Too many people only message their network when they need something (e.g. a referral for a role). Here's the smarter approach: On this week's episode of the podcast, we were joined by @goeric who recently landed 3 job offers within 6 weeks of getting laid off. And I suspect the main reason he had such a successful search is that he kept his network very warm in the months and years leading up to making an ask. @MarcBaselga is one of the people Eric kept in the loop before needing anything. Eric would routinely keep Marc in the loop on how things were going with him a few times a year so that by the time Eric started looking for what's next, Marc was EAGER to help because he was invested in Eric's story (and also knew Eric is a great horse to bet on given all the datapoints he gathered in the years they knew each other). Examples of updates include: → Exciting work milestones → Potential member referrals to Supra → Potential coach suggestions for Supra → Personal life wins The vast majority of these had no ask attached - just updates and offers to be useful/helpful. Fast forward to when Eric got laid off, his message to Marc felt like a continuation of the relationship vs being something abrupt. The way he framed it was sooo good: here's what happened at the company, here's the market reality, here's what I'm doing about it. Then, almost as an afterthought: if you hear of anything you think I'd be a fit for, let me know. The ask was so well-framed that Marc immediately started thinking about how he can help. Eric made it easy for him. What I also love is that Eric was selective with making asks and showed just how much he valued his network's precious social capital by limiting the number of asks (and always giving the person an easy "out" if they weren't inclined to help). Another big takeaway from Eric's strategy is keeping the ratio of pings-when-you-don't-need-anything way higher than pings-when-you-need-something. If you're going to be searching for a new role in the next few years, you should seriously consider sending regular updates to great people in your network who you want to keep warm. Today - long before you need anything. It can be a few personalized sentences about what you're working on and thinking about. Nothing crazy. This will have two main benefits: (1) They actually know your journey well enough to be useful when it matters. (2) You'll never be the person who only shows up when they need something. Eric didn't crush his job search in 6 weeks. He crushed it over years. We unpacked way more with Eric on the latest episode of the Supra Insider podcast, including how he evaluated different offers and why AI fluency barely came up across 7 interview processes. Episode links: Spotify: lnkd.in/gHNZFwQS YouTube: lnkd.in/gm7Nx4ZA Substack: lnkd.in/geeN73N6