Toni Chanakas · The Art of the Small Talk

January 31st, 2010

I have been in Career Transition for almost two years now and I have become an expert in the Art of the Small Talk.

With any job search strategy, in my opinion, you have to either go to professional organizations or conduct informational interviews to find the “hidden job Market.” Believe me, it does exist. In layman’s terms, I call it- throwing yourself out there! Plain and Simple.

Secondly, in order to find your “dream job” or a position that will make you happy, you have to endure the laborious process of finding the right people to talk to. Consequently, they might help you find the “hiring manager.” And, the words everyone is looking for, “You’re hired.”

To become an expert or comfortable in the small talk arena, you have to practice everywhere you go. This can be at your local grocery store while waiting at the check out line or at your local library. I enjoy meeting and talking to anyone wherever I go. It is as simple as, “Wow, you sure have a wide variety of groceries, are you having a party?” Or, “It sure has been a long day, I seem to pick the longest line in the store.” At the library, I always give advise on what DVD’s the person might like. “If you like a poignant, coming of age film, try this.”

The goal is to become comfortable talking to strangers so when you go to that all important professional networking event, you can get a conversation started easily by finding generic topics. Do not ever begin a topic with, “Hi George, what line of work are you in? then immediately give them your labored story about how you lost your job and now you desperately need a job. They will politely exit and find someone else to converse with. They do not care why you lost your job. You must think of reasons why I’m the best and I deserve people’s attention.

Employers and individuals in general enjoy conversing with people who are multi-faceted and are interesting. Find out what your passions are and what you enjoy doing-sports, writing, or the environment. Do not begin a conversation with controversial topics such as politics. You don’t want to make enemies with people you do not even know yet. Keep the conversation going until you get a general feeling that this is the type of person you want to keep in touch with, if not, move on. There are plenty of individuals who you will strike a cord with.

After the networking event, you can either save the card and put a note on the back where you met the person or discard it. I recommend sending a quick email if it is someone with whom you want to keep in touch. “Hey, I enjoyed our conversation last night at the XYZ networking event. You know how I mentioned to you how I am in career transition, can we have a cup of coffee so I can get some advice on my job search?” This friends, is the beginning of a business relationship. And, keep in touch every month or so. The goal is to keep you’re name at the forefront of their mind.

When you go to a networking event or your local grocery store, just think today I want to talk to one-three new people. After you achieved your goal, reward yourself with some ice cream or a movie. Challenge yourself and enjoy this invigorating part of life – meeting some new people.

Toni Chanakas

Last 5 posts by Toni Chanakas

Random Posts

Category: BFD
Comments Off