Thread by @iamgkadam

Reflecting on some career panels I participated in, networking was the buzzword that came up repeatedly. But what IS networking? How/why to do it?

A thread on what/how with some personal examples; I'll get to the why later (1/)

@AcademicChatter #careers #phdlife #altac

Networking, to me, most simply is making new *friends* who will _eventually_ help you *professionally*. It is those you you share something in common professionally (same industry, same kind of work etc) in contrast to personally (went to same college, like same music etc) (2/)

It takes a while to become good friends with someone. It's the same w/ networking - it takes time to build that bond, and need to be patient. One asks favours only from friends they know well - same for your networking connections. Start early, don't wait till you need a job (3/)

Now, *how* do you network? There are many, many ways. Easiest is to use your current network and expand from it.

Time for my story #1

3 yrs back, I wanted to find out about copyediting jobs - what it is, how much it pays, is it fun, how many opportunities exist etc. (4/)

I did this because I realised I liked editing and proofreading documents (more than writing them). I asked around with friends, family (my "network" at that time) if they knew anyone. Eventually, my professor had a cousin who had been a copyeditor. Bingo! (5/)

I asked if he'd be willing to "connect" me with her, and he obliged. He wrote an email to his cousin and me, "introducing" us to each other and why he was introducing me to her. I replied thanking him (very important), & asking her some of the Qs. (6/)

She replied with her answers, I then had more Q's, we exchanged multiple emails all of which helped me understand copyediting is fun but I most likely needed extra degree to get jobs. That was a 👎, BUT now she is part of my "network". I can always reach out later if needed. (7/)

Btw, what I did here is what's called an "informational interview". I collected info by this process while also establishing a new connection, but I didn't approach her with the goal of asking for a favour wrt a job. One should continuously do this from as early as possible (8/)

to expand understanding of options, build knowledge of what different jobs are really like (like, what *exactly* does it mean to be a scientist in industry? How's it different from academia?) These help one narrow down job options/related career paths to focus future efforts (9/)

A second way to network is to use social media, let's take Twitter as an example.

Story #2 from my experiences
There was this really interesting startup in London I came across but I did not know anyone there through my networks. But I started following their Twitter. (10/)

I would religiously check their new posts once every week not to miss a single post. When they posted something interesting (say, a video on their science or a post on their recent new partnership), I'd read more about it and then reply to the tweet, w/ something *unique* (11/)

For ex., One tweet was something like "this is really cool tech. Have you thought of applying it to problem X?" Or "this is very interesting. It probably must increase speed of process by 2 fold". Thus catching their attention. Eventually they followed me back (12/)

This now meant I could DM them! And I did, reiterating how cool their science is and starting a direct conversation. Then I asked if I could speak to one of the scientists, whose name and work I had already picked from LinkedIn and some googling, and they agreed! (13/)

Infact, this is how I got my first real job interview! #TrueStory
I didn't get the job but I did now know a couple of people through the interview process. I emailed them personally anyway and asked if ok to stay in touch, thus adding them to my network. That's a win! (14/)

A third way to network is of course to "cold email", ie send a message to someone you've never met or talked to in person (or virtually) before.

Story #3
I saw a job posted at a company that I found interesting. I again didn't know anyone there but wanted to ⬆️my chances. (15/)

The job ad said "will be part of the biochemistry team at <company> located in <city>". So I went on LinkedIn to find all employees in the company in that city using the search filters. I then used protein/purification/biochemistry/etc as keywords to narrow down more. (16/)

After an hour or so, I had 2 people, both mentioning "protein team lead" in the profile. So I sent them connection request, but importantly WITH a message. "I am a biophysics PhD, with purification experience of various soluble and membrane proteins. I wish to connect to.. (17/)

..ask about the role in your team, thank you"

After 2 weeks, one of them accepted. I then setup a time for a video chat, told her about my expertise, asked about the job etc., thus establishing a "connection". Then when I applied, my resume stood out because she knew me. (18/)

Thus I did get the interview, and later an offer.

And that's how networking can help one find professional contacts, learn about different jobs and potentially get you a job too! I'll add more to the thread later on why, and some more on how. (19/)

A work-in-progress thread you, or your networks, might find interesting.

@SabihaMajumder @BubblePeeking @PhDsofIndia @NcbsPdfa @brciitm @ab_ester @NLundsteen @sunillaxman @Grad_Careers

https://twitter.com/iamgkadam/status/1375967883466043396?s=20

Circling back a bit to story #2. I really like this one because it shows the power of social media as a way to grab attention. Our email inboxes today, whether you're a student or a professor, are overflowing. If an email comes from a unknown name, (20/)

https://twitter.com/iamgkadam/status/1375967959634575364?s=20

the chances are - given any humans time is limited - you'll look at it super quick, ignore it and move on. UNLESS your subject is ridiculously eye catchy, which isn't easy. So alternate ways to catch someone's attention is necessary, which is why I like using social media (21/)

It is time consuming, no question. One needs to invest time over many weeks to slowly build that impact and have many fruitful, engaging conversations with the other person to make them follow you and open up their DMs which are far less likely to be spammed than inboxes. (22/)

A related thing would be how you write your first direct communication (be it email or DM or anything) will determine chances of a successful convert. Shouldn't come across as too eager, or needy, or too pandering too. And most importantly, should be short and to the point (23/)

Long winding messages are a big let down - remember how we said earlier any single individual's time is limited? It's said more than 50% of audience in a 1h talk will decide by 7min mark if rest of the talk is worth listening to. Same for emails or any other communication! (24/)

This takes practice, trial and error. I took many months and many failed tries to slowly but surely improve. For instance, the social media story #2 was a successful instance, but behind it lay probably 15-20 unsuccessful ones. (25/)