By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
EP 3129 Leaders are great networkers. Learn from how they do it.
Strategic Interview Questions to Ask
00:00 – Intro: Shifting the focus from just finding a job to intentionally building a career.
00:19 – The Networking Divide: Exploring the different rulebooks used by average performers versus true leaders.
01:08 – Fear vs. Visibility: Moving past the “Stone Age” fear of being caught looking and embracing professional visibility.
02:16 – Inside vs. Outside: Why leaders prioritize external industry connections over just internal office politics.
03:22 – Strategy: Short vs. Long: Building a “professional Rolodex” as a long-term asset rather than a last-minute tactic.
04:10 – Leaders Network Up: The importance of connecting with business heads and industry influencers.
04:30 – The Winner’s Playbook: A breakdown of the repeatable mindset that separates those who thrive from those who just get by.
05:33 – Bonus Tip: How becoming a “winner” makes networking an effortless, natural process.
AI and the Future of Your Job
Okay, let’s talk about networking. We all know we’re supposed to do it, right? But what if I told you that most of us are playing the game completely wrong? Today, we’re going to break down how the real leaders approach networking, and more importantly, how you can shift your own strategy from just desperately finding a job to actually building a career. See, networking isn’t just one thing.
It’s really two totally different games, each with its own rulebook. You’ve got the way most people do it, and then you’ve got the way leaders do it. And honestly, the mindsets behind them are just worlds apart.
And it all starts with this one really fundamental question. What’s the actual difference between a job search and building a career? I mean, really think about it. If you can grasp this distinction, you unlock the entire strategy.
Well, here it is. A job search is reactive. It’s short term.
It’s you responding to an immediate need, scrolling through job boards, applying for whatever’s out there. But building a career, that’s a whole different ballgame. It’s proactive.
It’s long term. And the goal to build such a strong reputation that opportunities start coming to you. So how do we even get to that point? Well, it all starts up here in the mindset.
For a lot of folks, the biggest thing holding them back is just plain old fear. But for top performers, the goal is the complete opposite. It’s all about visibility.
Does this sound familiar? My manager will find out. It’s that little voice in your head that paralyzes you, right? So many of us have been taught to think that even just looking at other opportunities is some kind of betrayal, that we’re going to get caught and be in big trouble. But here’s the thing.
That is pure Stone Age thinking. Seriously. That fear comes from a time before we all had cell phones in our pockets.
A time when your boss might have actually been able to listen in on your office landline. Today, that risk is basically zero. It’s an outdated fear that’s keeping you stuck.
And you can really see the difference in how people act. The average performer hides. They’re conditioned by that fear.
So they keep their head down and stay in their lane. But a leader, they actively work to become visible. They’re out there writing, speaking, and getting involved.
They make it their mission to become known in their field. Now, this shift in mindset has a huge impact on what people actually do. It completely changes who they connect with and how they build their professional relationships.
For example, a lot of people just network inside their own company’s walls, but leaders, they get it. They know the real power is in external visibility. They’re talking to people everywhere, making sure their wins are known throughout the whole industry, not just by their boss.
And hey, think about what happens when you leave a job. The normal thing is to just cut ties and move on, right? But top performers know that a former boss can be an incredibly powerful lifelong connection. They keep those relationships going, building this amazing network of mentors and advocates.
Ghosting them is just a massive missed opportunity. Okay, this next one is so, so important. How do you treat recruiters? You know, it’s easy to get annoyed and just brush them off, but that’s like slamming a door in your own face.
A strategic professional, on the other hand, listens. They investigate the opportunity. They see every single call as a chance to learn something about the market, even if they’re not interested.
So we’ve got mindset and we’ve got relationships. Now let’s pull the camera back and look at how these pieces fit into the bigger, long-term strategy that really sets the most successful people apart. When things get tough, the reactive move is to run to the job boards and start from scratch.
When Following Up Backfires
A proactive leader though, they pull out their professional Rolodex, that powerful list of contacts they’ve been building for years. See the difference? It’s a strategic asset, not a last minute tactic. This also shows a huge difference in how people think.
A lot of people feel like they need to have all the answers themselves, so they never ask for help. But leaders, they know they don’t know everything. They get help.
They hire coaches. They understand that the smartest investment they can ever make is in themselves. And a really key part of this strategy is networking up.
Top performers make it a point to connect with people running businesses, with the heads of major departments. But, and this is crucial, they’re smart about it. They know you don’t waste your asks.
You build a real connection first. So when you actually do need a big favor, it lands with some serious weight. Okay, so let’s put it all together.
What’s the ultimate playbook that winners are following? Because it’s not about luck, and it’s not just about talent. It is absolutely about a repeatable mindset and a very specific approach to their whole career. This all brings us to what we could call the big lesson.
This is the core idea. The thing that really separates the people who thrive from those who just, you know, get by. And here it is.
Winners find the way to win, and losers find the way to lose. It sounds so simple, right? But it’s also incredibly profound. It means success is not an accident.
It’s the direct result of a deliberate, proactive choice to find a way forward no matter what. So how do they actually do it? Well, they learn from their mistakes instead of making them over and over. They know what they’re good at, and they lean into those strengths.
They’re humble enough to work on their flaws. And maybe the most important thing of all, they learn to inspire people, not just manage them. And let’s be honest, people want to work with and for someone who’s inspiring.
And that leads us to the final bonus tip, which this is really the secret to the whole thing. People want to network with winners. When you adopt this playbook, when you become visible, you build real relationships, you inspire others, networking stops being this chore you have to do.
It just starts happening to you. So I’ll leave you with this question. Take a hard look at what you’re doing right now.
Are you building a network just to land your next job? Or are you building one that’s going to power your entire career for years to come? The choice and the strategy is all yours.
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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS Career Advice globally because he makes many things in peoples’ careers
easier. Those things can involve job search, hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, career transition, as well as advice about resolving workplace issues.
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 3100 episodes.
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