How do you get those high-level executives in your network to help you with your job search? Recently, a client of mine asked how they should reach out to a CMO they knew to see if they could help them find a job. Many people make the mistake of trying to reach out to these high-level people and being a little too casual.

You don’t want to say, “Hey, how are you? It’s been too long. I was wondering if you might want to connect.” High-level professionals are super busy, and in this tight labor market, especially the white-collar job recession that we’re dealing with, they’re getting inundated with messages just like that that come across as really disingenuous.

So, what should you do?

Be Direct & Show Humility

When reaching out to high-level executives in your network in hopes that they’ll help you with your job search, you want to be direct and show a little humility. I encourage sending a variation of this message to your high-level connections:

“Hey, I know we haven’t talked in a bit. I need to be honest—I’m in the middle of a job search and was wondering if you could help me in two ways. First, there are a couple of people in your network that I would love to meet who are working at companies I’d love to earn an interview at. Second, I was curious if you could give me one to two top pieces of advice on what it would take to get more people at your level to respond to me so that I could potentially explore opportunities with their company. Any advice or help you could provide would be so appreciated. I know your time is valuable and I really could use the boost.”

By doing this, you’re being transparent. You’re being very clear in your ask and you’re offering them two concise ways to help you. Again, executives are time-crunched and they want to help you, but the way to get them to help you is by not making it too open-ended and too cumbersome for them. The clarity in your request, the directness in it, and also the appreciation and understanding on your end are going to generate a response.

Hopefully, this high-level person is going to come back and offer to introduce you or provide that advice. But what’s interesting is the people that I’ve been coaching to do this are getting a bonus result: because their message was so direct and so many people are inundating these high-level people with disingenuous, roundabout requests, they respect and appreciate directness and suddenly say, “Well, let’s just get on the phone for 10 minutes to chat.”

When you are respectful of people’s time, they’re usually more willing to give you their time, and that is especially true for these executives who are in your network.

These are the kinds of tips and tricks that can help you move forward in what is one of the most difficult white-collar job markets in a generation. So, try this networking strategy in your job search today.

Good luck! Go get ’em.

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