Preparation

If you know in advance who you’ll be meeting at a networking event, perhaps do some prior research. See if someone you’ll be meeting has published thought leadership articles on LinkedIn or through their firm’s website and if so, give some of them a read. If you later approach that person, tell them you enjoyed one of their articles and ask them a couple of thoughtful follow up questions, they’ll likely be flattered and very impressed. They’ll also likely remember you.

Top tip: when speaking to employees, make sure that you bring a pen and paper with you and take notes! You may not interview at that firm for another year and a half, so will likely otherwise forget all the insights you have worked so hard to pick up. People won’t think it’s weird if you write while they talk, as long as you maintain some level of eye contact and actually respond when they ask you questions. In fact, when I represented firms at career fairs and networking events, I sometimes felt like my time was being wasted if people I spoke to didn’t take notes, as I knew they would likely forget our conversation as soon as they moved onto the next employee or firm. 

Professionalism

Make sure you dress appropriately (first impressions and all that) and respect those around you. Don’t monopolise a particular employee by trying to dominate the conversation if others are waiting patiently for their turn. This can come across negatively to the firm employee (I experienced this many times), which won’t buy you much good will. In contrast, when I was networking with students and one was gracious enough to take a step back and let others have their turn, I would go out of my way to try to make time for them again later in the evening.

Keeping an open mind

Don’t avoid talking to someone just because you think they’re too junior to be helpful, or won’t have useful insights. This ties into the point made above about not discounting people you haven’t met: you can’t be sure until you’ve tired! I attended a City law firm’s campus presentation during my very first week at university. After the presentation, almost everybody swarmed the partners, so I went to speak to one of the trainees. As nobody else was around, this gave me a solid hour to ask a broad range of questions and gave us the chance to build up a decent rapport. He ended up helping me with my application and meeting me for a coffee when I attended an insight day. Now, almost a decade later, we’re still friends. In fact, we recently attended each other’s weddings! You. Just. Never. Know. 

Your narrative

It’s all well and good perfect the craft of breaking into groups or persuading someone to speak to you. However, you also need to give some thought as to what you’re actually going to say when they do speak to you. Think about your narrative. Your elevator pitch. What you will say if somebody picks up the phone and says “so, how can I help?”. In this situation, you should clearly and concisely articulate what you’re currently doing and what you are looking for. It could be as simple as “Hi, I’m Jake, I’m a 2^nd year law and business student, and I’m looking to learn more about Firm ABC as I’m interested in pursuing a career at a large City law firm.” Or, if you are looking for specific insights or information, you could be more targeted in your approach.

Asking questions

Tailor your questions to the role and seniority of the person you are networking with. If you’re talking to a managing director, don’t start asking them about the application process. Consider asking them about their career: what has kept them at the firm for so long, how their role has changed over time, what their favourite thing is about the job etc. Conversely, there’s no point asking a trainee or analyst what has kept them in the role for so long. Perhaps ask junior employees about why they chose the firm, what they have found particularly challenging, what they have really enjoyed, or how their role in practice compares to what they had imagined before joining. Moreover, don’t waste graduate recruiters’ time by asking questions that you could find out following a quick Google, as this won’t show much initiative. Instead, you could ask about the work that you might encounter on a vacation scheme, or the nature of the training throughout the graduate scheme.

Following up

If possible, follow up your meeting with a thank you. This could be by email or via LinkedIn, or (if you’re on an internship) you could briefly pop into their office. This creates another networking “touchpoint” that increases the likelihood of that person remembering you. The more touchpoints you accumulate with someone, the more familiar you will become with one another, which is all part of maintaining and strengthening relationships.