Networking For Career Stability: Part 2 of 3

Welcome to Part 2 of our 3-part Series for "Networking for Career Stability". Have you seen the stock market lately? We could all use some stability in every sense of the word. My 401(k) is decimated, my lunch costs 30% more, and I think I'll delay that new car purchase for a while. I get lonely sometimes, and networking helps me feel more connected.

Last week I introduced three key concepts in Part I:

• Networking within your company
• Networking with competitors
• Networking outside your company

We now turn to how to leverage your competition.

Sometimes people are super-competitive and would rather stay away from entangling with their competition. 

However, as Sun Tzu said, “Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer”

You decide after reading this article.

In this edition, we will discuss some ideas on why getting to know your competition can lead to stability with your existing position or spending less time between jobs if you are kicked to the street. Specifically, we discuss:

• Defining "competition"
• Improving your mindset
• Understanding the corporate structure of your competition
• Learning non-public information
• Gaining fresh ideas

What Is the Definition of a Competitor?

Most people define a competitor in a very narrow way. If you work in capital markets at, say Credit Suisse (like I did), you would traditionally define your competitors as your counterparts from the biggest players like Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman, Morgan Stanley, UBS, JP Morgan, etc.  

However, if you look around at other capital market professionals you will see non-traditional investment banks also have pros in similar roles. Namely:

• Private equity
• Hedge funds
• Big 4 consulting
• Smaller valuation firms
• FinTech
• Insurance companies

General Mindset

As we discussed last week, the most important part of networking is the space between your ears. The wider you can define the role, the wider your circle of competitors becomes. Job search is like life, all about conscious expansion. Sorry, just got home from my yoga class. Thinking you are in a narrow box is the ego which constricts all forms of thinking. In fact, the ego is responsible for all forms of suffering. Sorry, had religion class this morning.

Competitors Tell You About Their Corporate Structure

When I was in banking, after spending 30 minutes with my competition at a client golf outing, I noticed that capital markets group at Goldman Sachs reported to the head of investment banking. My capital markets group at Merrill Lynch reported to the head of debt. Hm...

My first conclusion upon learning this fact was that I was underpaid since investment banking pros always made more money than capital markets pros. I began to understand Goldman was not unique in this regard.

Therefore, this information could have created more career stability because it would have:

• Helped me understand where in my competitor firms I would need to network if I were laid off
• Allowed me to transfer (had I wanted to) to more growth areas within my own firm since I knew I had transferable skills
• Allowed me to question many other practices of my own firm vs. the competition and decide if I wanted to stay

Competitors Provide Non-Public Information

I don’t think I have ever had a beer with someone and not learned something I was not supposed to know (ok 5 beers). In a setting such as a bar at a conference, an alumni event, or other venues, people loosen their corporate collar. 

You can find out so much, like how happy (or unhappy) your competition is with their compensation. You can find out if they like their department head. You can find out how their marriage is going. Most importantly...

You can find out which of your competitors have better relationships with your clients than you do

What you do with this information is up to you. However, having this information can help you to:

• Realize you are out of touch with your clients
• Avoid changing jobs and working for a difficult boss
• Understand if the grass is really greener

Competitors Give you Fresh Ideas

When we widen the competition circle to include capital markets professionals at hedge funds, etc., you can really begin to open your eyes. The thing about large investment banks is that they don’t chase the smaller more interesting deals. Too much overhead.

Hedge funds, though, chase the creative ones. Sit down with a capital markets pro at a hedge fund and you will learn about a fascinating world of creative and high margin transactions done under the radar screen.

Having a broader view of the type of transactions you are qualified to engage in can help you borrow ideas from the smaller transactions and apply them to the larger ones. Using creativity and generating deal flow will help you to reduce the chances of a layoff. If you do bite the bullet, you will come to realize the larger number of potential employers you have.

Bottom Line

I don’t do bottom lines. Go back and read the whole article. The world is falling apart, and you may be unemployed soon. Do it for your own sake!