In this live YouTube session, host Kedeisha Bryan and guest Emily Nelson de Velasco guide viewers through practical networking tactics for landing data‑analyst roles. They begin with informal audience introductions before diving into why LinkedIn remains the premier platform for professional networking, emphasizing that posting content can attract recruiter outreach. The core of the session is the "3 C's" outreach framework—Commonality, Compliment, Chat—explained with concrete examples and a step‑by‑step message template limited to 300 characters. They differentiate between first‑level, second‑level, and "rando ping" contacts, and discuss targeting recruiters versus hiring managers, including how to tailor messages for each. A live demo shows how to use LinkedIn's search filters (company, title, location, alumni, graduation year) to locate relevant contacts, and how to request warm introductions via mutual connections. Emily introduces a custom GPT workflow: a prompt structure (role, result, goal, constraint, context) that generates personalized 3 C messages, backed by her prompt‑engineering certification. They also cover practical advice such as using LinkedIn Premium for unlimited connection requests, avoiding generic AI‑generated copy, and measuring response rates (10‑40%). Additional career tips include building experience through nonprofit consulting, choosing portfolio platforms (Canva/Notion over GitHub), handling employment gaps, and future content ideas (resume roasts, entry‑level entry strategies). The session ends with audience Q&A, resource links, and calls to follow Emily on LinkedIn.
Chapters
Okay, we are live and just wait for folks to come on in. Okay, we're definitely up on—
Oh, I think I just sent you a private message. I meant to put it in The comments section.
Okay, we are definitely on YouTube.
Here we go.
And all right, folks in the chat, um, show— post where you're— where you're watching from. Where's everyone watching from? Emily, where you're watching from?
Well, I am coming to you guys live from central west Mexico.
Today. Oh wow, what's, what's the best thing to do over there?
Go to the beach and have yourself some guacamole and ceviche. Nothing beats the beach.
Okay, in December— in, uh, November?
Oh, all year round. Yeah, so the wonderful thing is, you know, all throughout the United States, and I'm talking like West Coast right now, the water in the Pacific tends to be kind of cold, so you have to wear like a wetsuit to get into the ocean. Absolutely not the case here. The water is good all year round, um, nice and warm. And also like it's 80 degrees every single day because it's so close to the ocean, so it doesn't really like vary that much. Um, so Christmas Day on the beach, um, that's what it's like down here.
All right, I'm jealous. Um, not— I'm in, uh, Alabama. It was definitely warmer today though. I will say that it was definitely warmer today. But um, I'm not by the water, so I don't even know. Now the closest beach would be all the way down, probably by like the Gulf.
Right.
Not by the water.
Well, you're gonna have to make it down here one of these days.
In Mexico.
Maybe. Oh, Kadeisha, wouldn't this be fun? We could do a live live. You could come down here. Why not?
What? I feel like that's just a hassle, like another country.
Yeah, I will get you some good tacos if you come down here.
Okay, now that, that, that, that— do y'all have like, uh, well, they have— they call it, uh, California burritos in California. It's where it has, uh, it's toasted and it has french fries, steak. Whoa, what's up with the faces?
I mean, okay, steak, but french fries in the burrito?
Listen, who in the chat is from California and, and can attest to these California burritos? They don't sell them here. They didn't have them in— I think Del Taco has like a version, but we got a lot of Dallas In the chat, lots of Dallas folks here. Hello from New York's in the building. Dallas is in the building. We have soon to be Syracuse grad is in the building. Okay, so Syracuse, Syracuse is in the building. All right, I've never been up there. I've never been up there. When I lived in New York, upstate New York for me was. Nyack, which is like geographically, it's not— it's still like the southern tip of New York. I've never— I feel like that's like 2 separate New Yorks, like the New York City metro area and then like upstate New York. It's like, it's like Canada. Chicago is here.
I'm seeing a couple people from Australia. The Techie Nerd.
Oh wow, okay.
Someone's here from Sweden, UK, Vancouver.
All right, ATL is here. I'll be in ATL next month, actually.
Wonderful.
Yes, New York City and the rest of the state. Exactly, pretty much. Central PA.
Corey from Houston. Hi Corey, thanks for joining us.
Okay, Houston is in the building. A lot of Texas folks. Houston again. I feel like it's like 80% Texas here every time.
We are missing Pedro today, speaking of Texas.
Right, you know, Pedro is— he's big. He's getting too big for us, apparently.
He is. He is traveling. I think he's in an airport right now, actually.
Mm-hmm. Oh, Peru.
Charlotte.
We got a lot of folks here. All
right, yeah, guys, I am so excited. I really like— I feel humbled that there are so many people here on the stream today. Thank you for joining.
YouTube is here. YouTube, YouTube community has been amazing, you know. YouTube community has been amazing. All right, Italy. Oh my goodness, I'm sorry, I— these— I'm just so overwhelmed and like so like humbled of like how everyone is from like everywhere. And we have Nigeria in the building, of course. Okay. All right, y'all. Um, most people know me, so I'm not even going to have to introduce myself, but let's introduce Emily. For Emily, for those who may be seeing you for the first time or haven't seen you in a while, introduce yourself and, and, and let's brief on what we have going today.
Wonderful. Absolutely. So guys, my name is Emily Nelson de Velasco. Um, I'm originally from Wisconsin in the United States. I worked as a tech recruiter for a little bit, and now I am working in career coaching and reverse recruiting. And when I was working for— when I was working as a tech recruiter, I specialized in analytics roles. So mostly business intelligence, a little data science, and some analytical unicorns as well. So that's where the bulk of my experience in tech hiring has been. And I see myself as being quite data-minded as well. love to be data-first and data-driven. So today's topic, we're going to be talking about, you know, something that is actually maybe a little bit interesting because we're going to be talking about networking. And of course, like, networking is like all about making human connections. But we're also going to talk about how we can use AI to support our networking endeavors. So stay tuned for that.
Absolutely. Also want to shout out, um, uh, AfroTech was happening, um, recently, so I'm not sure if it's still happening, but for those who actually went, um, I'm jealous, and please send me pictures. Um, all right. Um, okay, so well, let's get started. I will say this, listen, when it comes down to LinkedIn and networking, listen, I am team LinkedIn for when it comes to networking. Most people, they spend time on LinkedIn in terms of consuming content, but it is still king in my opinion when it comes down to networking. I've had multiple students who they just started posting and then they're getting real recruiters reaching out to them. We had Kate who actually got a job from commenting on a recruiter's post. Recruiters are still headhunting on LinkedIn despite It kind of seeming— it, you know, not sure if it wants to be a TikTok or Instagram some days, but it is still number one when it comes down to networking for landing a job. Um, and usually, uh, folks are like, they have no idea where to start. They don't know how to outreach. They don't know what to say. They just don't know how to start. So what's the best place that we can start? Emily. Yeah.
Right. So I think the best place to start would be to just kind of think about what is it like? What is networking overall? What is it that we're doing and what is it that we're trying to achieve? And I feel like when I bring up the topic to a lot of my coaching clients, it sounds like a little cringey, right? Like I'm going to reach out to people on the internet And I want something from them. Super, super cringey. However, I would really like to kind of see it in a different light and see it as not something that's transactional. And it's something that can work really well for you in building relationships, not just a transactional moment where I'm going to ping you and say, hey, do you have a job for me? But rather, Let's develop a connection with people that we have in common, or with people where we have something in common, and see how we can actually lift them up. So maybe being a person to lead with curiosity and lead with something that you have to offer, as opposed to approaching it from a perspective of, I want something from you. So a lot of times people— go ahead, Kadeisha. Sorry.
I feel like the— especially with AI, how everyone is like, or people not knowing how to use it, um, we're all getting all the obviously AI, you know, outreaches. Um, it is feel— everything feels more transactional. Like it does. Like, am I talking to a real person anymore? It's like, is it some AI automation or whatever it is? Um, and one thing, even today, literally Um, this was like 4 hours ago. I got a DM. It was a cold outreach, and it was someone who supposedly saw one of my YouTube videos, and everything seemed good except it said, hey Natasha. I don't know who the heck Natasha is. It definitely ain't me. So obviously AI, you know what I'm saying? It's like, this is, this is where we're at now. Um, um, but But yeah, and the thing is, is like there's a lot of relationships that can start off with like today that'll lead to an opportunity like 6 months from now or 3 months from now. So, but yeah, I feel like the— it's just everything is way, way, way too transactional now. All right. All right.
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm thinking back now to a conversation that I had with a former, former Google recruiter, Will James. He was on my podcast a few weeks ago. And he said something really interesting about networking that I had never heard before. He said, treat networking like a garden and not like a grocery store. It's like something where you are going to invest time. You're going to plant seeds, you're going to water the grass, and then eventually it'll bear fruit. But it's not like, I need an apple. I'm going to go to the grocery store right now and get that apple.
Oh, nice. I really like that. I feel like anytime we use that, what do you call it? It's not imagery. Crap. When you kind of relate something to something else. Metaphors. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like those are super helpful. Right. Okay, someone in the comments said, I reached out to my current employer by asking for an informational interview and got hired a month after. Okay, look at that. Look, look what happens when we just, you know, stop. You know what else? What I was just thinking about— why is it so normal for people to say, hey, why not just go to the bar and just talk to people? Why is that less scary than like reaching out to people on LinkedIn? Hmm. To me, that's wild. Like, I, I'm not— I wouldn't even like be seen in a bar because I hate crowds, but it's like, I feel like talking to strangers is even more comfortable and easier on LinkedIn. But yeah, that's why.
Right. I think so too. And I think like, you know, you know, when we're working in tech, we kind of have to be on LinkedIn because that's how— or that, you know, that's a piece of the puzzle of landing a job nowadays. But also a lot of people are there because they also want to make those connections. And I mean, you can be the person who is Not active and waits for those connections to come to you, or you can be the person who is active and goes out and searches for those connections, um, and then ends up making some really great ones. And I have to say, um, for those of you who are out there listening, the reason that Kadeisha and I are in contact today is because I saw— I actually saw her and Pedro on their livestream. I reached out to Pedro because I, I didn't think that Kadeisha would ever give me the time of day because she's so cool. Um, and then I started talking to Pedro and he He said, you should talk to Kadeisha. And I was like, no, Kadeisha is not going to talk to me. And now here we are. So, you know, guys, great things really happen by making those authentic connections on LinkedIn.
Right. So, and even Pedro is not here because he's been getting opportunities because he— through LinkedIn. And LinkedIn. So look at that. I mean, folks are just getting too busy for us just, just because of
Yeah. So hopefully he'll be on, he'll be on next time with us.
Okay, perfect. All right. Do we want to get started with the— all right, let's, let's get started here. All right. All right.
So let's talk a little bit. Okay. So we talked about what networking is, basically making those connections with people, not bringing it, not bringing it into a transactional space. If you're the person who's reaching out and making the connection, be offering and be curious before you ask for something. Because the last person anybody— the last thing that anybody wants to be contacted for is just like a favor or something that somebody wants from you. So let's do the best that we can to lead with Maybe for now, curiosity. So I like to refer to outreach. There are so many different ways that you can be making outreach. And there are so many different people or types of people that you can be reaching out to. So for example, you can be looking at your first level connections, maybe some people that you've connected with, but you're not really 100% sure. Maybe you've just connected with them. A lot of times people send out the connect They just click on that button and they don't know the person and then they never, they never have a chat with them. And I see that as a wasted opportunity. However, if you do have them in your network, I mean, it's easy to send them a message. One of you connected with the other. You both are mutually in this connection relationship at the moment. So you can see, like, if you're in a job search right now, you know, who's maybe in a company that's interesting for you and maybe who has a role that you're interested in as well. So that's like one type of person that you can be reaching out to. Another is what I like to— not what I like to call— what's called second-level connections. So, you know, first-level connections are the people who you are directly connected with on LinkedIn. And then second levels are people who you have a common contact with. So let's say, you know, I'm connected to Kadeesha and Kadeesha is connected to Jane. So So Jane would be my second level connection because I'm not directly connected to Jane. So in a case like that, I could, you know, reach out to Kedisha and say like, hey, I see that you're, you're, you're connected with Jane. And I would really love to speak with her. Would you give me an introduction? Because I'm curious about, you know, about the work that she does at her current role. That's another way to approach it. And the way that I, or the type of connection that I am going to be talking about today is what I like to call the rando ping. So basically a person who has a profile that is interesting to you and you have no connection to this person whatsoever. And you're interested in having a conversation with them about their work so that you can get more information about their company, about the type of work they, they do. Are they hiring right now? Do they even like their company? And you can be gaining more information from them in order to kind of guide your path through your job search. And so how we do this, it sounds kind of daunting, right? Like the person, like I don't know them, they have a profile here and I'm just going to send them a random connection request. So there is a strategy around— there are a lot of different strategies around how to do this. So I've come up with my own strategy that I like to call the 3 C's. And as you can see right here on the slide, Those C's stand for commonality, compliment, and chat. So it's, people always like it when you take the time to, um, to get that personalized message out. Um, you know, Kadeisha just mentioned like somebody called her Natasha, and that is just a hard pass because it just looks like, you know, either it is an automated message or, um, or the person just wasn't paying attention or they copy and pasted a message that they had just sent to Natasha. So that doesn't feel good. Yeah. So when you're able to customize that connection and reach out to a person in a way where they really authentically feel seen is where you're likely to have the most success. So, um, when you're on LinkedIn, there are different types of messages that you can send. And I always recommend, especially if you're in a job search moment, you're probably making a lot of those connections, right? So I usually recommend, um, sending the connection request message. So, and I think that I might have seen somebody mention something about LinkedIn Premium. If you are in a job search right now and you are looking to do this outreach, which I definitely, definitely would recommend, it makes sense to, for the duration of your job search, purchase LinkedIn Premium. And one of the reasons for that is because you will get unlimited connection request messages. That you can send out to not everyone, but almost anyone on LinkedIn. Some people have their privacy a little bit guarded and you might have to provide, you might have to provide their email in order to be able to make the connection with them, but that's not usually the case. And so in that message, you get 300 characters in order to send this connection request message. And if you just have the free version, you will get 5 free messages, connection request messages per month with only 200 characters each. So definitely while you're in the job search, while you are making those connections, I definitely would recommend having the premium account. All right. So then, you know, what is going to happen? Let's think first of all, like, why are we even wanting to talk to this person? I mean, usually we're wanting to talk to them because they have probably followed a similar career path to you. They're in a role that you want. Maybe they're in the same industry that you are already in or would like to be in. Maybe they're working for a competitor. So I find it useful to find something that you have in common with the person that you're looking to contact and call that out in your message. So as a couple examples here of a commonality, I just have 2 different approaches that you could take. In the US, being alumni of the same university is an easy one because we like to be in touch with people who went to the same university as us. There's like a strong brand behind our universities in the US. So my first example, fellow data analyst and UWW alum here. I went to UWW, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Go Warhawks. Okay. So that's one example. Easy call out, compact, and you're not using a lot of your characters when you write a message like this. Another option, I also shifted from working in higher ed to tech. So in my background, my first, you know, jobs that I had out of college, I actually was working in higher ed administration. And then I made that shift into the tech world. And if I see somebody who has a similar background, then I would say, hey, you know, I did the same thing as you. That's interesting. So that maybe is also piquing that other person's interest. And it tells them that not only am I interested in what they've done, but I've also taken the time to just like read through their profile. Okay, so that's the first C. The second C is compliment. It's, you know, great to butter them up a little bit. You know, they're going to want to talk to you if it sounds like you're interested in, in them. And honestly, you are, because this is the reason you're making this strategic connection. You're seeing a person who has, you know, something that you want, a position at a company that you would like to work for too. So that is impressive. That is interesting to you. And we can definitely call that out here. So for example, you know, your move from accounting into data is impressive. Um, or the post you wrote on stakeholder communication was gold. And I find like, you know, definitely it's a social media platform. Um, it's also professional. So when you're writing these messages, it should be, it should have a level of professionality. But also, I find that I do the best for myself when I'm being authentic. So writing something like, your post on stakeholder communication was gold. I mean, it might not be the most professional way to communicate that that was an excellent post, but that's definitely something that I would say to someone in a conversation. So I feel good when I'm using my own words that sound authentic. Like authentically like myself. And then the 3rd C we move on to is chat, because why are we making the communication? Why are we making the connection with them? We want to be in contact. So, you know, what better way than to like sit down and have like a 20-minute coffee chat together? So in order to call out that chat, like we need to be careful about the way that we write this because we want the person to get To know that the target, you know, what we're going to be talking about, what kind of an ask this is. Is it going to be an hour conversation? Is it going to be 15 minutes? That helps them make a decision. Yeah, I know, right? That first, it should never be an hour, guys. 20 minutes is a great amount of time to have that first chat. And if it goes well, then you can decide together to, you know, to have another chat. So it should be brief. It should be focused on them. And it should be actionable. So just like putting something kind of generic out there, like, would love to chat. And then the other person will probably come back to you and agree and say, yeah, I'd love to chat too. But then there's no action and it would take a lot more time to actually set up that meeting. So if you can say something more targeted, like, would you be open to a 20-minute chat about, about your work at Google next week? So the chat is brief, 20 minutes. It's focused on them, about your work at Google, and then actionable next week. And then we're already having a moment where we can start planning, you know, what it— or when, when we're going to be having this chat. And then of course, you know, this is also great because this is also guiding you in your chat. Then you get into that chat and then you know what you're going to be talking about. You're going to be talking about them at Google. You can be asking them a lot of questions and really like leading with curiosity. So tell me, how did you land that first role at Google? Wow, you got an internship there. That was really cool. And then they hired you on full-time. You must've been like, you must've done some impressive work in order to be able to stay there after your internship. And then, you know, they can really start talking about themselves. And then where it could become interesting for you is, you know, over the course of human conversation, I find that, I mean, it's not a one-way street, right? You're not just like interviewing them. It is a conversation. So at some point they'll inevitably ask you, and what about you? Yeah, thanks for reaching out. What are you doing right now? What's interesting? And then that's where you can say, um, yeah, you know, I'm open to new opportunities right now, or I got laid off from my last job and I'm, I'm considering my options about where to go to next. So I would say this is a structure that I teach, um, in my coaching, and I've seen a good amount of success with this. And actually I did this with someone Early this morning, and I kind of doubt that he's on the stream right now because it's pretty late where he is. But he sent out 2 messages, and while we were sending out the 3rd one together, the first person that he messaged replied, and they're scheduled for a chat already next week. So, you know, it's just, it's a system that I've seen consistent progress with. All right. So this is the strategy For sending the message and getting the person into the chat. And of course, you know, we also did talk about how to use AI to help you, to help you write a message. So how to make this happen for you. And I don't want to come here and say, send out, you know, all these generic messages to people. Absolutely not. That's not what it's about. And definitely, I would never recommend, you know, putting a generic prompt into ChatGPT and then copy and pasting what it says. So I generally, when I work with clients, I like to create a custom GPT for them. And I know that we've talked about this on the stream before, where the GPT is trained on the data. So it has a lot of data to reference about you as a job seeker. It has information about your professional history, maybe also a little bit of personal information, you know, What kind of industries you would like, you're interested in maybe and why. And then once that exists, you can set up your custom GPT using a prompt like this in order to help you then craft those personalized messages that you'll be getting out to people. Just a moment. All right. And so the background behind this slide, this, I just want to talk a little bit about what constitutes a good prompt. So I actually took a prompt engineering course from NC State and got a certificate for that. And since I've done it, I've had like really good results with the output that I've been getting from, from my prompts. So I'd like to share, and this is a, this is a strategy that I learned in the class, and it is just something that's generally, generally applicable as well. So you can take this structure and, and use it for any kind of topic that you're wanting to, um, that you're wanting to get some output on. And we're going to apply this to our, um, our networking connection prompt today. So the structure is called R squared G squared prompt. No, that's not right. R squared GC squared prompt, where the Rs stand for role and result. The G stands for goal, and the two C's stand for constraint and context. So if you're able to get all of these different things into the prompt, the output is likely to be better than if you didn't. Let's put it that way. Okay. So starting out with role, who you want the GPT to act as, you know, pretend you're a da da da da da. The result. What do you want generated? I want a 300 character. LinkedIn connection request message generated. Wonderful. The goal, the goal is I want to have, I want to have coffee chats with people, with professionals in my field that I meet on LinkedIn. Constraint, rules and limits. Again, the 300 characters, we're going to be giving them the, the structure, the 3 C's structure so that it's able to generate that output and then the context. Is going to be information about you and the situation. So for you, if you're setting up a custom GPT, you can be putting all those documents into the backend. And if you're just doing it in a prompt, you can give it your resume and, you know, just tell it a little bit about yourself before you have it, before you have it produce output for your connection requests. All right. And then here's the final prompt. And before I like actually read this out, guys, I just really, really want to emphasize I think it's good to use this to help you. I don't want this to be something that replaces you making those authentic connections with people. And this is definitely something that, you know, if it's really hard for you to start making those connections, this is something that you can use to get that basis message. You can get some reps in. And then after you're like getting really good at it, because you'll probably be sending out a ton of these messages, It's also a bit of a numbers game. If you send out, let's say the response rate is something like 10%, 20%. I've had some really good response rates come through. I've had like 40% response rates using this structure and targeting the right people. But if you're getting like, let's say you get like a 10% response rate, then if you send out 20 messages, you could expect to have 2 coffee chats. So just think about that, that there is a little bit of volume involved in it as well. And this is a tool that can help you make those authentic connections if you're finding it difficult for you. Okay, not a replacement for you. This is an aid. All right, so then the prompt that you guys can be using, and feel free to screenshot this so that you can use it in your custom GPT or in your, in your chat as well, is act as a career coach, an expert in networking and personalized outreach for job seekers. Use the 3C strategy— commonality, compliment, and chat— to craft a personalized 300-character connection request for a potential contact. I will give you my background information and the target contact's LinkedIn profile. Generate a message that identifies one commonality, one specific compliment, and ends with a friendly invitation to connect for a brief 20-minute chat about their work next week. Keep it concise and human. And so I wrote this prompt for you guys, and then I tested it in my ChatGPT account today, and it worked very well. And I have to say that, of course, these are topics that I've talked through a lot with ChatGPT because it's my ChatGPT that I also use for structuring things in my work. So my ChatGPT already has a lot of background information about me and, and the kind of work that I do, and it's able to get me a really, really accurate connection request. So I would say if you're wanting to use this as like a basis for, for those connection request messages, just see what kind of output that you're getting. And if you're finding that it's not getting you something that is very personalized to you, then that's probably a sign that you need to give it like more information about you and your job search. Right. So,
all righty. Is that— do we have any? Okay. I wanted to— I want to mention something about the GPT. So like the difference between, you know, using these like prompt engineering versus just like these generic You know, inputs. I did see something recently, and sorry if this is off topic. So Kim Kardashian said that she failed her bar exam because ChatGPT gave her the wrong answers. But I'm curious if she had gone to that, you know, prompt engineering class you took, you know, she probably would have done a lot better to know how to consult with GPT to have helped her become a lawyer.
Oh, well, that is sad. You know, I don't know how students are really using ChatGPT these days, but when I was in college, ChatGPT didn't exist, so we just had to read books, guys.
Oh, it's being used. It's being used.
Yeah.
As far as like also network, I wanted to mention like having actual commonalities like that first C, it just makes everything easier. Like if I was like, I'm thinking like if I met someone who went to my school and then also like say graduated with the same degree I had, that's already stuff though you can talk about. Right. Um, um, there's like, like for example, like in my MBA program, I don't like talking to people in general, but I've always had like, we do a lot of breakout rooms and there's always something to talk about because we're going through the exact same process. Right? And there's a person you met. So I think the commonality thing is like, like the most important because it makes everything like easy, you know? Yeah. Like, if you— it's, it's different, but it's like, you know, it, uh, let's see, like you don't have to like ask GPT how to like talk to your best friend when you're— if you're going out for, you know, to dinner later, you already know the person. Like, there's always something. So, so yeah, I think, um, I think the commonality thing is the most important, and there's so many people on LinkedIn. Honestly, there's enough people. Like, you don't have to like target like the influencers and stuff like that, um, specifically. Um, I would definitely heavily utilize, um, like maybe, maybe, maybe at some point you could teach people how to like use like the search or whatever to really Utilize how to find people that, you know, have their, their common, common stuff. And there's a lot of people who, you know, they're not really like active on LinkedIn in terms of like posting, but they're very active behind the scenes. So.
Yeah. And actually, that is a really good point. And if you want, we could even do this right now. I don't know if I'm able to actually share my screen. Can I do that?
Yeah. Yeah. I think you're sharing your screen right now.
Right. But I need to share my live screen. The tab. Let's see.
Okay, there we go.
Okay, great. So this is my live LinkedIn, LinkedIn account. And so we can have a look at how to be finding those contacts. That's a really good point. So when I'm working with people who are in their job search right now, And they're actively sending out applications. One of the things that I always tell them that they can do is that, you know, when you have a particular application, there are 3 different kinds of people that you could be targeting at that company. So number one is the recruiter. They're like super busy because they get a million resumes every single day and they have people messaging them because they want jobs. So you definitely can send them a message. Expect a low response rate. Number 2 is the hiring manager. So the person who you believe will be, will be hiring for the role. So if you're going for a data analyst role, maybe it's a data analytics manager or senior manager, maybe it's a director depending on the company. So those are like search terms that you can be putting in. Also, this person, because they're higher up in the company, they probably get more pings. They probably have a lot of people wanting to connect with them. And quite frankly, because they've got something that people want, they have a job that's open right now. And a lot of people are going to contact them because of that. And when we're contacting these 2 different types of people, the recruiter and the hiring manager, we can send a different type of message. So we can send a message that is really to the point and saying, I applied for the open role and then fill in the blank here. I'm interested in the— or interested or excited. I'm excited about this message, about this role because— and then just fill in the blank. Oh, we lost Kadeesha. Oh, there she is. Okay. Because— and then let them know like why you're specifically taking the time out of your day to, to send them a message about this role. Like, what is it particularly to you that you like about this role? And when you do that, make sure that you're actually telling them something that they're going to like. So don't tell them, for example, I'm excited about this role because it gives me an opportunity to take a next step in my career. Yeah, that would be the case for anybody who would get this role. You could say something like, I'm excited about this role because I see that you work with large datasets that focus on environmental issues. And I, I have a strong connection to environmental causes and I would love to put my Tableau, Excel, and SQL skills to use for you. You know, something like that. Make it something that is going to be exciting and useful to them. Okay. That being said, the other approach that we just talked about is the rando ping. And we're just going to go find some randos to ping right now. So we are gonna say let's look for people at Google.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure they're getting pinged a lot.
They might be, but you know, you'd be surprised. I actually wonder if we could do a poll. Is it possible to send a poll in the chat?
I don't think so. I will say I used to get pinged a lot when I was at Booz Allen, and that's a— that's probably the biggest company I worked for. Well,
okay, you
know, it has a lot. So I would get pinged by people I had— I never even talked to you. You know, and it's like, oh, hey, I'm applying to this role. And I see that you work there. I'm like, I don't even know you. Yeah,
exactly. They could have known you, Kedisha. And actually, you know, why don't we do this? We're gonna look for data analyst at Google. So now I have filtered for pages that say data analyst on them. And we can see here that it's jobs, posts, people, products, groups, schools, everything. So we're going to want to filter on people here. So then we should just be seeing people. And then we're going to— I think like when I work with my clients, I generally tell them, talk to people in your own country. So I'm going to filter on the United States right now. And then we can also filter on a lot of different things, including current company. I have a lot of data people at Amazon. Um, let's look at Google right now. So now it's going to find people. We use the quotes here. So it's going to find people who have the term data analyst at Google, and it generally prioritizes your first and second level contacts. So right now I don't have any first level contacts who have data analysts on their profile at Google. However, we can say 1, 2, 3, at least second level connections are kind of strewn throughout. And all of a sudden, we are finding people that we could potentially ping. If I want to, if I want to even like further filter, I could see like, okay, who went to Berkeley? And then this for me is making my message so easy because I know if I went to Berkeley and these people went to Berkeley, then I already have my commonality. Hi, Annie. Annie's the first one here. Hi, Annie, aspiring data analyst and fellow Berkeley alum. I'm really interested in the work that you do at Google. She also worked at Looker before too. That's interesting. Would love to have a 20-minute conversation with you next week. You know, and just use those 3 C's. Giovanni, he's a technical program manager. Okay, so we're getting a little bit into, you know, when we, when we put that term up in the search bar. It— that keyword could appear anywhere in the profile. So if we are wanting to find people who actually are like a data analyst, then we could put data analyst down here under title. And then hopefully we'll just find people who have data analyst in their current role. Yeah. So let's see, Annie again, data analyst, data analyst, business analyst. Okay. So now this is kind of like getting it narrowed down a little bit more to the people that we're going to want to talk to. Another thing you can see is actively hiring. So let's just see if we have any people. It's quite filtered right now. Okay, no results. Usually the analysts themselves are not hiring. It'd be like other roles. Okay. I don't know. Google is is really a big company, so there are going to be a lot of people here. Oh, and this is actually something that's really interesting. You could put a connection of. So you if you have a person who I like to call like a super promoter. So let's say a person who absolutely loves you, and maybe they were your work bestie. Maybe they were your college roommate. Maybe they're your brother's best friend, and they. They know how you work. They've they've known you for a number of years, and they're going to see you, and they're going to want to introduce you to anybody that's in their contact list. So you can filter on that perfect that person. Let's say Davis Nguyen. Let's just see how many how many contacts he has here. So connections of Davis Nguyen. And now these people, it's not actually showing it here right now. And I have to say that, that LinkedIn has been a little bit glitchy in these filters lately. I actually experienced that yesterday when I was helping somebody else do that. So generally these should all be contacts of David Nguyen. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be the case. But then if we see, okay, so Davis, is a connection, a mutual connection of mine and Robert's. So I can go to Davis and say, hey, would you be open to giving me a warm introduction to Robert? I'd love to speak to him about his work at Google. And then Davis can go to Robert and, and make that introduction happen. So that's filtering on company. Yeah, if you guys have questions, absolutely be posting them in the chat here. Let me actually, let's reset the filters because there are other things that you can do too. So we're in people, we're on data analyst, and we can do it by actively hiring and we can do it by like industries. So again, I'm going to filter on United States and let's say that I am interested in I don't want to do something super techie. Let's do something like theater, arts, performing arts, because definitely there are going to be, you know, people who have that connection. Like, maybe you have something that's like really interesting, an interesting combination of things that, that are in your background. So these are people who are, according to LinkedIn, in the performing arts industry. I don't know which companies they work for. But they also have the word data analyst in their, in their title. So this could be a great way not only to find people, but to find people in your location, in your industry, who can also like give you further information. Because, you know, when we're talking to people like this, we might find that, you know, Let's say this person works at a community theater and they don't necessarily have a need. Like maybe he's the only data analyst there. They don't have a need for another data analyst, but because he's been in the field for a while, he might know of other companies who are looking, who are a little bit bigger or somebody else that he could introduce you to. So this is like really a great way, not only to make that connection with just that individual person, but really to be like multiplying your reach. Yeah, I don't know. Are there, are there any other, any other things that you guys would like to like filter on?
What about the, the alumni one with the— where people— oh yeah. And then I was just thinking off top of my head, I'm like, oh wow, you can— if you filter with like more recent graduation date, or let's say if you filter it Based on maybe when you graduated. Let's say, for example, if you graduated— oh, not from here. Like based off of like, like, you know, when you go on your— unless I'm doing it differently, like when you go on like the actual school page alumni and then you search. Hmm.
That's interesting. I actually haven't tried that. I mean, I know that you can find alumni on school pages, but I don't know if you can— can you actually filter on the graduation year there?
Yeah.
Okay. Because you cannot do that in this view. And LinkedIn very specifically gives you things that you can filter on depending on the type of subscription that you have. So right now I've got the regular LinkedIn Premium subscription, but there's like a whole other, you know, I used to have, um, I used to have LinkedIn Recruiter. So like the filtering abilities that you have on LinkedIn Recruiter are amazing. You know, on LinkedIn Recruiter, for example, you can filter for people who have open to work, only visible to recruiters. And that's just an easy way for them to find people who are kind of looking around right now. But that's not something that we'll have access to.
All right, let's get to these questions here. How would you follow up your conversation after the 3 C's?
Oh, great question, Jordan. Thank you so much for asking that. So I think, you know, going into that chat, and I don't know if I can actually bring up my slides again. Can I? Oh, there it is. Okay, wonderful. Thank you. Um, so in the 3rd C, you know, we're already going to be telling them what we're going to be talking about in that conversation. So here in the example, I wrote, Would you be open to a 20-minute chat about your work at Google next week? So then when you go into this conversation, of course, you know, you'll have like opening chitchat, like, yeah, thank you so much for speaking to me. I'm really excited to, you know, hear more about you and the path that you've, that you've been on that's landed you this role at Google. So that can kind of be guiding the conversation. You know, do you like the work that you're doing right now? How did you get into Google? Were you referred? Did you do cold application? Are you— well, I wouldn't ask them in this first conversation if they're able to, to give you a referral, but just ask them like a lot of questions about the projects that they're working on right now, what they like. I like to try and keep it positive in the first conversation. I wouldn't ask them like, oh, is there anything that you hate about working there? Just see, like, you know, kind of feel vibe. And yeah, just be curious about them. Lead with questions. And then at some point, it's only a 20-minute call. So at some point, they'll probably say, yeah, and what about you? And then you'll be able to tell a little bit about yourself. Yeah, I graduated with a degree in, let's say, data science. And I just got laid off from my last role and I'm looking for the next thing right now. And I'm just kind of like, Looking and seeing what's out there and making connections with people who are doing the things that I am interested in doing myself. So leading with curiosity. If they ask you questions, answer those questions as well. But I like to avoid having it be a super transactional thing, at least not going into it with that aim, because again, it's a garden, not a grocery store.
All right, someone was asking about resume reviews, and I'm like, you know, we haven't done a resume roast in a while. We should, uh, maybe next time on the next live will be resume roast.
Resume roast. You know, I would love for it to be resume room for improvement.
No, it'll be a roast.
A roast. I don't know if I can do a roast. It feels a bit harsh. Maybe, maybe Pedro. Did he do the roast before?
He did do the roast. You can do the roast.
He can.
It's wow. It's just it's it's not like it's about just being honest.
It is, yeah. It's cold roast sounds very harsh.
Okay. All right. Um. All right. Let's see. Let's see what else people have. Um. How do you avoid desperation when you're reaching out to people?
I think if you follow this approach, it will definitely not come across as desperate. You know, you're just having a chat with them to learn more. You're networking, you're growing your contacts. It's basically a no-ask scenario. And if you really follow this approach, there is no ask. I think there's only an ask if that person asks you directly about yourself and then what it is that you're looking for. And if the communication then has been good, if they've really enjoyed the conversation, then they could say something to you like, yeah, actually we have an open role right now. I could put your name in. Or we might be having some more roles open up in the first quarter. Let's stay in touch. And then You know, I could put your name in at that time, you know, something like that. So I mean, if you do, if you do message people saying, um, you know, hi, I saw your profile and I would love to get a job at the company you work for, could you tell me how to do that? I think the response rate that you'll get from that type of message, probably you'll see that go down.
Yeah, I wanted to briefly answer. Someone asked, um, Is it a good idea to apply to a position, find the hiring manager, and mention the project that you did related to that industry and maybe link her GitHub? Yeah, that's definitely cool, but the only, um, the only, um, thumbs down there is linking to your GitHub. Um, I am team you should not have your portfolio on GitHub. Most people don't know how to even use or navigate GitHub. Um, so yeah, do use Canva. I'm team Canva for that stuff, or Notion. But, uh, if you are still, you know, using GitHub for your portfolios, please stop. I've seen, out of all the portfolios I've seen on GitHub, I'd say probably like 1% is actually really good, um, in terms of the layout, the navigation. Like, your portfolio should be easy to navigate, easy to Access and easy to consume. And it's very difficult to do that with GitHub. Like, why would you— why, why have to learn GitHub, you know, all over? And, you know, you can just make it in Notion or Canva. Um, all right, let's see about that. All right, let's talk about how to address employment gaps or substantial underemployment.
Hmm. You mean in the conversation, the networking conversation, I assume? I mean, I think that like, I really value leading with honesty. And I think, you know, that's kind of the approach that I would like to take in these, in these networking conversations. So, you know, definitely know how to be honest without being like brutally honest or overly honest. I mean, if you had an employment gap and it was due to a layoff, You could just say something like, unfortunately, cuts were made at my company and I was impacted. Impacted is one of the words that people like to use. And we're all kind of in this moment right now where we had COVID and there was a big employment slump and then it kind of grew and now it's slumping again. So I think, yeah, just kind of leading. I don't know what your story— I would love to help you a little bit more by digging into what that means for you, but I Since I don't know your story, I think that's maybe a conversation for another day.
Yeah, Donnelly, definitely reach out to Emily. I know Donnelly is on LinkedIn. So Donnelly, reach out to connect with Emily and, and see how she can help. All right, listen, we are in the final stretch, about 4 minutes left. Let's see, I would like to gather ideas for what, what topic would you guys like us to cover next time? So please drop in the chat, what would you like us to cover next time? And let me see if there's anything else I can— Do I have any Oh, another thing, how would you approach networking from a recent grad perspective?
I would do it the same way.
All right.
Yep.
Oh, recent grads. I've been saying this in my videos, I said this in a live from January, you can build your own experience. You should be reaching out to your local nonprofits, and giving free consultation, like doing projects. You be a consultant and do projects. You can— it takes like, listen, it costs like $100 to start an LLC if you want to do that, right? Like, just do that. Like, there is no excuses. There's nonprofits that would— that have Excel sheets just sitting there and would jump for joy For, for someone to come in and provide like free consultation. It's not going to be like full-time or anything. You can do like, you know, as little as like 5 hours a week, uh, 30 to 45 days, analyze the data, make a nice consulting-style slide deck, and there you have a case study and something you can add on your resume, a story for your interviews. So when you talk about recent grad, non-traditional, like Just do that. I've been— I, I say it in like maybe 80% of my videos, so please just do that.
Right. And I actually just posted, um, the name of an organization that helps connect professionals with nonprofits that are looking for support. So Catchafire, if you guys are interested, always a bunch of different projects up there. You know, right here I'm seeing one, um, the Epilepsy Foundation of Hawaii is looking for some support with data and analytics. So
look at that, way better than Kaggle. Okay, way better than Kaggle.
Yeah, real-world experience. And then if they like what you, what you've done, and, um, they're not able to pay you because they're a nonprofit, at least they can be giving you a referral on LinkedIn, guys.
Referral and then references, right? A reference, come on. Come on, you guys, we're giving you the keys here.
Yeah.
All right. Okay, so we are— all right, so this one, how— maybe I guess this is something for next time. How to land your first entry-level data analyst role, especially for those of us— okay, I guess how do you land your first— how do you pivot into data analytics? That's the idea.
That is a big question. Let's talk about that next time. So we'll meet you next time.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I like to do those types of things like early, like in the year, because like right now it's like towards the end. Yeah, but I mean, we're definitely gonna have like a— I did it in like January. We'll definitely do one in January for sure. Um, okay, um, it is, uh, at the end of time. And how do you suggest freelancing? And I just, I just mentioned it. Um, all right, so we are at the end of time, y'all. And, um, please reach out to Emily. How do— how can people reach out to you? Let's look at
that. Oh, there I am. I am the only person, I think, on the face of this planet with this very specific name, Emily Nelson Alaska. If you type that in with quotes around it, I will be the first result on LinkedIn. And also, you guys, I would love, and I don't know if I actually can do this, I would love to share a link to the podcast that Kadeisha so graciously did together with me. See if I can post it in the link in the comments there. Yep. So this is a link to my podcast. So if you guys are— sorry that it's just a link like that. So if you guys are interested in seeing more, this is the one that I did with Kedisha. There's a new chat each week, so you can find me there. But, you know, I am quite active on LinkedIn there on a daily basis. So if you ever want to be in contact or just see like the content that I'm putting out, you'll find it there and feel free to send me a connection request and a 3 C's message.
Oh yeah, you're on like TikTok and Instagram too, right? Which is—
I am. I'm still kind of like managing all of the other socials, so my best place to, to find me right now is on LinkedIn.
Alrighty, alrighty, alright. Well, I hope y'all had a great night, uh, evening, morning, wherever y'all are at, about to go to bed. Um, we'll see you next time.
Thanks guys, thanks for coming.
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