Effective Online Networking: Building Connections
Welcome to part two of our two-part series on Effective Online Networking! If you missed, part one, I highly recommend you start by reading it here as I walk you through setting yourself up for online networking with an effective online presence and email templates. Today, we’ll focus on actually making connections online.
Seek Out Connections
The best way to find connections that will be easier to start conversations with is to search for lawyers who have something in common with you. Finding lawyers practising in your area of interest is a good first step, but if you can find an additional nexus such a graduate from your law school or another internationally trained lawyer this will help you create a deeper connection. Good places to look for such connections are your school’s Alumni group on LinkedIn, LinkedIn generally, and, of course, lawyer profiles on firm websites.
You should research your connections much like you would research a firm. Read their firm profile or LinkedIn profile to deepen your understanding of their work and career path. If you are able to find cases they worked on, read a few (or at least the summaries). From there, develop a list of intelligent questions you’d like to ask the lawyer before contacting them. What about their work or career path intrigues you? What specific part of their practice or career path do you want to learn more about? Do you have any general questions about firm life (e.g. in-house vs. law firm)? If you are particularly interested in working at their firm, you may ask firm-specific questions about work-culture, specializations, etc.
Be brave and reach out to lawyers who you think you have the most in common with -- regardless their rank -- as the more genuine a conversation you can start the better (more on that later!). However, don’t limit yourself to just partners! Associates will give you different perspectives than partners so it’s worth varying your scope.
Finally, if your goal is to land a summer associate or partner position at a specific firm, certainly have a conversation with the firm’s Student Recruiter or a member of the hiring committee. A few months before my last round of articling applications, I talked to a student recruiter at nearly every firm I applied to. I asked these folks pointed questions about what impresses them on an application and what, specifically, they look for when assessing international lawyers. You may find this redundant over time, but many firms have slightly different perspectives and expectations, so they are conversations worth having. Before you reach out to the student recruiter or hiring committee member, make sure you have read any student application information the firm has posted on their website first. Most firms will have a page or two dedicated to summer associate and articling applicants containing a wealth of information about the firm’s student programs and basic application requirements (e.g. how many references, what transcripts, writing sample requirements etc.). Avoid asking these basic questions of the student recruiter or hiring committee member.
Keeping Track of Contacts
Once you’ve identified everyone you want to talk to (or while you are doing your research) organize them into a spreadsheet or online database (I personally use the free version of Monday.com) where you can keep track of each connection’s contact information, when you contacted them, whether they’ve replied, when you followed up, and any notes from your conversation(s). Having a one-stop-stop outside of your email program will help you organize follow-up rounds and grow initial conversations into more meaningful connections down the road. If you need some inspiration, here’s a template to get you started.
Start Genuine Conversations
In my last post, I suggest you have some templated emails ready at your fingertips to make writing networking emails easier; I also provided links to good example templates offered by Harvard and NYU Law. These should be the starting point for your emails to connections but refrain from sending bland templated emails to anyone. You should take these templates and tailor them to each connection by adding a line or two about why you are reaching out to them specifically and what you hope to learn about their work. This shouldn’t be a long explanation, but it should highlight the nexus between you two (e.g. “I also graduated from Osgoode” or “I am also interested in M&A work in the energy sector and would like to learn more about your work on X case.”). These emails should not out-right ask for a job or for the connection to forward your resume on within their firm and I do not recommend attaching your resume to these emails. Rather, express a genuine interest in having a conversation and learning about their work.
After you’ve managed to connect with your contact and have this initial learning conversation, you can then ask what they’d recommend as far progressing your career or approaching their firm for employment. Many may simply direct you to the yearly summer associate or articling recruitment process, in which case you can ask if they would be comfortable mentioning your discussion with them in your cover letter (e.g. “After conversing with X about their work in your M&A department, I would be excited be part of your firm’s outstanding work in the energy sector.”)
Conduct Friendly Follow-Ups
Following-up can be the most awkward part of networking. You may find yourself wondering how long you should wait before emailing your connection again, or how many times should you follow-up before giving up? While there are no single right answers to these questions there are some things you should remember and a few suggestions for calibrating your follow-up strategy:
1) Don’t Assume Rejection: many times, a contact isn’t actively ignoring you and you shouldn’t take their lack of response as a sign that they don’t want to talk to you. Lawyers are busy people and it is likely they either missed your email in their very full inbox or saw it and simply forgot to respond. Your follow-up will likely be a welcome reminder as many lawyers like helping new lawyers when they can!
2) Don’t Assume Annoyance: fight the urge to feel like you are annoying people when you follow-up. As long as you are being friendly and courteous it is unlikely that any lawyer receiving your email will be annoyed with you.
3) Make a Timeline: keep track of your email dates and make a timeline for following up. I suggest waiting 3-4 weeks after the first email before following up on your initial email, 2-3 weeks before following up on your second email and about another 1 week before following up on your third email. After the third email, you may consider trying a different connection at the firm or sending a final email asking if the contact can suggest other people at the firm you could talk to.
4) Use Life Events as an Excuse: if you feel awkward sending follow-up emails, you can use life events or progress updates as a nice anchor for a follow-up email. Things like: “By way of update, I have now graduated from my LL.B / finished my NCA exams and would love to have a conversation about my future career goals”
5) Beware of black-out dates: many firms impose black-out dates around yearly student recruiting. This means, members of a firm may not be allowed to talk to students and applicants too close to Law Society recruiting deadlines and certainly not while you are within the Law Society recruiting timeframe. Make sure you do your networking early to avoid this issue.
Finally, keep in mind that things may be moving a bit slower in the current pandemic situation and Lawyers may find themselves even busier while balancing working from home and childcare. Be patient but persistent and always be friendly and courteous when sending a follow up. Swap passive-aggressive wording like “I’ve yet to hear from you” with more open statements like “I am still very interested in speaking with you if you have a moment to chat.”
Happy Networking!
Tiffany