Ted Zhao and I chat about what it takes to have productive coffee chats and networking conversations. Ted is a friend and colleague of mine at TELUS, and it was a pleasure to chat with him about this topic.
Some of the other questions we discussed included:
- Am I putting a friend in an awkward position if I ask them to connect me with someone they know or refer them for a job at their company?
- Do you think it ever makes sense to apply blindly to a role, or should you always try to network by reaching out to either the hiring manager or someone at the company?
- What questions should I ask the hiring manager when I reach out to them for a coffee chat? How much should I talk about myself and my own experience during the chat?
- How can I return the favour when someone agrees to have a coffee chat with me?
- What’s the number one obstacle why people don’t network and reach out to help?
- Are you a bad person if you don’t respond to networking requests?
- How honest should you be when people ask how you like your job?
- How well do you have to know someone to send them a connection request on LinkedIn? How well do you have to know them to ask them to connect you with someone?
This conversation was recorded on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021.
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