day 2 Harvard–networks and next steps
Photo Credit: Michael Blackburn
Day two at Harvard’s Charting Your Course program focused on building networks and formulating next steps. Pam Lassiter, author of The New Job Security (a Wall Street Journal award winner), and career consultant, discussed strategies to establish networks, develop your elevator story, and position yourself as product to be packaged and sold to potential employers. (That means developing your own brand positioning statement!)
Pam recommended developing a system to keep track of all your contacts and classify them according to an “ABC” system.
A - people you Already know
B - people that may offer you a Bridge to someone you should know
C - real Contacts that are decision makers regarding potential employment
She also cautioned the group to only use real contacts when you were fully ready to present yourself in your best, most professional and career-focused state of mind. Do not utilize those contacts to help you decide what you want to do, that is what the A’s, people you already know, trust, friends and family, are for. On the subject of networking, she emphasized that this is a barter relationship with an exchange of help or information that demands reciprocity.
Simply stated, offer unsolicited help when needed and others will be more willing to help you. She introduced the concept of the “strength of weak ties,” providing some evidence that most jobs or valuable contacts often surface from your weaker connections, i.e., the friend of a friend or spouse of a friend, someone you just met at a conference.
