up to date on news and trends in their field.
The definition isn’t where the struggle is for most transitioning service members. It’s in the execution. Most transition programs will tell you that you need to network to be successful but beyond giving you some tips for your LinkedIn profile, many programs fall short on the execution piece.
Having talked with 100’s of transitioning service members coming through my company’s Skill Bridge Fellowship program, an obvious common thread is that they have all been told to network but never really given the tools on how to do it. What are the best practices, what questions do I ask, is there a protocol, how do they find and approach someone? Those are questions that consistently come up from each new batch of transitioning service members.
This has always left me thinking that the current military transition environment seems to recognize that networking is important but has not integrated a solid “how to” into the transition process. That part is really up to the individual to find out. The issue isn’t lack of available resources, there are plenty out there. The issue, as I see it, is that just telling transitioning service members that they need to network isn’t a strong enough catalyst for them to seek out additional resources. That surface level knowledge doesn’t get them into a mindset of how to execute a networking plan until they really need one and by then time is working against them.
A Light Bulb Moment
The event that really drove the importance of networking home for me was at a forum I attended at my company. We are fortunate in that one of our senior VPs is a Veteran and a champion of our Military Fellowship program. He holds a monthly forum of current and past military fellows that are now full time employees. Every month we somehow always seem to discuss networking in some shape or form. As I looked at all the former military fellows that were now employees I realized we had a common thread too. Our networks helped get us hired, either directly or indirectly.
I experienced this fist hand during my transition. I, like I mentioned above, got a late start and had been struggling trying to connect with the right people. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity I was able to get an “informational interview” set up with some leaders that actually had hiring authority. In the end I wasn’t what they were looking for, but one of those leaders passed my name to a peer of his in a different department. Ultimately, that is where I ended up doing my Skill Bridge time and eventually converted to a full time role. As we all talked in this forum, we all had similar stories. That’s the power of networking, but what made us successful over others? Was it luck, timing, or something we did that positioned us for an opportunity. Certainly there was some element of chance, but what made our stories similar was the approach and execution of our networking.
That’s the thread I want to pull on for this series. I know that was a very long set up, but I feel that context is needed. The next few weeks will be a look into the execution side of networking. What works and why, and just as important what doesn’t work. Ways to make the experience less “salesy” and more natural and does volume matter are some other topics that we’ll dig into. For this issue, we are going to start with purpose.
Purpose
On the surface this seems like a no-brainer. Obviously people, transitioning service members included, network as a way to find job opportunities. I get that and that is not what we are trying to uncover here. For networking to really work well and to be more natural there needs to be a deeper meaning behind it. This will provide the direction and focus that is needed to be effective.
One way to start this and really find your purpose is to build an outline that can help you answer, what do I want to get out of my network? Understanding your own 'why' will pay huge dividends as you start connecting with people. One way to do this is to actually write out a purpose statement. Something like “I want my network to help be build relationships, identify opportunities, expand my knowledge in my field, enhance my visibility, and provide support.
To be clear, every person you talk to doesn’t need to check off every box in your statement. They should, however, check off more than one. Having this outline and understanding of where you want to go with your networking helps you focus your efforts. You’ll be able to recognize the type of person you want to connect with rather than just trying to connect with as many as possible.
This understanding of your why can and should be refined as you go as well. It’s not static and as you gain experience you’ll be able to get more specific with your purpose. Most importantly though, having a purpose identified will aid you in developing questions or topics to discuss when you connect with someone. These will be naturally genuine and have focus compared to something that you may find on the internet on “how to network” or that was passed to you from a peer. A thought out purpose is the first step in being more effective with networking. It allows you to be genuine with your connections which will already help you stand out in a positive way and make the connection seem a lot less transactional.
This is a good place to pause and reflect. There is much more on this subject that we’ll cover in the coming weeks, but we can’t dive into those without having a sense of purpose first.