How I Network with Senior Professionals
This week is SF Tech Week and I attended a woman in tech event at the invitation of a friend. Initially, I was reluctant to attend because I don’t enjoy professional networking. However, my friend got me off the waitlist and said it wouldn’t be cool if I didn’t show up. So I didn’t have a choice but to go.
Initially, I found it uncomfortable to approach people because I didn’t have any friends there and most of the attendees were much older than me. I dislike the standard conversation starter of “Hi, I’m Esther! What’s your job?” I don’t care about being “successful” or “smart.” Fortunately, I randomly ran into a schoolmate and also made a new friend. Gradually, I felt more curious and comfortable as people responded kindly.
In the middle of the event, I decided to start a fun challenge for our group: talking to the most senior (40+ years old) people in attendance. They might be big investors or rich individuals, and I didn’t feel comfortable starting a conversation with them. Since I wasn’t alone anymore, I wanted to practice.
I quickly located a group and dragged my schoolmate and new acquaintance along with me. When we squeezed ourselves into their circle, I saw a woman who reminded me of one of our professors.
“Are you a professor?” I couldn’t help starting the conversation with this random, unscientific opening.
“What? No? Why do you think that?” She smiled and responded.
“Because you give me a gentle and intelligent vibe!” I smiled back.
That’s how our conversation began. It wasn’t awkward at all, but the most inspirational of the evening. We managed to include everyone by asking different questions and laughing together. The women we were with said that the biggest lesson they learned was to talk to people from all functions in their company, regardless of whether they work with them or not.
I asked, ‘How do you start a conversation with an engineering head when you have nothing to do with them?’
“I don’t think you will have any problem talking to people,” she replied out of nowhere. I was surprised by this comment coming from a stranger I had just met.
“You are very curious, and I was much shyer than you,” she continued.
After the event, she initiated this text from LinkedIn,
“It was great to meet you at the SFTech event. You are genuine and curious which are important qualities in business and life and you make it look easy. Keep it going!”
This was the most empowering message I received this week, from a stranger that I was initially afraid of approaching in a professional event. Although many people have told me that I’m good at socializing, I don’t think I’m good at creating jokes or coming up with interesting or smart topics for new conversations.
I believed that those women felt comfortable around me not only because of my curiosity but also because I was genuine and true to myself. I didn’t fear being judged, even if it may not align with a professional approach. At the end of the day, people are just people :)
I’m very grateful that those women overthrow my initial stereotype of networking with senior professionals. While I may not be good at networking, I guess that I’m really good at making new friends.
This is the 13th post from my 30-day writing challenges. I was inspired by Tung Nguyen, a friend who is a famous blogger. He overcame the fear of creation through mass-producing blogs and eventually found his own niche audiences.
