Finding the Common Ground – The Most Effective Networking Tool

Finding the Common Ground – The Most Effective Networking Tool

Written in collaboration with the UCLA Renewable Energy Association

Finding People Who Have Been in Your Shoes

When you’re networking digitally (i.e., sending emails to young professionals you don’t know), you need to make certain that you reach out to people with whom you have common ground. Common ground makes you more than just a mere stranger to the person you’re contacting: they’ve been in your shoes. Here are some tips to finding common ground, including access to the Dayaway “Zoom-In” database and Dayaway’s cleantechalums.com site.

 

Three Types of Common Ground

I see three specific types of common ground that really help professionals get jobs and internships:

  1. 1st Degree Connections. There is nothing better than getting an introduction from someone who truly knows you and the person with whom you want to talk; kind of like “Uncle Billy” calling his neighbor the HR manager at Tesla. But, let’s be honest here; most of us don’t have many of these. Someone you “kind of know” or “know of” (or has this acquaintance-like relationship with your target) does not count. Therefore, the following common ground is more common.
  2. Alumni. Targeting young professionals who graduated from your school is very smart and regularly given as the reason “I got my foot in the door there.”
  3. Same major. Reaching out to people who have the same major as you is also a primary tactic for getting through to the companies you want to get involved in.

 

Finding Your Alumni

Find out if your school offers a good alumni database. Most schools are weak on this front, but find out what’s there for you. Linkedin has great data. That’s the good news.  The bad news is that you need to spend some serious time narrowing the field to weed out the people you don’t want to identify from those you do (young, in renewable energy, from your school or with your major).  But it can be done and the young professionals serious about getting into renewables spend the time to find their common ground targets.

 

Use Our Zoom-In Platform to Speed Up Your Linkedin Searching

Dayaway now has an entire section, named Zoom-In, dedicated to helping you quickly find young professionals in renewable energy who graduated from your school or with your major.  Zoom-In makes Linkedin better; lots better. It’s free, but you must meet the eligibility criteria to get invited. Check out Zoom-In on the Dayaway homepage.  

If you don’t meet the Zoom-In eligibility requirements, you really should check out our cleantechalums.com site as a way to find your alums working in cleantech.  This site does not have the filtering capability that Zoom-In does, but it is a lightening fast way to find your cleantech alums.  And best of all, it’s free and open to all.

If you liked this article, you may want to read the following articles: “Informational Interviews – More Buying, Less Selling“; “Informational Interviews – How to Make the Connection“; and “Informational Interviews – How to Prepare“.