Networking for Executive Assistants and Administrative Professionals

Speaker 2 · 0:03

The Leader Assistant Podcast exists to encourage and challenge assistants to become confident, game-changing leader assistants.

Jeremy · 0:14

The Leader Assistant Podcast is brought to you by Goody. If you send business gifts to employees, clients, or sales prospects, Goody is a game changer. You can send one gift or hundreds at a time, without ever worrying about shipping details. With Goody, your gift recipients provide all their shipping info, and they can even swap out your gift for another option if they prefer. It's free to start gifting, and you can get a $20 credit when you sign up. Oh, and if you mention you heard about Goody from The Leader Assistant Podcast, Goody will add an extra $10 credit to your account. So go to leaderassistant.com/goody, that's G-O-O-D-Y, to start gifting today. Again, that's leaderassistant.com/goody. All right, on today's episode, I'm going to share an excerpt from my audio book, The Leader Assistant, Four Pillars of a Confident, Game-Changing Assistant. For today's excerpt, we're going to be listening to Chapter 20, which is all about networking. So I hope you enjoy it. Be sure to check out the show notes at leaderassistant.com/153, and we'll talk to you soon. Chapter 20, Networking. No one, not even your best friend, has the ability to understand what we, assistants, go through. Monique Hellstrom. Similar to how a mountain trail guide won't know what it's like to be on a glacier unless they've been on one, the only group of people on the planet who truly get what assistants go through are other assistants. Your executive and coworkers won't understand at a deep level, and you'll likely change executives, coworkers, and companies throughout your career. However, a strong network of assistants will stick with you through the good, the bad, and the ugly. Not to mention, your network of assistants will often help you land your next job. To remedy the isolation and loneliness I felt in the middle of my career glacier, I reached out to assistants on LinkedIn, Slack, Facebook, Twitter, you name it, anywhere I could find assistants to connect with. I networked until I couldn't network anymore. I began to ask for advice, share tips, and exchange stories with assistants from Boston and Omaha to South Africa and Australia. As my LinkedIn network continued to thrive, more doors opened. I was recruited for senior executive assistant roles at companies such as Facebook and Amazon. I flew across the world to train assistants in Germany, Hong Kong, and Thailand and got paid to do so. Grow your network before you need it. Don't get stuck on a glacier with nowhere to turn. Instead, grow your network so you have one when you need it. Add value to LinkedIn, Slack, and Facebook communities. Go to local assistant meetups or conferences. If there aren't local events, start an assistant happy hour or a lunch and learn. Ask other assistants to grab coffee, or hop on a video call to share your hapies and crappies from your week. Oops, I mean highs and lows. Happies and crappies are what we do with our boys at the dinner table. Growing your network is one of the best ways to prepare for the inevitable glaciers you'll face throughout your career. Be a Generous Networker When I was single, my good friend shared an unwritten rule for dating I'd never heard. He said, You can't kiss her until you find out her middle name. Now, I don't know if this rule is applicable in today's dating scene. I've been happily married for a while now. But in a way, you can apply this tactic to your professional network. No one likes the networker who tries to sell you something or asks you for a favor as soon as they find out your name. They could at least buy you a drink first. To be a Leader Assistant, learn how to be a Generous Networker. As you're connecting with people, in person or online, keep this question on the top of your mind. How can I truly help this person at this moment? Helping could mean you listen to them rant about their day. It could mean you suggest a software tool that solves the exact problem they're wrestling with. You could introduce them to a friend in their industry or share their blog post with your LinkedIn network. Notice how none of these examples involve you getting something out of them. In other words, help others but don't keep score. If you help people without an expectation they will owe you something in return, you'll master the art of networking and grow a high-quality, game-changing network. Networking as an Introvert I can keep a conversation going for hours with Meg, my brothers, or my best friends, but throw me into a room full of strangers and I'm spent after about 11 minutes. If you can relate, you're probably an Introvert like me. Sure, I've developed my extroverted skills over the years, but I still love me some me time. Here are some tips on how to network as an Introvert. Start small Don't go to an event with 100 assistants and expect to meet every single one of them, remember their names, and strike up a quality conversation. Start with a smaller meetup, or if a large event is all you can find, focus on a small corner of the room. Commit to meet three or four new people and be prepared to ask a few go-to questions. What's your favorite part about being an assistant? And what's one thing you wish you could change about your role? Are a couple of my favorites. Know your limits Give yourself permission to leave the party after you meet your goal, but keep going if your social juices get flowing. Just know your limits and don't push yourself too far past them. A good way for an introvert to burn out is to overdo it with social interaction. Don't just network. Connect. Networking is about connecting with people at a meaningful level. If you're like me, you get bored with small talk pretty quickly. You'd rather talk about a big problem you're having, or share a heartwarming story about your kids. The good news is, when you focus on a few people, you have more time to take conversations to a deeper level than, how's the weather? No matter how extroverted or introverted you are, engaging in relationships with other assistants is an investment that all game-changing leader assistants make. Six Ways to Grow Your LinkedIn Network When I was in between jobs, I looked where most look when faced with a career change, my LinkedIn network. I thought LinkedIn was the ugly duckling of social networks, so it had been years since I had logged on. I might have had a few dozen connections at the time. As I began to manage my professional identity, I noticed people were actively engaged, posting, commenting, sending messages, recommending people for new jobs, and participating in like-minded groups. I was shocked to discover the goldmine that was LinkedIn, and I instantly regretted my lack of participation. After spending a few years networking on all of the major online social platforms, LinkedIn consistently stood out as the best place to meet and interact with assistants. So I tried out a variety of methods to increase my LinkedIn connections and followers. Most failed, but I eventually discovered a few methods that worked, and I was able to grow my LinkedIn network from 2,800 to 16,700 plus people in around 10 months. The following six tactics helped me achieve this growth, and I still use these today. 1. Reach out to assistants in your city One of the most effective ways to grow your LinkedIn network is to reach out to assistants in your area and invite them to join you for happy hour, lunch, coffee, etc. LinkedIn makes this very easy for you to do. Visit leaderassistantbook.com forward slash bonus for a link to my LinkedIn guide, where I share step-by-step instructions on how to perform an advanced search for assistants in your area. 2. Connect with assistants around the world In today's world, it's easy to connect with assistants on the other side of the planet. There's no reason you can't build a professional relationship with an assistant just because they're not within driving distance. Here's an example of what you could say when reaching out to assistants outside of your city. Hi, First Name. I've been an assistant for several years, but I failed to grow my network. I'm hoping to change that and would love to connect and learn from you. Would you be up for connecting? 3. Thoughtfully engage in online threads Don't just like everything. Leave thoughtful comments on other posts you find interesting. Ask questions and share with friends who would think the topic is interesting. Don't be a passive consumer. Be an active user who contributes to the global assistant community. When you do engage in online conversations, don't ask manipulative or passive-aggressive questions to start a debate. Also, don't talk down to people. You're not going to build trust and add value if you're always critiquing, judging, or looking to stir the pot. 4. Write engaging posts on LinkedIn Start your own conversations by posting statuses or articles on your LinkedIn profile. I usually post about topics I'm passionate about or experienced in. My most commented on, liked, and shared posts are ones in which I ask for input from the Assistant community. I'll ask people to comment if they can relate. I'll often provide a short list of multiple-choice answers so they can engage with the post without having to type out a long answer. The more I limit the work needed to interact with a given post, the more people engage with it. Whatever you decide to share, remember to add value to the broader community. 5. Switch your connect button to the follow button. If you get traffic to your profile because you're more active on LinkedIn or you have another website sending people to your LinkedIn profile, this tactic can work very well. You can change the main connect button on your profile to a follow button. This gives people the opportunity to follow you with just one click when they're viewing your profile. Instead of them having to hit connect, decide if they're going to add a note or not, then come up with something to say in that note. To give you some context, today I have almost 16,000 connections, but I have over 21,000 followers. My followers can still see and engage with my posts. I'm just not connected with them, and I don't follow them. As of now, there's a limit to how many connections you can have, but no limit to how many followers you can have. I can't promise you that making this switch will work as well for you as it has for me, but it's worth looking into. 6. Improve your profile's visibility. You can manipulate profile settings to help more people connect with you and increase the odds that people will accept your requests when you reach out. First, make sure your profile picture is visible to those who aren't connected to you. I personally hold off on sending or accepting connections if I can't see a profile picture. It communicates to me that you're either not real or not that engaged on the platform. Speaking of pictures, you'll want to showcase a professional profile picture or a headshot and a solid banner image, not the generic LinkedIn one. Next, make your summary and bio visible to those who aren't connected with you. How are others going to be interested in networking with you if they don't know anything about you? Recruiters and executives looking to hire a leader assistant would also like to read your bio and summary. Lastly, edit your privacy settings to show your education and work history to those you're not connected with. The point of LinkedIn is to expand your professional network, so don't be shy. Have fun, spice up your profile, and happy networking. Alright, check out the show notes at leaderassistant.com/153. We'll see you next week.

Speaker 2 · 14:11

Please review on Apple Podcasts.

Jeremy · 14:14

goburrows.com