04/22/2026
In 2016, I was looking for a career change, so I asked a family friend—a retired executive recruiter—to critique my résumé. I went to his home, and he invited me into his office. When I handed him my résumé, he glanced at it briefly, set it aside, and asked, "What do you know about networking?"
At the time, networking meant asking people if they knew of any open jobs. He then spent the next 30 minutes teaching me what networking really is—and how he used it in his recruiting efforts:
• Call the person and ask when they might have 10–15 minutes to speak with you.
• Call back at the agreed-upon time to ask for their advice and counsel.
• The goal of the call is to gain connections—not to ask for a job. Ask: "Whom should I make sure to meet if I want to be well connected in town (or in a specific industry)?" Take notes, and ask whether you may mention their name as a referral.
• When you contact the person they suggested, repeat the same approach. Again, the goal is to build connections—not to ask for a job.
I used this process, and it became almost a game. I met remarkable people—bank VPs, hospital board members, and financial advisors. Not asking for a job took the pressure off both of us. I could be genuinely curious, and they could simply talk about their network.
One day, I called Morgan Stanley and asked whether there was an advisor willing to network with me. My call was forwarded to an advisor who agreed to meet. At first, I thought he didn't understand networking because he wasn't offering additional names. What I later realized was that he was interviewing me.
By the end of our conversation, he told me what he loved about his career and asked whether I had ever considered becoming a financial advisor. That conversation was 10 years ago, and we've been working together ever since.
Never underestimate the power of a network to move you in the direction of your goals.
