Building a network and finding a job in today’s economy with Nick Sonnenberg of GetLeverage
We were recently joined on the Talent+Tech podcast by, Nick Sonnenberg the CEO at Leverage, an agency that helps you “unlock your growth potential” by providing teams to accomplish high-level work. Nick shares the value of having a network, what it is like to find a job in today’s economy, plus how to prepare yourself for the future of work.
Networking best practices:
- Learning how to position yourself in a way that makes it easy for other people to be able to explain what you’re good at and refer you in an organic way. Check out Michael Roderick’s talk about Referral Brand.
- You don’t have to have a good network, but you have to at least know one person that does have a good network.
- Strive for at least two degrees of separation.
So that was the starting point for me, I built my network by first getting close with someone that had a network.
Nick’s strategies for finding a job in today’s economy:
- Optimize – Are you trying to optimize for money? Are you trying to optimize for freedom? What kind of freedom? Remote work? Specific work environment?
- Get clear on what motivates and interests you.
- Establish a curious mentality and be dedicated to becoming a life-long learner.
- Don’t be afraid of new technology – read about it, practice it, study it, and keep up with the time.
- Strategize – once you are clear on what you’re optimizing for, create strategies on how to get there.
- Research interesting and innovative companies in the space.
- Pick out your connections, use your network.
- Add value from the start. Look at their website, job postings, and anywhere you might be able to add value. You’d be putting yourself into the top tier of candidates if you take it upon yourself to do a little work improving upon what you see and then warmly reach out to the most relevant person describing your position, and your specific (no-risk) value, prompting a conversation on mutual fit.
Other topics discussed in this episode are: remote work, companies that embrace remote work vs. those who don’t, and the future of work.
If you like this podcast episode, listen to our conversation Building a personal brand every time you connect with Norty Cohen of Moosylvania.
Nick recommends the following books and podcasts: