Make Connections To Help Your Career

May 24, 2010

Interview with Casey Hawley, author of the book 10 Make-or-Break Career Moments: Navigate, Negotiate, and Communicate for Success

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Mike Carruthers:
In the quest to further your career or just get a new job the conventional advice is to get out there and network, but there’s more to it than that.

Casey Hawley:
Especially if you’re in the job market today, you’re trying to think, “How can I market, me, me, me.” But really the way to be most winsome is to think about the other person.

Casey Hawley, author of the book 10 Make-or-Break Career Moments, says the purpose of these encounters, getting out there and networking, is not to ask for a job.

What you want to carry away is a connection or a relationship. You want that person to remember you as a thoughtful intelligent person who hasn’t asked the same questions that everyone else has asked – that you’re memorable in a good way.

Because making connections with people is so important, whether they’re hiring or they know someone who’s hiring – it’s all about connections.

Whether it’s with an interviewer or a networking contact – it’s a little bit like falling in love – there is some chemistry there. And most of the time the people doing the hiring are going to be looking at resumes and everyone’s going to be similarly qualified. So the chemistry is important.

And Casey says the way to make a connection is to simply be interested.

So if you begin to ask them about things that they think about. “What are you thoughts about this? When you think about the future what are you thinking about?” People love to talk about that. People love for others to ask their opinion but it has to be somewhat focused on the business.
 

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here.