How to network online (even if you’re an introvert)

Dear kinesiology student,

Have mentors and colleagues told you to network to help with your career?

But what is networking and why is it so important?

To me, networking is the process of making genuine connections and building relationships. Networking can help you to quickly advance your career by opening doors to more opportunities in the field. Plus, you can get support and help from your network with school and work-related projects.

To give you an example of just how powerful networking is, I want to share my experience with you.

In school, I never had the highest grades. I struggled with lab reports and exams. However, I found I excelled in practicums. In many cases, I was able to leverage further job opportunities and connections from networking in my practicums.

There were times when I applied for opportunities where other candidates had more experience and knowledge than me. However, through my network, I had connections who knew some of the interviewers, which helped me to land the position.

Networking is a powerful skill to develop and having a growing network will only lead to more opportunities down the road.

Now, you’re probably wondering…

How do you network?

Especially if you’re new to the field and don’t know anyone. Maybe you’re worried about reaching out because you don’t think you have anything to offer to experts in the field in exchange for their time.

When I was finishing my undergrad, I couldn’t find very many in-person conferences and networking events to connect with professionals in the field. As an introvert, I struggle with new environments and social settings. I will often try to connect with one person and stay by their side for the whole event. Oftentimes, you’ll find me gravitate towards the wall and slowly make my way to the door…

So, I resorted to finding ways to connect with practitioners in the field online through Instagram, LinkedIn, and emails.

Looking back, I physically cringe at the thought of my first attempts of reaching out and trying to connect. I would send one thousand word long introduction emails and include 13+ questions. I’m very fortunate that everyone still responded to those horrendously long emails.

I will forever be grateful for these practitioners and their kindness.

If you’re new to networking, reaching out to your first person can be scary. I’ve been in your shoes. The first time I connected with someone, my whole body was shaking and I was drenched in sweat.

To help you make the most of your first networking experience (and every time after that), I'm going to share what has helped me when it comes to connection with people online.

The first couple times will seem nerve-wracking and some people might not respond. Don’t give up. This is perfectly normal. I promise that if you start reaching out and putting yourself out there, opportunities will start coming in. Even if you're an awkward introvert like me who talks about the weather and squirrels.

Who should I reach out to?

My recommendation would be to first start reaching out to people who are doing what you want to do in your career or people within the same niche (e.g. strength and conditioning). For example, when I was finishing up my undergrad, I wanted to become a strength coach for paralympic athletes. I was also interested in pursuing an MKin degree. So, I started looking for professionals involved in the paralympics and MKin alumni.

To find people in your niche, I recommend having a LinkedIn account and searching for people there. For example, I wanted to find MKin alumni from University of Calgary, so I searched up “University of Calgary Masters of Kinesiology”. From there, I started jotting down names of alumni and clicking on their profile. Plus on the right, there’s a section called “People also viewed”. I found that section will lead me to their classmates and their work colleagues.

I recommend starting off with creating a list of 5 people to reach out to. From there, those people might refer you to others to connect with and the process of networking becomes easier. The hardest part of networking is finding the first couple people to connect with. After that, the process becomes a spider web of connections.

Later in your networking journey, make it a goal to also connect with people outside of the field. By diversifying your network, you never know what opportunities might come up for both parties. For example, I’ve made an effort to connect with people who work in marketing. While the person might not be in kinesiology, they might have connections in marketing with people who are in fitness. Plus, you might be the first person they think of when hiring a fitness coach.

How do I reach out and what do I say?

Send an Introduction Email

The first thing to do is find the best way to reach out to the individual. Typically, I recommend emailing if you’re able to find their email online or are referred by someone. If you’re referred by someone, make sure to include that in the email.

What do you write in the email?

There’s more than one way to write a great introduction email. What I’m about to share is what’s worked for me, but feel free to adapt the framework to your liking.

When writing an introduction email, I try to follow the following frameworks:

• 1 - 2 sentences to introduce yourself
• 1 - 2 sentences about how you heard about them and their work
• 1 - 2 sentences asking if you can connect

Here’s a made up example:

Tips and things to consider:

• Keep your email on the shorter end
• Try to make the email concise
• Make sure you’ve checked your spelling and grammar

You don’t want to come off as someone who takes and does not give equally. Ways to give back include an opportunity to guest speak, pay for their time, or even help with one of their projects by being a volunteer. You may not have a way to return the favour and that’s ok. These professionals have been in your shoes and most are even excited to share their knowledge with future generations.

Being a student or a new graduate gives you a huge advantage when it comes to networking. I’ve found that people in the field are much more willing to offer their time to students who are eager to learn more. If you’re a student, I highly recommend networking with professionals for guidance on your assignments. During MKin, I did this for several of my assignments in my second year because I wanted to gain further insights from specialists in the field. For example, at the time, many of my professors had a background in endurance training. For one of my case study assignments, I wanted to create a strength training program for a hockey player. So I reached out to a strength and conditioning coach who specialized in training hockey players. Not only did this lead to helping me learn how to practically apply my knowledge but I also built a strong connection with a practitioner in the field.

If you’re already in the working field, you can still do something similar. For example, if you’re working with a patient who has a condition that you’ve never worked with before such as coronary heart disease, you could reach out to an exercise physiologist who does for their advice.

Reaching out via email is my preferred method, but what do you do if you can’t find their email?

Slide into the DMs’ professionally

If you’re unable to find the person’s email address, the next solution is to try and connect with them on social media. While LinkedIn is a great way to find people, not everyone is active on the platform. Check to see if they’re active on other social platforms by going to their activity section and seeing if they post or comment often on Twitter, Instagram, or Reddit.

Here’s a couple of ways to start engaging and connecting with the person:

If they post content, leave a couple comments on the most recent posts. When commenting, show genuine interest. One way to do this is by asking questions about the post. This step isn’t necessary, but I’ve found that the more interactions you have with a person, the easier it is to start building a connection.

After a couple comments, I’ll reach out by sliding into the DMs and following a similar structure to the email where I’ll send a message going over:

• 1 - 2 sentences to introduce yourself
• 1 - 2 sentences about how you heard about them and their work

From there, I’ll see if the person responds within a couple days. If they respond, I try to build a conversation going. Remember, we want a balance of give and take.

For me personally, I don’t like to ask right away for help with DMs. Instead, I try to get to know the person. If they offer to help, I will then ask.

Mentor’s tip: On Instagram, respond to people’s Instagram stories if you can. Why? Because when you comment, you go right into messaging them in the DMs. A great way to start the conversation and show your interest in their content.

What happens after I email or message someone?

Try to keep the conversation going. However, I recommend meeting in person or jumping on a call. By having a live conversation, you’re able to build a stronger connection. Also, live conversations can be easier than long chains of email conversations that can take days or even weeks.

Remember to respect these individuals' time. I’ve found many are able to chat for an hour but some may only be able to chat for 30 minutes or less. Make sure both you and the person know beforehand how long the conversation will be.

What do I ask during the call or the meet up?

First, make sure that both you and the person have a clear idea of what you’ll talk about.

I recommend researching the person and making sure you know a bit about them like their back story, current projects, research interest, etc. From there, you can compile some questions to ask.

Here are some examples of questions that I’ve used in the past:

• What factors helped you consider doing an MKin vs. MSc?
• What made you interested in traveling across the world to pursue an MKin in Canada?
• How has your approach to periodization changed for programming hockey athletes since you started coaching the team?

How do I maintain relationships with my network?

Maintaining relationships with your network can be tricky when you’re busy juggling work, school, and other extracurricular activities on top of making time to spend with friends and family.

Sometimes you don’t have the ability to do one hour catch up calls.

Over the years, I’ve found maintaining relationships to be a struggle but I’ve developed tactics based on my time availability.

If there are certain weeks or months where I’m busy with school or work, I’ll do this quick 5 minute exercise: I scroll to the bottom of my DMs on social media or look through my contact list and find 3 people I haven’t talked to in a while. I’ll reach out to them and see how they’re doing. I find this typically works for those who I’ve interacted with several times in the past such as former co-workers. I’ve found that almost every single time, the person receiving the message is happy to hear from you. In fact, you might even make their day.

For those who I have less contact with, such as someone who I’ve only talked to a handful of times, I like to provide meaning and reason for connecting such as an interesting resource that resonates with a past conversation or sending a link to a job opening. Sending them an email to say thank you also goes a long way. When I finished my masters, I emailed several thank you emails to those who helped me with my degree. I do this when I have more time during the year.

These are only a couple of ways to maintain a relationship that’s worked for me. Try some of these out or explore different ways that work for you!

Mentor’s tip: I highly recommend having a contact list so you don’t lose your ability to maintain a relationship with someone because you lost their information (e.g. email). Even creating a simple list in a Google Doc will save you tons of time later on with trying to contact people in the future.

Rinse and repeat

Ta da! That’s how you can start to network, jump on a call, and build your connections. I encourage you to fine tune your methods to find what works best for you.

If you’re looking for additional resources, I cannot recommend The Change Maker by John Beradi enough. Not only does John go over how to find mentors and network but also how to plan out professional development for your entire career in kinesiology. From reading, The Change Maker, I learned a few important tips that have helped me with networking:

• Asking the question, “What can I offer them?”
• Don’t be afraid to reach out even if you’re young and completely new to the field

Networking can sound intimidating at first, but don’t worry! Once you reach out a couple times, you’ll get into the groove.

If you need help with finding connections, sending emails, or anything discussed above, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be happy to jump on a call and be your first connection. 🙂

Feel free to email me HERE.

Sincerely,

Your Kines Mentor