One of the things I heard repeatedly during my transition out of the military was this elusive “veteran network” that I was going to access in order to…do things? It was something I heard about constantly, but I had no idea where it was or what I was supposed to do with it. Sounds like prom night, right?
When I finally found it, I realized that it was literally everywhere and that I still had no idea how to use it. I started by blindly messaging anyone who had ever served in the military, regardless of where they were, what they did or how I found them. I sent out a very generic message and then checked my email habitually to discover that I wasn’t really gaining much traction. I won’t claim to have learned all of these tricks back then, but now that I have been on the other side of that email, I understand where I was going wrong. Let’s walk through the basics of networking with veterans.
LEARN YOUR STORY
I am guilty of breaking this one from the beginning and I’m certain it cost me a few opportunities. I saw immediate results the second I changed it. I knew what industry I wanted to work in and I knew the companies in that industry, so I assumed I was ready to make it happen. I was wrong. I had no idea what to say to them in my initial message to get a response. Now that I’ve been on the other side of these emails, I have an even better understanding of how important it is to know you story. Why should they help you? What do you want? These are the two main questions that have to be addressed the first time you contact someone, and it has to be short and convincing. You have to catch their attention with the Subject Line and then make the message something they want to read.
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
Obviously, step 1 is to make sure they know you’re a veteran (but you did this in the subject line, right?). This first sentence is about letting them know why you’re THE veteran that they need to help. Maybe you served in the same branch, or you’re from the same town, or you went to the same college. Whatever similarities you have, they need to know immediately. This gives the reader a sense of familiarity with you, and it’s proven that people like to do things for people they like – who doesn’t like someone just like them?
WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
Why are you qualified for the opportunity you’re asking for help with? This doesn’t need to be a paragraph of ramblings and include your full resume. You WANT to leave them hanging and wondering what else you’re up to, but you also need to show that you’ve been preparing for this opportunity. Use this portion to tell them what you’re studying, what jobs you’ve had that helped you prepare for the one you’re trying to get, and other mentors you’ve worked with to prepare. This shows them that you didn’t just hear about this opportunity yesterday and thought you would check it out. This is something you’ve been working towards with purpose, and now you feel like you’re ready to tackle it.
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?
This really has two components. What YOU want to do and what you want THEM to do. If there is one portion of this initial contact that is crucial, this is it. Most people make a HUGE mistake in their initial email and it is typically the difference between me responding or not. Tell them what you want to do – “My goal is to begin my career in the _________ industry”. Simple enough, right? Next comes the part that people seem to have the most difficulty with – what you want them to do. You know, and they know, that you want them to help you get an interview or an introduction or a resume passed along. What you don’t know is that they don’t want to be asked…yet. What you want them to do is “Share with me how you got into the industry and what your experiences have been like so far”. That sentence, or some version of it, will increase your chances of getting a response 1,000 times over. Why?
People LOVE to talk about themselves
If there’s one thing a person loves, it’s to tell someone else their story. I don’t know that I’ve ever used that line in an email and not received a reply. What you have done with this sentence is turn the conversation away from inconveniencing them by asking for a favor, and allowed them to share their incredible story with someone who wants to be like them. Works every time. When you get a response from them, it’s time to get your game face on and continue to ease them towards what they’re ultimately going to do for you.
KNOW WHAT YOU WANT
Okay – you’ve buttered them up and paid for their drinks. It’s time to convince them to give you their number. Preparation for your initial conversation with your new-found friend is crucial, so make sure you have done this prior to contacting them. Thanks to the wonder of the internet, you’ll be armed to the teeth with knowledge of the industry, their company, and additional information that will catch them off guard and make them take notice.
KNOW THE INDUSTRY
- Key issues in the industry today
- Changes that have occurred in the industry
- Major players in the industry
- Where the industry is headed
KNOW THE KEY PLAYERS
- Which companies do you like?
- Why are certain companies more attractive than others?
- How does a certain company fit you specifically?
BONUS POINTS
- Industry groups you’ve been following
- Different corporate cultures at different companies
- News that isn’t in the headlines
- Specifics about their company or employees
If you can have a working knowledge of the bullet points above, you will show them that you’ve been learning about this industry for a long time and that you have taken the time to be prepared for their time they’ve set aside for you. Even if they don’t believe that you genuinely care about all of the things you’re talking about, they will appreciate the fact that you have taken so much time to prepare for the conversation. That goes a long way. The specifics about their company just continues to build the idea that the two of you are similar, and that will keep them by your side above anyone else’s.
“People will recognize and appreciate that you have taken the time to prepare for the conversation”
LET’S MEET THE CONTESTANTS
Alright! You’ve drafted up a few variations of your initial message and you’ve researched until you thought your eyes were going to bleed. Now we need to figure out how long the list of contacts is going to be (I’d say long to quite long). You have access to a huge group of people to help you, but there are a few key segments that are easy to find who we’ll focus on. People in the industry, people formerly in the industry, and people in related industries – those are the major groups. Within each of those groups we’ll take an even more targeted approach, and that’s the reason for multiple variations of the initial message.
VETERANS
This on is a no-brainer. They will have the highest rate of return and the most loyalty to helping you and only you. The initial group you want to find are veterans who served in your branch, are from your hometown, or went to the same college as you. Once you’ve compiled that list, broaden your net to other branches of the military who are from your hometown or college. Remember, you’re doing this for people currently in the industry, formerly in the industry, and in related industries. This list will seem like enough on its own, but we want as many contacts as possible to begin with so who’s next?
ALUMNI
Although they may not all be veterans (poor bastards), they all went to the same school as you and there is loyalty there. This is also the easiest group of people to search because your university maintains an alumni database that they’ll share with you. You can typically filter these lists by career or degree, which allows you to focus on the people most likely to be in a position to help you. Your school’s Veteran Group is also a great resource. They are usually more tightly knit than the broad student base, which means more detailed information and better likelihood of getting a response from any contacts.
ORGANIZATION IS KEY
Now that you have all of these contacts, they are going to start blurring together. You’re going to have veterans who work in the industry, some went to your school and some didn’t. Some used to work in the industry,and were in a different branch of the military. You’re going to send them all similar messages at almost the same time, and you’re going to get responses that all sound very similar. If you want to avoid letting any chances slip through the cracks, do yourself a favor and organize them in an Excel file. Include column headings such as:
- Name
- School
- Military Y/N
- Branch
- Company
- Former Company
- Hometown
- Source
- Original Message Date
- Response Date
- Conversation Notes
- Next Contact Date
- Priority
It may seem like a lot of information to put into a file, but it will help you from stepping on your own toes down the road. I used this when I was networking for my first job out of college and it was incredibly helpful. I would jot notes in from our conversations that weren’t major talking points and then mention them in our next conversation. I could always tell that they noticed when I mentioned something small from a previous discussion. So now you know who you need to find and where you’re going to find them, but how are you going to find them?
HELLO INTERNET
There is really only one tool you need to find every person that we outlined above and that is the mighty and all-powerful LinkedIn. I don’t know if there has ever been a greater creation in the history of the internet. Sometimes I feel like I owe a portion of my salary to the folks over there. The level of detail that you can use to search for people is so incredible it should almost be illegal. This part will be easy, but thinking outside of the box will give you a competitive edge. Using the different groups we discussed above, you can set filters for your search on LinkedIn and find large groups of contacts quickly. You can search by:
- Current Industry
- Former Industry
- Current Company
- Former Company
- Location
The list of filters goes on and on, but the ones listed above will be the best for searching for prior military members currently working in the industry you’re interested in. You can also search by company name and look at current employees to see if you have a connection with them that you were unaware of. The options for LinkedIn are endless, so think outside of the box during your search and you may turn up contacts that you hadn’t originally considered. Once you have compiled all of the names and companies from your search, use that information to go to the company website or just use google to search for any information you were unable to get via LinkedIn. You may be able to find details that are more personal, such as achievements or recognition they’ve received. You can contact them via LinkedIn, so tracking down their email isn’t necessarily important right now.
“LinkedIn is your greatest asset for Networking”
THE POINT OF CONTACT
This is it! You’ve crafted your story, completed your research, tracked down potential contacts, and organized them. The day has finally come to begin sending out your fine-tuned initial messages to contacts. It may be hard to resist, but don’t email them all at the same time. The last thing you want is to check your inbox and see that you have 35 replies that you need to respond to immediately. Half of them will answer your question in the email, while others will recommend that you set up a phone call or meet in person to discuss their story. That’s a lot of planning and responding to organize in one chunk of time. The best way to go about it is to divide the entire group of contacts up into groups by priority. A veteran who works in the industry and grew up in your hometown is much more likely to be helpful than an alumni who works in a related industry, so use that as a way to loosely classify contacts. I always kept it simple and used a scale from 1-5 (5 being the best person to help me). You may have to figure out your own pace, but I always liked to send my initial message to a group on Monday morning at about 7:00. It’s not so early that they think you’re insane, but it’s in their inbox when they check their email for the first time that day. I also found that Monday seems to be the time when people are most likely to check their email diligently as they’re “starting a fresh week” and haven’t been beaten down by work problems or coworker issues all weekend. Start by contacting all of the lowest priority contacts first. This may seem strange, but there’s a method to my madness. Contacting these first accomplishes 2 things:
- It is likely less of these will reply, so you won’t get bombarded initially by emails
- You can use the discussions with these contacts to practice for the big fish at the end of the list
Clever, huh? By the time you work your way down to the final group of contacts, you will have had dozens of conversations via email, in person, and over the phone with people from various backgrounds working for different companies in and around the industry. You can use these conversations as “practice rounds” as well as material for your most important contacts. You may pick up little tidbits of advice from these early conversations about industry topics, company specifics, or things that hiring managers find important. You can work those into your later conversations and stand out from the crowd.
“Use lower priority contacts as practice sessions for the more valuable contacts”
YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH
This is similar to that initial message, but will be used when you get the inevitable question “Tell me about yourself”. I will do a full post on elevator pitches because they are so important, but here are the headlines:
- Keep it short and simple
- Who you are
- What you want to do
- How you’ve prepared to do it
Each one of those bullet points only gets the attention of one or two sentences, so you need to have it dialed in tight. You can use your initial message as a starting point and expand on that. Just as the name implies, this is designed to get your entire message across, as well as give the person an impression of what kind of person you are, in the length of an elevator ride. Often times, that’s all the time you’ll get of someone’s undivided attention to sell them on yourself.
THE LIFE (AND DEATH) OF A CONTACT
Initial message – You know this one – the key to the front door of every contact. Without one that works, you’re not getting any further.
Follow-Up – They may respond by giving you a short blurb about their story, or they may request to talk. If it’s the former, you need to have a follow-up email that can further entice them to speak with you or engage in conversation. Pick things they mentioned in their initial response and ask open-ended questions about those points. If the tone of their initial response was friendly, you may list a few of these questions and end the email by saying “I know I asked a lot of somewhat detailed questions, so if it would be easier to answer them over the phone please let me know”. That is a very polite (and a little sneaky) way of soliciting a phone conversation where you can begin to form a relationship with them that is difficult with a stranger via email.
The Big Ask – If they haven’t offered to by now, which many times they will have, it’s time to get them to do what you’ve wanted all along – help you. You have now had at least one or two conversations with this person in one form or another, so you have had the opportunity to feel them out. It’s time to ask them if they would feel comfortable helping you get into the industry. This will mean something different for every type of contact you have, but it can be anything from an introduction to an acquaintance of theirs, to submitting your resume, to giving you an interview. The key is asking for it very directly and then stop talking. Make them give you an answer by remaining silent.
Good News: The worst they can do is say “No”
Thank You – Take the time to thank the person, whether they helped you or not. If you got a reply to your initial message and that was it, thank them. Just the possibility of seeing another email from you in their inbox, could solicit a reply offering to provide additional information if you need it. This happened to me once and caught me by surprise. I continued to send thank you notes to anyone who replied and many of them would reply telling me good luck and offering to answer any additional questions I had along the way. You keep those people in your back pocket in case you end up landing an interview at their company through a different contact.
Keep in Touch – The worst thing you can do is let a contact die. If you build a relationship with someone and ask for their help, they may not be hiring at that time or may have another reason that they can’t help immediately. That doesn’t mean they don’t want to help. Use your Excel list of contacts to make a note of why they couldn’t help and reach back out to them periodically. These messages shouldn’t be soliciting help, but could be in the form of new questions you thought of or something you saw in the news about the industry or company and wanted more information. It keeps your name in the front of their mind, so when a position opens up, you’re the on they think of.
A FEW FINAL THOUGHTS FROM NICK
Networking is definitely more art than it is science, but this method will take as much of the guess-work out of it as possible. Just like anything in life, there are going to be days where all you hear is “no”, followed by a conversation with the person that turns out to be your biggest fan. If you stick to this system and continue to practice your elevator pitch, create questions and research the industry and companies you’re interested in, you will come out ahead of the pack. Networking and interviewing is sort of like stumbling across a bear in the woods, you don’t have to outrun the bear – you just have to outrun your friend. You’re never going to be the perfect person for the perfect job at the perfect time. You just need to be more prepared and more connected than thee other guy.
I sincerely hope you find this helpful and use it to land your dream job. If you have questions or thoughts on my networking method, let me know in the comments below or email me at nick@veteranext.com.
Best,
Nick
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