STEP 2 OF 4
Use LinkedIn to find more people to add to your networking list
LinkedIn is the single largest database of workers on the internet. That means it’s a great way to find the names of people you should be talking with.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT
Use LinkedIn to find 5 new people to add to your networking list; these are people you do not know at all.
Check LinkedIn for more contacts
Start with your 1st degree connections
If you have fewer than ~50 LinkedIn connections, you can probably go through them manually to find anyone else to add to your Networking List that you haven’t already added in Step 1.
If you have more than ~50 LinkedIn connections, you can have your AI assistant help you go through them and identify those worth adding.
Some people who’ve had a LinkedIn profile for a while have accumulated a lot of connections ― but many of them may not be very helpful. This exercise helps you hone in on the helpful ones.
You can export your contact list from LinkedIn, upload it to your AI assistant, and ask it which of your contacts to prioritize.
First, download your LinkedIn contacts to a .csv file.
PROMPT 1
These are my LinkedIn connections. What patterns do you see in terms of industries, seniority levels, and gaps that might be relevant to my job search?
Attach your LinkedIn .csv file and your Target Job Profile
Stay in the same chat and enter the next prompt.
PROMPT 2
Which of them are most likely to know about openings for someone with my background, and which are most likely to know someone who does? Keep your response brief — just a short list with a one-sentence reason for each.
NEXT STEP
Open your Networking List and add any contact names you’ve found.
Then move on to your 2nd degree connections
Your LinkedIn feed can help you find people you should connect with, but it can be overwhelming if it’s full of posts that aren’t relevant to your job search. So your first move is to prune your feed so it’s easier to spot people you should know.
Go through your LinkedIn feed and follow people relevant to your job search, and make sure you’re only unfollow those who are not.
Important: unfollowing is not disconnecting. You’ll still be connected on LinkedIn, it’s just that their posts, comments, and reactions won’t appear in your feed. You can still send them DMs.
Before opening a chat in your AI assistant, go to your LinkedIn feed, scroll down so that there are 10 or 20 posts and copy them (you can Select All and copy everything in your browser window).
PROMPT
These are posts from my LinkedIn feed. Based on what you know about the kind of clients I want to attract, which of these posters should I consider unfollowing?
Paste the copied LinkedIn posts and attach your Target Job Profile
NEXT STEPS
- Review the chat result and unfollow your connections based on your own discretion. This is a good exercise to repeat every so often. Over time, you’ll start finding that your LinkedIn feed becomes more useful.
- Most of your connections will repost or react to their connections posts. If any of those people seem relevant to your job search, add those names to your networking list.
Now you’re ready to start networking strategically
In the next two steps, you’ll learn about the two networking approaches: garden networking and hunter networking.