I’ve Used My Network -- Now What?

Hello there 😎 

Hope you’re having a terrific June! A couple things on my mind before we get started:

First, on the newsletter front:

As mentioned in How I Use Informational Interviews:

So The Connection is now The Remote Life OS. The rebrand better encapsulates my vision for this brand: your #1 resource when it comes to building a remote life, from landing your next remote job, increasing your remote work productivity, and how to strike the right work/life balance in a remote setting.

Thoughts or feedback on the redesign? LMK!

Second, my favorite part of writing this newsletter is seeing people take action.

From Marvin: 

From P:  

This stuff works.

So if you’re trying to land your first remote role, or just expanding your network, try these out. Then let me know how it goes 🙏

Today in 5 minutes or less, you’ll learn three strategies to help you land your next role — even after you’ve “used” your network.

Plus, the best links and resources on remote work. You'll learn:

• 🐣 Early career remote work? The pros & cons

• 💅 How to get a custom remote work arrangement

• 🤑 30% of US consumers use side hustles to pay the bills

Let’s jump in:

🤝 “I’ve Used My Network… Now What?”

Your network is the key to your next remote role 🔑

But what happens when you’ve "exhausted" your network?  

My friend, Jake, recently ran into this problem.

In this situation, I use three strategies to continue making progress on the job search:

1. Focus on being first

2. Go back to my network 

3. Work my cold DM game

Most importantly: when you network the right way, you never “exhaust” your network. There’s an infinite amount of juice to squeeze 🍋

We’ll cover that, too.

Let’s dig in. 

1/ I Focus On Being First

In a tough market, the most effective way to improve your odds - assuming you’re genuinely well-qualified for the role - is to get a referral. 

(That’s where your network comes in.) 

The second most effective way is to apply early. 

Be first. Or as close to “first” as you can.

One of my favorite quotes from the movie Margin Call goes like this:

On LinkedIn, remote job listings attract almost half the applications (source). We want our application close to the "top of the pile." To do so, you have to prioritize speed. 

Start using these tactics to accelerate how fast you can apply: 

Tactic 1/ Use Bookmarks 

After I’ve turned on job alerts on LinkedIn and any other job board I use, I bookmark all relevant pages:

• Jobs I’m a fit for: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/ 

• My job alerts: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/jam/ 

• My alert notifications: https://www.linkedin.com/mypreferences/d/notification-subcategories/job-alerts 

I want the ability to review potential roles or create a new search with one click. 

I also bookmark the career pages of any company I’m interested in. I check these every other day, so I keep them close. The moment something opens up, I want to be the first through the “application door.” 

(Want more LinkedIn tactics? Check out: 6 Steps To Land A Remote Job (Using LinkedIn))

Step 2/ Document Once, Use Forever

One of my first steps when starting my job search: create a fresh document. 

This is where I’ll record all my “answers” from throughout the process.

Answers to:

• Application questions

• Informational interviews

• Recruiter screens

• Interview questions

Here’s an example:

Years back I did a recruiter screen for a head of product role. I pulled up my notes and saw one question was:

Ultimately, I didn’t move forward in this process. 

But I did get a repetition in on this question. And I have high confidence it’ll show up again. Since I wrote down my response, I can iterate on it (read: edit and tweak it) for all my future interviews

Make sure you create your document in a non-work account e.g. your personal Google Docs. 

List every response you make. Don’t worry if your document looks messy or haphazard. Get your answers down while they’re fresh. You can always organize it later.

As you get to the middle of your career, this process of documenting becomes more and more powerful.

Step 3/ Always Be Application Ready

Similar to the Use Bookmarks tactic, when I’m actively searching for jobs, I want everything I need to apply one click away. 

My resume and cover letter are saved in a folder on my desktop. Each file is clearly labeled. I have my LinkedIn profile URL saved so it’s easy to copy and paste. My Document Once document is bookmarked and accessible. 

Here’s an extra step I take: any common responses or URLs I use (like my LinkedIn profile URL) I save in a Text Expander app. I use aText, a $5 app.

So instead of constantly copying and pasting, I write a shortcode and the text auto-expands for me. 

This is a game-changer when it comes to speed. You can do this with URLs, one-off answers, or entire cover letters. It’s 100% up to you.

2/ Go Back To My Network

This is important:

Reaching out to everyone in my network would take me 3-6 months. When I’m done, I start from the beginning and do it again. It’s b

You’ve reached out to everyone you know? Has it been a few months? Great. Reach out again.

So much of getting that referral is timing and staying top of mind. The former is out of your control, but you 100% own the latter.

When you follow up, stick to these golden rules:

1. Always be respectful

2. Never be rude or annoying

3. Add value however you can

Here are more detailed tactics I follow that make this better: 

Tactic 1/ Always Close The Loop

If someone spent the time to give you advice or give you a referral, you “owe” them two things: 

• An update on how things went

• An individual thank you

Don’t get lazy with a public, group thank you message on a social media network of your choice. 

Here’s what closing the loop looks like: 

Tactic 2/ Warming Up Cold Contacts

What if you haven’t spoken in a long time? How do you “warm up” acquaintances, colleagues, and friends who have gone “cold”? 

Simple does it. Don’t overthink this. It's not a big deal. Life happens.

The biggest mistake I see is people overcompensating or apologizing profusely.

Instead:

• Acknowledge the time 

• Get to the point

• Get specific about why them

Here’s a script:

Tactic 3/ Messages Left On Read

What if you left their message on “read” and never replied? 

Awkward.

Just kidding.

This is also not a big deal. Use the same approach as above: acknowledge it and move on with your email. 

Here’s an email I got recently that did this in a fun, memorable way: 

I love the “crawling my way out of inbox purgatory.” It made me laugh, and there are zero hard feelings. 

3/ Work My Cold DM Game

The good news is even if I’ve reached out to most of my network, I still have a powerful tool in my back pocket: 

Cold messaging. 

Why is cold messaging so powerful? Math.

The people I don’t know will always be greater than the people I know. This means there’s a vast audience of people who could connect me to my next opportunity. We haven’t met yet, but between LinkedIn and Google, I can find them.

Even though my response rate will be 2-5x lower with a cold DM versus reaching out to my network… there might be 100x or more people I can cold message.

Here’s what this looks like in practice: 

Now, here’s the catch: you have to get good at reaching people via a cold DM. 

Cold emails are an art and science. It’s a skill to write messages that resonate, give value, and prompt a response.

The best place to start is research. The more research you deploy, the stronger your cold messages will be.

To get started, here’s a script you can borrow: 

Here’s that script in practice:

Conclusion

Done correctly, you can never “exhaust” your network. The idea that networking is a zero-sum game is a false paradigm.

First, wrap your head around networking as a positive-sum game. Meaning: you can give and receive and everyone ends up better off than before.

Then, use these three strategies to land your next remote role: 

1. Focus on being first

2. Go back to the network 

3. Work the cold DM game

Give these a try. Let me know how it goes. 

That’s a wrap. See you next week 👋

🤝 3 ways I can help you with remote work: