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&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot; align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;Maybe you don&#39;t see how networking can pay off.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sure, you&#39;ll talk to a few interesting people here and there, but you&#39;re not sure how you get from having a chat with someone at a networking event to a job offer down the line.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is one chat with someone enough to make them see you as the next perfect hire next time their company is hiring? Can it lead to anything more than niceties and a new LinkedIn connection?&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Well, the truth is that it can (and does) lead to more--a lot more every day.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The trick is knowing how to follow up effectively to keep the lines of communication open. Following up an initial conversation and carrying on a long-term relationship that leads to these things is something that anyone can do. It simply takes extra effort that most people are not willing to do (or just don&#39;t know how).&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this post, I&#39;ll explain a way you can do this, and I&#39;ll share some scripts to help you get started.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Let&#39;s say you hit it off with Hilary at an HR conference. Sitting at the same breakfast table, you two wind up having a pleasant conversation and exchange business cards. You don&#39;t see her again for the rest of the conference, but you&#39;d like to follow up with her.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps Hilary is someone who can forward your resume onto her HR manager in the future, and you might be able to land a great job at her company, but how do you make that happen?&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This process is like planting seeds. You plant as many seeds as you can, and you never know when one of them will be ready to produce fruit.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The follow-up script below gives you a reason to stay in touch with people you&#39;ve talked to once. When you use this, you won&#39;t come off as sleazy, sales-y or desperate because you&#39;re sincerely thinking about them and caring about what they would want first. Use this script to establish a relationship, which is what leads to job offers down the line. These scripts are examples from real networking emails I&#39;ve sent. Notice how it just feels like I&#39;m talking to another one of my friends!&lt;strong&gt;&#160;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A simple &quot;thank you&quot; message isn&#39;t enough. Everyone sends that! How do you go beyond that to make helping you a no-brainer?&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here&#39;s how...&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Thank you (Same Day)&lt;/strong&gt;&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hi Hilary,&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I absolutely enjoyed meeting you today at the (HR Conference) and sharing stories about company events. I will check out that catering company you mentioned and possibly use them next time! I&#39;ll let you know how it goes, and of course, please let me know if there&#39;s anything I can do to pay you back!&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;-Natalie&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Comments: Notice a reference to a specific thing we talked about and the particular action I&#39;m going to take, showing that I was fully engaged and paying attention to what she had to say. This email ends with a friendly offer to help and asks nothing of Hilary.&lt;/em&gt;&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. Add Value (1-2 weeks later)&lt;/strong&gt;&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hey Hilary,&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I saw this article in the local tech newspaper, and it reminded me of what you said about small startups not putting enough focus on their HR practices! No reply needed--I just wanted you to see this because it&#39;s EXACTLY what you had talked about! I think you might be a bit of a psychic or something.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;-Natalie&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Comments: This email is where things start to become surprising. The person receiving your email likely didn&#39;t expect to hear back from you. Almost nobody follows up beyond one email. Here, I&#39;m sending Hilary a valuable and fascinating resource, perhaps one she can use to show her manager or co-workers to say, &quot;Hey, look! I was right.&quot; It can be any material — an article, blog post, photo, whatever — of something you know that she will find interesting. Plus, it doesn&#39;t hurt to compliment!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;How do you know what she&#39;ll find interesting? Because, during your meeting, you were paying attention.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Finally, notice the phrase used in the last sentence: &quot;No reply needed.&quot; This is music to a busy person&#39;s ears. For example, I get 100+ emails/day, and do you know what most of them want? They want something from me. When you can say &quot;No reply needed,&quot; and send me something I find fascinating, I now love you. It&#39;s that simple.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. 2-3 Weeks later&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hi Hilary,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to give you an update: I hired that catering company, and I dealt with Mary, the owner. You were totally right — they were amazing (and reasonably priced)! &#160;They are positively a fit for us, and we&#39;re going to contract them for our next user conference, where we&#39;re expecting at least 200 people. If there&#39;s anyone else you can recommend, please let me know.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thanks again! I&#39;ll let you know how it goes.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;-Natalie&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Comments: Here, I show Hilary that I took action on what she suggested, which is an instant &#39;stand-out&#39; moment from 99% of other people. Notice I named specific names, let her know she was right, etc. In the last three sentences, there are also two other things happening. What are they?&lt;/em&gt;&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The simplicity of this follow-up sequence technique contradicts its effectiveness. It seems so obvious — until you use it. Then its true magic shines through.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you&#39;re interested in a deep-dive look on using networking to get job offers, download my complete and comprehensive guide, &#39;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nataliefisher.ca/coffee-chat-job-offers&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Ultimate Guide To Setting Up Coffee Chats That Lead To Job Offers&#39;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;-----------&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt; &lt;em&gt;Natalie Fisher is an enthusiastic HR Generalist who loves her job! She&#39;s been on over 50 interviews and received 48 job offers. Download her Free Guide:&#160;&lt;a href=&quot;http://nataliefisher.ca/job-interview/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;How to Nail an Interview You&#39;re Unqualified For.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&#160;&lt;/p&gt;

Natalie Fisher

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