Have you ever thought about using your personal connections to help you to find a new job?
You might already know what your friends and family members do for work, but it’s probably not the main topic of conversation. However, your siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, and their partners have a wealth of knowledge and connections to the places they work. They also care about you and want you to succeed! Try initiating that conversation with a friend or family member by following these steps:
- Ask them about their job. If they like what they do/where they work, try to understand what they like about it.
- Tell them about your career goals. Try to connect this to their job, if possible.
- If a natural connection or opportunity arises, offer to talk about it at another time that is convenient for them.
- If they mention someone outside of their job they think you should meet, follow up on their offer and make it as easy as possible to make the connection.
Here’s an example of how a real Rivet School fellow used their personal connections to help them get a job:
Mary’s cousin was working in the HR department at a large company. Mary didn’t know what HR involved so she reached out to her cousin and her Rivet School Career Coach who helped her realize that her previous job in operations was very related. After she applied for a position, she asked her cousin to speak with the hiring manager. Her cousin mentioned Mary’s application and commented on how impressive it was that she had been promoted from a Fabricator to an Operations Manager in her previous job. Mary got an interview which led to a job offer!
