Networking tips for the timid
I thought I’d put together a few posts on some of the things I’ve learned through the job search process, in hopes that it will help others out there. To start, a few words about the dreaded topic of networking.
For many scientists and engineers, networking may sound like a wishy-washy concept promulgated by business-school types– presumably involving the ritualistic exchange of business cards, and in any case, nothing you want to worry yourself about when there are problem sets to be solved, research to be done, and so on. But just like any other endeavor requiring humans to interact (even minimally), science relies quite a bit on networks. When someone is organizing a conference, for example, who they select for invited speakers depends in part on their network. Whether you get a job interview, get selected to review an article or proposal, or get nominated for an award are all influenced by the people you know and interact with. This is a fact of life, and there is no reason to be afraid of it, nor to get mired down in the idea that politics somehow spoils the perfect, pure objectivity of science. I mean sure, think that way if you want, but it’s more useful to learn how to build networks of your own.
OK, step one: go to conferences.
Conferences are a very useful opportunity to meet others in your field and establish professional relationships that may ultimately lead to helpful tips on your research, future collaborations on papers or projects, invitations to present your work at their university, and so on. However, when you are a mere, meek, beginning grad student it isn’t immediately obvious how all these magical connections are supposed to happen. Perhaps you have gone to a conference with other grad students in your group and gotten stuck talking only to each other for four days, sitting at the "kids table" at all the meals and never met any of the famous people at all. Well then, here are some practical tips for networking at conferences.
First, go through the schedule, and look for talks you are interested in. If there is someone you might like to work with in the future (for example, as a postdoc) or someone from a university you might like to eventually get a faculty job at, target their talk. At the talk, listen carefully and think about the content– take notes, even. Try and come up with a question about their research that you would like to know the answer to. If you are feeling brave, ask the question in the comment period. If you are afraid of sounding stupid, write it down on paper first and take a look at it to make sure the question is reasonable and makes sense, based on what you know.
If asking your question in front of everyone else seems too bold, see if you can find the speaker after the talk. (This is a good idea in any case.) Introduce yourself to him or her in a concise way, such as "Hi, I’m Shellie and I’m a grad student in Professor X’s group at University Y. I work on Topic Z. I’m interested in the results you presented on your talk on jumping frogs." Then ask your question, concisely. For example, "When you measured how high the frogs jump, did you notice any dependence on the temperature of the room?" As long as you are genuinely interested in the answer to the question, rest assured that you are not going to annoy this person. Answering such questions (as well as promulgating their research results, interacting with other scientists, and teaching students) is pretty much their job.
Most likely the person will give you an answer, which you may choose to follow up on if you like. After this exchange, thank them and walk away. See? Easy! You have just networked. If you are lucky, and you had an interesting discussion, this person may remember you at the next conference. And if not, nothing lost– at least you learned something.
Now sometimes, of course, the person you try to talk to will actually act like a complete jerk. Unfortunately, science does not always screen against such personality traits and occasionally the complete jerk will nevertheless make it through to the top levels of academia. Well, fine. If after your polite introduction and question, he or she dismisses you rudely and storms away, try not to take it personally. Maybe this is at truly unpleasant person, or maybe s/he has some sort of highly-disturbing bias against people that look like you, or maybe s/he just has to go to the bathroom really badly. Who knows– you are probably not going to be able to figure it out, and should not waste your time trying to do so (though I know this is hard). Just file a mental note: probably not a good postdoc advisor/future colleague/etc.
Similarly, if you did somehow ask something you think was a stupid question and now feel humiliated, don’t worry. Try to get over it. The easiest way to stop worrying is to refocus on your goal: you are at the conference to learn about current science, find out what excites you, and make helpful connections for the future. Take a minute to recover, then go to another talk.
Fortunately, this stuff gets easier over time. Eventually, you will be going to conferences where you know 10 or 20 or 30 people, and you will be a person that others want to meet. Do what you can to reach that goal.
