Beyond the Ivory Tower

Networking Your Way to a Job

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By Margaret Newhouse

For the first column of the new century (and my last column before a six-month sabbatical), I want to share two success stories of humanities Ph.D.'s who have developed alternative careers. Effective networking was the key ingredient in both of their career switches.

My first example, Hilary Zaid, earned her Ph.D. in English from the University of California at Berkeley in 1997. She wanted to stay in the San Francisco Bay area but the academic job market was dismal. She began to think about alternatives that would allow her to use her writing skills.

In a recent e-mail message, she describes her transition from new Ph.D. to director of "information architecture" and content strategy at Collaborate, an advertising, communications, and marketing agency based in San Francisco. Her company creates "integrated brand experiences" for consumers, using television, the World Wide Web, and other media.

Incessant networking of the sort you recommend -- telling every person you know in every circumstance that you are looking for work -- helped me land the pivotal first position, which I got the day before my graduation. I was hired by a guy who was in the introduction to Judaism class I was taking with my (now) spouse. I had been doing a lot of Internet-related work with my undergraduate students at Berkeley for the previous year, teaching some of the most interactive classes on campus, but I hadn't realized that there were more opportunities for humanities people in high technology than the dreaded technical writing jobs. Instead, I ended up on the creative front end of the Web.

For the first two years Hilary worked as an independent contractor at Ikonic, a Web-development company, serving as the "editorial lead" of a production and design team. Then she joined several colleagues who were freelancing for Ikonic and started the new agency. From her current vantage point, she sees the value of the entire process of career exploration.

The extent to which those transferable skills have served me can't be overstated. I do everything I learned to excel at as a student, but now I get paid for it. I've found that the most important thing for me has been setting out my own priorities (casual dress, flexible schedule, telecommuting, creative environment, high level of creative input, good pay, etc.) and then going after that vision with unrelenting purpose.

Many people told me a Ph.D. would be a liability. ... I smiled, said thank you, and at the same time felt very fiercely, that's nice, but you're wrong! I don't think the job quest will ever stop evolving for me, but I have a starting point and on days when I feel like chucking it all and starting over I feel pretty confident that I can reinvent myself if I need to.

Let me underscore Hilary's emphasis on networking. Networking (establishing contacts and building relationships to gain advice and leads for career development) is an indispensable skill that will serve you your entire life, for personal as well as career matters. Those of you for whom networking does not come naturally might find the following bare-bones advice helpful:

• Make a list of everyone you know from all your stages of life and ask them if they can refer you to anyone in the field(s) you are interested in. Do the same with new acquaintances (as Hilary did).

• Contact the career or alumni offices of any of the colleges or universities you have attended and find out whether they have a database of alumni available for career advice. Because these alumni have already indicated their desire to help -- by giving advice, not providing jobs -- they make good initial contacts. (If the institution lacks a database, ask for the alumni directory and create your own.)

• Start your information interviewing (or "anthropological field research," perhaps a less intimidating way to view the process) with people you know but not with those who are in a position to hire you. Wait till you've become more confident before going after potential employers or people who could refer you to employers.

• Prepare for your interviews (try to do research about the person and field, prepare thoughtful questions). Dress and act as professionally as you would for a job interview, and don't overstay your visit or stray from your stated purpose (unless clearly encouraged to). Always ask for the names of more contacts.

• Remember that most people really enjoy talking about themselves, so relax and enjoy the conversation. With a little experience, virtually everyone I have worked with has enjoyed the process. And the more you learn about a field (and you should talk with several, if not many, people in each field), the more sophisticated your conversations will become.

• Don't forget to return the favors down the line.

One of the most valuable gifts from networking is finding mentors, those rare people who take a deep and (usually) abiding interest in you and your career. It is important to be on the lookout for such people and to take advantage of the gift they offer.

Greg Hanners, who earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of Texas in 1996, writes of the importance of good mentoring in his successful transition into corporate human resources:

By happy accident, I ended up working for Advanced Micro Devices, a computer chip manufacturer in Austin, shortly after my dissertation defense. I took a temporary job as a German-speaking consultant on their human resources team for a new facility then under construction in Dresden, Germany. (My supervisor, the driving force behind my employment, was the director of human resources for the project with more than 20 years of experience and a fair command of German himself.)

I began by translating German business documents into English, but under his tutelage my job eventually grew to encompass many different aspects of international human resources and included several lengthy stays at the site in Germany. With those experiences, I was able to get my professional certification from the Society for Human Resources Management and subsequently found permanent employment with Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation in Nashville.

My current supervisor is similarly committed to personal and professional development for his employees, and I am seriously considering returning to school for an M.B.A. at company expense. I think it's partially my good fortune (to have had such supportive superiors), and partially their training and experience which led them to me. The qualities and abilities I developed as a graduate student -- responsibility, critical thinking, the ability to teach and influence others, etc. -- have served me well in the corporate world.

Thanks to all of you for your e-mail messages and your stories. I've loved writing this column, and I hope to be back next summer.