No matter how hard you plan, networking, or more specifically phone calling, can become a stressful undertaking. Before you make a cold call to your Aunt's, friend's, cousin's, ex-coworker (that was an exaggeration, but sometimes it feels that way), you need to prepare what you will say and be knowledgable of their company and what they will say. Oftentimes, that entails 20 to 30 minutes of stalking someone on the internet (precisely what I was doing before I decided to write this blog entry.) You learn all sorts of random crap, like where they used to work from LinkedIn or that they finished 247th in the 10th Annual Typicaltown 5K Run. And then you are ready for the big phone conversation. You dial the number pensively. First ring. Second ring. Your heart begins to pound a little bit. Third ring. Fourth ring. Fifth ring? Now you've lost your mental edge and are just hoping this damn ringing stops. Then finally, ye olde message machine. "Thank you for calling Company X. There was nobody available to take your call. If you would like to leave a message for Joe, press 1. For Sally, press 2. For Ivan, press 3." Etc., etc. You leave your message, somewhat happy that you didn't have to actually talk to anyone but also somewhat disappointed that you didn't just get this over with. You assume the deed is done.
Unfortunately, it's not. Just as you are sitting down for lunch with freshly heated up leftovers, your left pocket starts buzzing uncontrollably. Guess who? But now you're not in your comfort zone. For me, when this happens, I have to race upstairs to retrieve a pad and paper, sit down on my bed (the only place to conduct phone conversations), and try desperately to not sound out of breath when I finally pick up the phone. Sometimes, of course, you miss the call, and call them back while they are still leaving a message, leading to some confusing calling back and forth. And you've lost your focus and your mental checklist of topics to cover has escaped through the hippocampus.
Just another day of bullshitting. What's not to love?
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