17.7 The Most Direct Networking
One of the first things that you are likely to hear about the job search is that you should network. Right away, the thought might make you cringe, as you picture some awkward event in a hotel ballroom involving too many handshakes, business cards, and the same small talk, rehashed over and over. While that thought is a bit cringe-inducing for us too, we will stop short of calling those sorts of things worthless. The reality is that you never really know. You could attend 100 such events. Maybe 99 of them will be terrible, but at the other one, you’ll meet your future boss.
Rather than attending formal networking events, you might consider going to data- related and analytics-related meetups. If you do, just remember to be open-minded. Go there to learn. If you’re going to a “Python Geeks Meetup” event at a bar in your city, or the “Cool Topics in Data Visualization” panel discussion at a nearby university, you can’t expect someone at the event to just walk up to you, say hello, and offer you a job the next minute. Be friendly, be genuine, and by all means, don’t be shy about saying that you’re looking for a job in the field. But do this with no expectations, and you won’t be disappointed.
Sometimes, when it comes to networking, job seekers overlook the best type of networking, which is often “hidden in plain sight,” so to speak: your interactions with people inside a company. Every email with HR, every phone conversation with a hiring team, and every interview that you undergo is a direct, point-to-point contact with someone who can influence your career. Remember, always, to be respectful and polite to all the people with whom you interact inside a company. A single rude email to a secretary, or a condescending remark towards an HR person, can be enough to tank an application.
This leads to the next point, which may be the most important statement in this chapter: If a company does not hire you, remain gracious in your interactions. Do not pout, shout, or threaten to take your toys and go home. As the applicant, you will almost never be told “why” when a hiring decision does not go your way. The reasons for a final hiring decision are complex, and they’re idiosyncratic – this is why you should not take a rejection personally.
Companies spend an incredible amount of personnel hours on the recruiting and hiring process – so they do not take this frivolously. If you made it beyond the first interview round, there was a reason for it. Ditto for second and third rounds, and so on. As frustrating as it feels to advance into the later rounds of the process, only to not receive an offer, remember that you would not have advanced at all unless the company thought that you had a realistic shot after the previous round.
If and when you receive the dreaded “We’ve moved on to other applicants…” email, respond with kindness. Thank your interviewers for what they showed you about the company, and for the experience. Guess what? Other positions will open up in the future. If you’ve already gotten to know people inside the firm, and you made a great impression? They will remember you, and you will spring to mind when they think about filling it. They might even reach out to you before the position is even formally posted.
We literally know dozens of former students and colleagues who have received job offers from companies after applying, interviewing, and being rejected by those same firms. Had they allowed ego to get in the way, and burned the bridge after not receiving that first offer? There is literally zero chance that they would currently be employed by those companies.
We even know someone who received a rejection email from a company by mistake, due to some kind of IT glitch. Thankfully, he crafted a very professional response to the rejection email, before learning that it had been sent in error!