Networking Power in the Design World: Strategies for Success Part 5

Welcome to this particular day five and we are in the particular series of part fifth of the video so far. If you have not watched the part four, part three, two and one, please go and watch back because we are in the process of finding out strategic industry through a process of six steps. If you are following the steps according to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, then you will see the huge difference. If you are someone who is just peaking here and there and watching out here and there, this video will not make a sense, guys.

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So I highly recommend you watch and come back. And particularly in this video, we are going to learn how to build your professional networks. How you can leverage the power of your network in a more strategic way so that your job search process goes in a huge, huge advantage and you get at least 10 times faster than you think ever possible.

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And I'm also going to introduce you certain AI tools on how you can engage and how you can create content as well as engage with the people and follow it up so that you can effectively get lot of interview calls and connections in the next 31 days. Okay, let's jump. So in the day one, we have seen introduction of strategic industry targeting, okay? In the day two, we have saw about industry research technique. Day three, we have talked about identifying the key companies and opportunities.

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In this day four, we are seeing strategic application process. Today we are going to see how to leverage the professional network support.

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This is the whole strategy, guys, okay? Because each of this day has a connectivity between the videos. That's the reason I'm telling you this. So there are three aspects in this. First of all, you need to know how to build a good professional relationship and second, how to maintain it. A lot of people don't know both. A lot of people think just connecting in LinkedIn is easy, okay? No, that's not the case.

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And you have to use the social media and you should know, sir, is something called informational interviews.

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Which I'll tell you in the last part of the video, don't worry.

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So first of all, strategies for building your maintaining a network is list the people around you. Take an Excel sheet, Google sheet or something. Create your friends, list in one sheet another page seniors, another page alumni, another page, existing institute, wherever you studied, courses and everything. Placement Coordinator, LinkedIn Connections and Social media. So build a very big list of people, have something like their name, okay? Like let's say it could be something like their name. Maybe I'll add details to be filled.

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It should have their name. Sorry Just to be filled.

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Should have their name, it should have their contact details.

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I'm sorry guys. Yeah, shop the name. It should have their contact details. It should have possibly their current workplace. Like what are they really doing?

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And there is another column which you have to say how you are going to help this person.

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Don't always only expect help, guys, because in networking you need to remember you should be the person who have to help a lot.

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How you can.

Help them. Okay. Okay.

And what support you require from them. This is the most, most important thing because lot of people, what happened is they don't know how to structurally follow a method or a process. When they have to talk with some people, they just go with an impulsive, random method and they think that this will work for them and they will be very, very the loops putting a lot of efforts.

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How you can help them and what is the support you require?

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That's most important. What support you want.

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So once if you're able to clearly understand this, then you will have a leverage of how to connect with LinkedIn, job opportunities or other people in your existing network. Family, friends, colleague. Lot of people have their profession, right? Lot of people have their job, right. A lot of people have their contacts and network, right? Definitely one or the other way they will refer their friends or they will refer their industries they are working. Maybe they'll refer their friends of the friends. Hey, Jagdish, I know somebody who's working in this industry which might be relevant for you. Get in touch with him. I think he has a vacancy now. Go and find it. See, you will get that kind of an opportunity there. Okay, so you need to be very clear on. Let me tell you guys, 70% of the jobs is found through LinkedIn through networking. Sorry.

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Harvard Business Review found that LinkedIn says 85% of the job is filled through networking.

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Only through referrals, I would say referrals and networking. So why is this very important? I'm talking about this is because of this reason. You are only fighting for the 15 percentage market, which is very difficult.

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People are already using a different strategies to collect and learn and improve on these processes.

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You need to remember this very carefully.

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Now let us go into using, utilizing social media searches in your advantage.

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This is more, more important. Let me close these notes.

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I'll teach about the tools little later. But first, first understand this.

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So you have to effectively use a platform called LinkedIn. In fact, LinkedIn is one of the professional tools I would say. And in fact you can use lot of tools also, no problem, which I'll tell you. But let me make it very clear guys. Some of my students in this last 45 days have crocked almost 29 LPA. 13.5 LPA, 10.5 LPA. Using these techniques, using this strategy is what I'm exactly showing you.

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If you follow this rightly and then if you implement this in a proper steps and sequence from the video one to year, I'm sure you'll be able to change a huge perspective shift in your job search process. Okay, Let me tell you, in LinkedIn you can use four different method to do.

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There is something called engagement tool. There is something called content creation. There is something called follow up. There is something called learning.

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You need to be very clear on that. If you are using engagement method for talking in people with the LinkedIn properly use a tool called Merlin AI. Use another tool called Engage AI. Because these AI tools will help you out to engage with the people in a more automated and a fast way. If you are creating us, you can ask me, hey Jagdish, I'm not a content creator here, why would I do? Let me tell you guys the moment. If you create some content weekly, one post can you make about your technical learning about your pain point or maybe about. See whatever your pain point is in design, create that as a post. Like, let's say you are having problem in building portfolio. Take one example how a fresher like me can design a portfolio in just five steps. Collect some information, use ChatGPT, use Perplexity, use Google Bar, use Cloud AI. Cloud AI and all. It's a very good platform. You'll get a very quality input there. Okay, so you can create some big post there. Why I am telling you create some post is LinkedIn's SEO will promote you very faster. Guys, LinkedIn's SEO will make sure. Okay, this guy is creating something. Let's help this guy connect with the right people. Because LinkedIn's ultimate aim is to make sure to keep you for a longer time and keep your connection also for a longer time. That's how they earn money. Simple. Okay, the moment. If you create content, LinkedIn will start promoting you.

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And you should know how to follow it up with the people. It's not you have to create an Excel sheet, Google Sheet and you can use some automatic triggers. Also using Zapier and Pablo, which is very advanced. You don't have to learn now, but all you need is just a basic Sheet, write down the name of the people, search down the people and make sure you're finding out the relevant audience to target with you.

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In fact there are other tools called LinkedIn Boolean search. Okay, I will go with one thing like let's say there is something called recruitment geek.

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There is something called Boolean search. This is a beautiful tool guys. You can narrow your region, okay. You can narrow your industry.

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You can narrow company's size, you can narrow what niche and segment you want to work. See, I wanted to work in like let's say Canada.

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I wanted to work in Bangalore and I wanted to work for particular industry called automation industry. I wanted to work for a mid sized industry and I wanted to work as a UI UX designer. There. See how specific it is the moment. If you do a Boolean search like this in LinkedIn it's possible to get only 50 to 60 industries or maybe 100 industries. That industries is going to help you a lot to get to the next level of your job. Guys, don't go and approach for the 30,000 industries which is available. That's not what I'm asking you to do. That is a blind approach and that's like a. That will not yield you any results. Hardly 1 percentage or 0.5%. You will get conversions and convert it into an interview.

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So you need to use this kind of a methods to find out what really works out better for you.

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Because you may have developed a very good niche for you. You may have developed a different method for you. But use these tools properly. These are all the AI tools. Many of the tools has free versions as well. In fact 99% of the tool has a free version. The only tool which I'll highly recommend you to purchase is LinkedIn Premium. That to 30 days free trial is there. Please try it out once. If you're able to try for 30 days, you can able to cut short your journey and get a job. That's good, right? 30 days, you can use that free trial and also gain an advantage out of it. That is the most important thing of using social media and effectively creating a list case. Okay, I'm going to now introduce you to a very important concept called informational interviews. Jagdish, what is that? It is actually gaining some industry insight before making connection. Because if you are gaining an interest with some company, if you wanted to connect with some people, you need to know first what is that information? The purpose of doing this is to gather a specific career path to know about the responsibilities what they're currently having to understand what are the skill set they want and what are the insights of that company. Work culture. Like let's say if you're going and targeting an industry called Honeywell, example, if you talk with 10 people in Honeywell before going and approaching and applying that industry collected a lot of information about Honeywell. You will know what are the work culture. You will know who's the head, you will know what are the kind of design dynamics working there. You will know what are the kind of projects they're working. You'll know whether the vacancy is there or not. So collect this much of data and then if you strategically apply what will happen, you will know whether you will itself get or not. You will be very clear. Nobody needs to tell you the results.

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The benefits of doing this is very huge. Guys, I'm telling Fancy a professional network because you're connecting with the right people, right? And it helps you make more informed career decision. This is the most, most important thing and it provides you insider information that can give you edge in the future job application. See guys, I'm telling in two weeks two offers. I'm sorry.

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In two weeks I'll take this.

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In two weeks you should generate at least two offers. If you are doing that, then you are on the right track in the product design and UI UX design industry. Guys, I'm telling you, if you're not able to get it, something is wrong in your career, Something is wrong in your portfolio, something is wrong in your profile, something is wrong in your messaging, something is wrong in your interview techniques, something is wrong in your communication, you have to go and fix it back.

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So once if you are finding out the people, once if you're gaining some insights, then what you have to do is conduct some informational interviews with them.

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Identify the contacts. I already told you. Reach out in LinkedIn, reach out in glass doors, reach out in meetup. There are a lot of tools also which I showed you. You can get association. Request them for an interview, ask them a feedback. Sir, can you give me portfolio? Sir, can you give me feedback about my profile? Politely ask them. You don't have to what you call use some harsh language. Politely ask them, okay, don't ask for an interview directly. Request for some review first. Many of my students who have asked review first and slowly they have converted into an interview also. See how smart it is. And then once if they are able to give you opportunity, when they see the talent in you, then they'll ask you to Come and work for you. Very simple. If it doesn't go well, if they're giving you feedbacks, that's also okay, right? You can note down that feedback, come back and work. Make sure the person who is giving you feedback is proper designer. He has at least 10 years of experience or at least he has proven market products is there, he has designed already and then he has also guided many people. Because those people only refine. Or else they'll just simply say, hey, in your portfolio, arrange this thing in your portfolio. It doesn't look good here. Hey, your communication is not that good here. This generic feedback will come. How will you work on this generic feedback? You have to listen very carefully.

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So prepare some questions with them. Whenever you're having some clarity with them, ask these people a very, very relevant and a quality question.

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You ask them, hey, what is the typical day in your particular job? What do you enjoy most about your job? What are the biggest? What are the skills? These kind of questions will determine the kind of interest you will create, guys. Okay, send a thank you note and follow it up with them and conduct some interview with them and record it. And also make sure you get a feedback with your peers showing them. And also ask them the feedback and make sure you're doing it consistently, guys. And also make sure you're respecting that interview's time showing some genuine interest. Asking. Avoid asking for the job directly. I already told you, don't ask directly job. Just even people in your asking in LinkedIn. Whenever they're asking me, you know what they do, I will tell you. Okay, I'm just folding this right now. I'm just explaining you the best practices. Use the information gathered to refine your career goals and strategies. Because all this information interviews, why are we doing is to gather the insights properly once. If you're gathering the insights properly only we'll be able to get a great benefit out of it, right? Or else you will be just blindly searching for an opportunity which you will not get at all. It's ultimately a waste of time. You have to know this clearly, guys. Many successful people have really got in my program because of this technique. Only 1 in 12 informational interviews result in job offer. See, you need to gather information. You should not expect any results and then it will yield you 1 in 10. 1 in 12 you will get convert as a job opportunity. But I believe if you trust this process and do it effectively out of 30 or 50 jobs, if you are trying to apply, I'm telling you very honestly, guys, three to four Design offers for sure. Because my way of working is very different. You would have seen this video from the day one, right? Many of the people, they come and just randomly ask me in LinkedIn. Hey Jagdish, can you refer me in this organization? In my organization. Hey Jagdish, can you refer me here? Can you? I feel very annoyed when people ask this. First of all they have to know what is the role. First of all they have to know how they are fitting. First of all they have to tell me why are they interested in this particular company? Why do they really connect with me? What are the relevance they have? Same thing other people also feel. Guys, when you give a connect request, please analyze this carefully, okay? See, LinkedIn is ultimately for connecting with the people. Don't feel bad about it. But make sure there is a process to do. Sometimes they will not reply you. That's why there is a three step follow up mechanism is available. It's a very deep subject. Guys, I need a separate video to record to you, okay? Follow up is an art. Money is there in follow up. My mentor used to always say, if you follow it rightly with the people, then you will attract right opportunities in your career with the right momentum, with the right moment. Because people are looking for you. People are looking to give you opportunities. But you have to find the right people who are looking for you based on your right skills and at the right time. If the vacancies are filled, then there is no point in networking with them. Already somebody else has taken the job. So right people, right moment, right job, right skill, right salary you will get, your life will be entirely right. People don't know this. They do it in a very, very random way. That's why they don't get results. If you start building an Excel sheet like this and then if you do this continuously for 30 days collecting 50 industries and 50 network contacts in your referrals, do you think you can't get one job? You will at least generate 10 to 15 interview calls. You'll at least crack three to four job offers. By the time you collect information about the 50 industries, you would have at least cracked one or two job offers for sure. Guys, how many of you really got bulb on? Because that much powerful this technique is type out in the video Balbon Bevo, how many of you understood what I said now in the last by the time you collect 50 industries, by the time you collect 31 days of this particular activity and 50 network of your people. Because you would have already generated one or two offers. Because you're targeting the right people, you're asking the right question more than you want them, Company wants you because already business is sitting in a fire, right? Business is already paying for their vendors and they are getting payment from their clients and they have to fulfill the order and they have to create the website or app or whatever. Then only they'll get the payments. So they need workforce, they need people like you to come and work very faster the moment. If you work faster, they'll be able to deliver the project. Once they deliver the project only, they'll be getting the cash flow. Once they get the cash flow, only they'll be paying you. Simple. So more than you want a design industry, they want you fast. Please understand this very carefully. Particularly if you're an intern or a fresher, you are required most guys because company has a very low cost investment on you, they want to experiment with you as well. And also they are more interested in seeing your fresh perspective and they wanted to give you some opportunities. Please take an advantage as an intern. You can go and talk with any people in the company. As an intern, you can do any kind of a prototype projects. As an intern, you can able to leverage bigger advantage of taking some great information from the people. If you are experienced designer, your level will be little bit limited. Okay, so please understand this carefully. You can watch, you can listen to one of my podcast in my Design for Change channel which is link is given below called 15 Advantage being an intern. It's a highly, highly listened podcast. You can listen to that. You will know why freshers are needed more than experienced people. Okay, you need to understand this very carefully. And if you follow this method, you can attract and magnetize the people and then you can get connected with them and get your offers done. Okay, Pin me what you learned in this video and send me your list. How much people you've collected and how much people you've interacted with and how much list you have builded. I'll be more than happy to give you feedback and reply back to you guys. Okay, see you in the last video, which is the AI video. It's going to be your most most powerful. We'll see you in the last part of the video. Okay, take care. Bye bye.