There’s constant talk about how youth unemployment is high, higher, highest. Politicians, agencies and economists are horrified over the numbers. We are not horrified at 365. We have different figures. We have: “Seven things you can do if you are unemployed”.
I have spent almost a year of my life drinking coffee with different people. I spent large parts of 2009 in cafes, restaurants, going walking, sitting in conference rooms or libraries and talking to people. I drank soy lattes, ate lunch and sipped mineral water during the talks. My girlfriend questioned me, my friends have joked about how much coffee I drank and I have on several occasions bit my lip when yet another person asks if I do anything other than drink coffee.
Forget everything you have learned but remember this: A large network of people with different skills and from different areas can be the most important foundation of a great career.
Then there are other reasons for having meetings over a meal. The people you meet will be happier when they eat; holding a cup of hot liquid between one’s hands makes one look at the world with more sympathetic eyes, sittin down and talking to someone live, which is far better than having a conversation over the phone.
1. Call people that could be interesting to meet. It’s also possible to mail them. Determine a time and place. Think about you where you should meet. Personalize the meeting based on who you’re meeting. Take a latte walk with someone with a stroller, invite a health nut to a nutritious salad buffet and let cosmopolitans have a taste of authentic Persian food.
2. Think about what you want to talk to the person about. Consider the questions and memorize a summary of what you want to say. Go through it in your head beforehand. Prepare yourself.
3. Be on time and think about what you’re going to wear. You don’t have to wear a tie or a suit. But remember that first impressions last. What you wear does matter. A piercing means different things in different contexts. My dad associates ties with snares and beards with the mullahs. Personally I think that both ties and beards are among the nicest things there are.
There are of course other ways to network than to have coffee or eat together. Go to inspirational forums, clubs, hang out places where people are inspiring and make sure to be seen now and then. And of course, go up and talk to people instead of standing like a lamp in a corner. But I guess you already knew that part.
Text: Navid Modiri
Required time:
1 day or less.
Cons:
Do not forget to work as well. You shouldn’t just have coffee and network.
Pros:
Your name spreads, you get to know new people, which means new opportunities a good overview of who does what in your town and how the mechanisms behind the respective scenes look.
