3 Tips For Every Intern To Master Networking This Summer

*Disclaimer, this is my first ever LinkedIn Article and I ranked in the bottom 20% for reading and writing when I took the SATs, so if there are any grammatical errors please blame the great Google Chrome plugin Grammarly. Sorry in advance! ??

ANYWAYS, even though I placed poorly on my SATs, I was still able to intern at three Fortune 500 companies, Lockheed Martin, The Hartford, and Northwestern Mutual as well as 2 startups, Copper Canyon Investment Advisors and Zenwise Health.

So HA in your face SATs, I still found "traditional" success even though your test said I wasn't great at writing!!!

I believe internships can be one of the most important things that you do while you're in college. It hopefully will give you actual experience (One day I dream that companies will actually accept internships as experience. But that's an article for another day ??)

BUT the aspect I feel that is always overlooked is the knowledge that you can gain from the people who have been working at that company for years, sometimes decades.

"Its not about what you're going to learn this summer my friends. Its going to be who you meet" - Gary Vaynerchuk

I remember hearing Gary say this in one of his videos a couple of years ago before I interned for The Hartford. I made it my goal to meet with as many executives as I could... I ended up having 20+ one-on-one meetings with VP level management and above through my 10-week internship.

I was always told "You need to network" or "Your network is your net worth", but no one ever tells you how... So here are my 3 tips on how I managed to network my way to meet executives of Fortune 500 companies.

1. Borrow Credibility by IMMEDIATELY Setting Up A Meeting With The Highest Ranking Employee That You Can Get To. Think CEOs, SVP, VP, etc.

Bold? Yea I know, but here is why you should.

If you're nervous that you don't know how to hold a conversation with a Vice President, Senior Vice President, or maybe even the CEO... don't worry. These people are EXTREMELY busy and it will probably take a month - 1.5 months before the meeting actually takes place.

You'll have plenty of time to plan ahead.

During these 4-6 weeks before your meeting with the high-level employee, you should start setting up meetings with your department lead, director, internship director, etc. This gives you the ability to get comfortable in a one-on-one "professional" atmosphere.

The second reason for this is because it will open so many doors for you into the rest of the company. If you hit it off in your meeting and at the end ask "I want to learn more about the business and the other departments here. Is there anyone else you suggest I meet?"

I met with my SVP and VP at one of the companies I interned for and immediately after they helped me set up meetings with SVPs and VPs from the other departments.

When an SVP and VP sign off on a 20-year old, you've earned credibility. Most people won't say, "no" to a meeting if someone their level or higher recommends you; plus you're a student and once you learn to leverage being a student, the world is yours.

2. Always Ask A Question.

Especially at larger companies, throughout your internship, the company will bring in guest speakers. This is your chance to ask them one of the burning questions that you've had in your head.

You can take two routes with your questions: Safe or Bold

Safe - These are the "What does your day to day look like?" or asking questions about the company.

Bold - Asking questions like "When you were our age, what advice would you give yourself to get to the point that you are at today?" or if you're really feeling daring, "What is a question that you wish we asked you" (Best if you're able to time it and ask this as the last question. Thank you to Lewis Howes for being the inspiration for this question)

My suggestion is BE BOLD!

You've probably got one chance to ask these highly accomplished individuals, why waste it on a question they've already answered a million times? Ask them something different that they're likely to remember you from. If you ask them something that is memorable, you can send a follow-up email to them talking about the question. Instead of your email falling into the masses of unopened corporate emails, it will stand out and increase the chance that your email is actually seen.

I've been able to get one-on-one meetings with Executive Vice Presidents, Chief Marketing Officers, Account Executives and more by asking a "different" question instead of playing it safe.

3. Keep Track Of Everything!!!

We interviewed Jason Fisher on the Young and D.U.M.B. Podcast about how he was able to build a network of over 900 people in Los Angeles from knowing 0.

He told us about how he keeps track of everyone that he meets, the last time they talked, etc. so that he knows when to hit them back up in about 6 months to catch up with them.

This is the ONLY way you can keep track of what you said you were going to do and what someone else said they would do for you.

The #1 thing in relationships is trustability, you don't want to say that you're going to do one thing and completely forget about it...

Here is what the beginning of my excel sheet looks like:

Secret 4th Tip!

4. Make Friends With Everyone Else That You're Interning With

This seems obvious, but my reasoning may be different than what you are thinking of.

Yes, you should always be kind to people because you never know where they will end up in life.

But what I found surprising was that when I interned at larger companies, about 30%-50% of all of the other interns around me, were direct relatives (son/daughter) or somehow related to someone in the company, usually someone who was in upper management.

It was a crazy realization, but I became friends with someone whose father happened to lead a portion of the company. He introduced me to his father and I got a one-on-one meeting with him!

NOW YOU KNOW HOW TO NETWORK!

For all you interns out there, congrats on getting the internship at whichever company you're working for! Big or small, use this summer to learn more than how to create a pivot table or how to optimize SEO. Meet the amazing people that have decades of experience around you so that you can truly understand the industry that you plan to work in.

What tips do you have for interns this summer?

Be sure to subscribe to the Young and D.U.M.B. Podcast on your favorite podcasting platform to learn more about the "nontraditional" path to success.

Link to Jason's episode: https://www.getchogrindup.com/single-post/2018/12/27/Jason-Fisher---Host-of-Coaster-Quest-How-To-Get-On-TV-How-To-Stay-Organized-When-Networking-E101

Link to Gary Vee video on internships: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgsbG3WEmHs