A little motivation on networking: it's one of the best things you can do. For starters, networking will help you learn about different industries. Talking to people in finance, for example, helped me realize that I didn't really want the lifestyle that came with most finance jobs.
There’s a more practical reason for networking: applying online will almost certainly be a dead end. Google gets 2 million applicants a year. I've heard from Google employees that they often get 1,000 applications for a job posting. The odds are only slightly better for jobs at other firms. So how do you get looked at in those situations?
You know someone on the inside.
For most graduate students, this means networking. Here’s my advice on how to do it:
1. Dedicate time to it – Don’t invest 100% of your work time in your job market paper - because very few people will actually read it, particularly if you're going non-academic. I dedicated less than one hour a week networking (less than 2.5% of a 40 hour week!) in the last three years of my PhD, and that was plenty of time to develop a network of people who would help make sure my application was given real consideration. There will be variance; some weeks it was zero hours, some weeks it was couple hours (e.g. when I went to networking events, discussed below). 30 minutes a week is a good guideline, but not a rule.
2. Start now – The best time to be building a network is before you're looking for a job. There's less desperation and craziness. When you're not looking for a job, there are still a lot of reasons to proactively reach out to someone: find out about what they do, ask for advice about work / career, or just meet someone who lives in the same city as you.
3. Put yourself out there – You have to make the first move and reach out to people. LinkedIn is basically designed for this. Customizing a template greeting message, I got a response from about 1 in 5 people I reached out via e-mail or LinkedIn. A short message asking if they could take 15 minutes to tell me about their life in X profession was all it took. I don't why this is, but people are happy to talk about their own experience, especially if they believe that can be helpful to you.
4. Build upon your existing network – While LinkedIn yields solid results, you can increase your hit rate and search efficiency by making use of a couple other channels.
a. Alumni Network - You schools' (undergrad and graduate) alumni directory is a strong resource. When you share an alma mater with someone, they're more willing to talk to you.
b. Friend Network - You can also ask your friends if they have friends in an industry you’re interested in exploring.
c. MBA Network –For the truly enterprising, you can network with your university’s MBA students and start using the business school's resources. This is not easy; while MBA students are generally social and helpful, the business schools definitely try to protect their students from competition. Thus, they work to discourage outsiders from coming to their networking events. If you’re willing to hustle, though, the rewards are great. Using an informal invitation from an MBA student, I crashed an eBay networking event and eventually got a phone interview by referral from a recruiter at the event to a recruiter in another group.
5. Don’t stop - You can network constantly. You don't have to if you don't want to, but any situation is an opportunity. On my more extroverted days (and believe me, that's at most two days a month), I've met new acquaintances and even friends in line at Starbucks, on airplane flights, or at the chess club. So if you ever see someone who you'd like to talk to more - seize the opportunity.
I can confirm that networking is valuable now that I’m on the other side of the hiring process. I've helped people get interviews at Amazon because I knew them. And how did I end up at Amazon? I worked out at a gym with a professor in a different econ department. During the stretching / cool-down period, we were chatting and I mentioned that I was hoping to end up at Amazon. He smiled. "I know Pat [Bajari]," he told me. "I'll let him know you're interested."
I was qualified to work at Amazon - as evidenced by the promotions I've received here. But would I have gotten an initial interview without having a reference? I honestly don't know. It would have depended on my resume... which is what we discuss next!