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A Guide to a Networking Meeting [J. Murray Elwood] Some words and phrases for an informational interview, with tips for asking the right questions to find the advice you need.
present time, I’m more interested in receiving some good advice - in hearing how you’d evaluate my credentials and how I should go about marketing myself within the legal community . . .
IT IS TIME TO BEGIN YOUR MARKETING
When you first meet your contact, as when
RESEARCH. You have identified the names
introduced to anyone for the first time, make
of people you would like to contact, carefully
a real effort to put that person at ease. Don’t
composed a letter, and have followed it up
plunge head first into your agenda until
with a phone call scheduling a time for your
you have first established a human contact.
meeting. After that preparation, the meeting
Exchange a few natural pleasantries. Any
itself is nothing more than a friendly conver-
complimentary icebreaker will do.
3. Rationale
One easy way to begin is with a quick “room-
You have told the person what is not your
read.” Something in the office environment
reason for being there. So now, explain to
Just as you prepare for trial, or make notes
will suggest a commonality, a conversa-
your contact why you are there. Say:
before a meeting with a major client, or
tion opener: Family pictures, a view out of
ready your questions for a deposition, so will
a window, or a desk ornament. If you live in
your informational meetings succeed if you
an area known for its sports passions, such
keep in mind a simple script. Only remember
as Philadelphia or Chicago, then maybe a
that at these self-marketing meetings you’re
comment about some favorite team’s recent
not a lawyer interviewing a client. You are
success or failure. Above all else, make it
having a friendly conversation and are ask-
genuine and then say:
sation asking for advice, but the flow of this conversation should not be left to chance.
I want to thank you for taking the time to see me . . . I’ll try to be brief and to the point . . .
As I mentioned over the phone, you might say that I’m doing some “marketing research” on myself . . . You see, I’m at a crossroads . . . I’m making some major decisions about the direction of my legal career . . . and it’s important that I have enough input to make valid choices . . . That’s why I’m seeking feedback from significant people in the legal community such as yourself . . .
2. Disclaimer
4. Introduction
find your new direction. We all have our own
This step is crucial to the whole process. You
conversational style. Adapt this script to your
let your listener know, up front, just why you
own needs and your own idioms.
are there, what you are seeking, and what
Let me begin by telling you a little bit about myself, for the past ____ years I’ve been . . . [include a Profile statement here]
ing for a little advice so that you can better market yourself into a new job. This chapter offers an easy guide for your informational meetings. If you follow its general outline, it will benefit you enormously. You will gain the information you need to meet your goals and
you are not seeking. Most people will still be under the misapprehension, no matter
If you’re talking to a friend, or a law school
what you wrote in your letter, or what you’ve
classmate, that you have not seen recently,
They are three obvious stages of the informa-
said during your phone call to schedule an
then you might use these words as an
tional interview, and they are not hard to
interview, that you’re going to ask them for a
opener:
remember:
job. So you must take great care to put these
The Elements of an Informational Interview
assumptions to rest. Say something like this:
ENTRY --> BODY --> EXIT The Entry Phase 1. Rapport
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Before we begin . . . I want to make it clear why I’m here . . . I’m not looking for a position with your firm (or, I don’t expect you to have a job for me) . . . Quite frankly, at the
It has been a couple of years since we have seen each other; so let me briefly bring you up to date . . . For the past . . . 5. Transition:
continued on back