Career Newsletter  

Hi this week from Sonali Kohli, Senior Recruiter for URL Media. As conference season approaches and many folks are looking for jobs, I've been thinking about the power of first impressions. In particular, how to talk about yourself when you're meeting someone new in a professional setting, whether a job is explicitly on the table or not— because casual conversations can absolutely lead to job offers.

Having some guidelines can also be helpful if informational interviews (and formal ones!) are nerve wracking for you, so here are some tips:

1. Prepare your pitch: Talking about ourselves can be hard, especially if you have professional and personal experience that are not reflective of the most mainstream path to your chosen career. That's why it's important to spend time thinking about how to frame your career story and share it in a way that's concise and clear. Put the thoughts into words and practice them so that when you meet someone, the preparation overrides the nerves.

For more advice on how to do that, check out the webinar that URL Media's Leonor Ayala Polley moderated last year with NBC News Anchor Richard Lui and Career and Leadership Coach Phoebe Gavin, on crafting your elevator pitch. 

2. Do your research: A vital way to show interest in a role and company is to be familiar with that organization's work, their wins and their losses. You want to know what the person in front of you does for the company, and you want to understand their role in the industry so you can talk about how you would contribute. So if you're a journalist or editor, read the stories — not just the headlines — and consider what worked and what you could bring to the newsroom. You should absolutely still ask questions about the person you're talking to, the company and their work, but this way your questions will be smarter and more focused.
 
3. Connect on things other than work: We all want to work with people who are nice, and interesting. If you've done steps 1 and 2 well, there will be time to get to know a person a little bit in an informational interview, outside of the context of a job. It's ok to share your interests and passions and ask about theirs, as long as it doesn't take over the conversation completely. For example, if I see plants in the background of your Zoom, I will absolutely be asking for advice on how to keep mine alive. You might see a handmade mug that I'm drinking coffee out of, and compliment it — why yes, I did make it and I love pottery. These kinds of human moments might seem like small talk, but they can be really lovely points of connection that both sides remember.  

4. Follow up: It is so easy and so effective to send a follow-up email or DM thanking someone for their time! If you can find a thread of the conversation to follow up on, even better. But send the email within 24 hours of talking to someone — in a job market where many qualified folks are vying for a role, it's sometimes those seemingly small moves that make a large difference. 

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