Master Workplace English Networking: How to Network with Coffee Chats

Have you ever wished you could unlock new career opportunities with just

a simple conversation? Well, you might just need a coffee chat,

but what exactly is a coffee chat among professionals in the United States and

many other English-speaking countries?

A coffee chat is essentially an informal

informational interview.

It's a casual meeting at a cafe where two professionals exchange knowledge and

opportunities over coffee more than just a catch-up with a friend.

These coffee chats are strategic opportunities to meet with

more experienced professionals to learn more about their role, their company,

and how they advanced in their career. Whether you're actively job searching,

considering a career change, or looking to expand your professional network,

understanding how to initiate and conduct these coffee

chats can be a gateway to new career opportunities.

In this confident English lesson. Today,

we're going to explore a few key things. Number one,

we'll talk about why these coffee chats are a preferred method for

networking. Number two,

I want to share with you the cultural insights and the language you need in

English to initiate these opportunities with confidence. And number three,

I'll share with you the essential strategies you need to make sure your

interactions are successful and memorable. By the end of this lesson today,

you'll know exactly how to expand your network in English and make

a lasting positive impression that could significantly impact your career.

Before we get started, if this is your first time here, welcome. I'm Annemarie,

an English confidence and fluency coach.

Everything I do is designed to help you build the confidence you want for your

life and work in English.

If you would love to discover years of lessons like this,

including lessons on job interview strategies in English and team building or

leadership communication,

you can find all of that and more over at my Speak Confident English website.

Let's get into the first of five key topics we're going to go over today.

The first networking know-how in English.

Any time we talk about networking in English,

we're describing the practice of building relationships with individuals and

businesses for professional purposes.

This involves the exchange of information and resources to build

connections that can be mutually beneficial.

This means that it is beneficial to both people or both entities

involved, and without a doubt, there are multiple benefits to networking.

These include strengthening your professional connections,

advancing your career opportunities, finding a mentor,

accessing new information, career advice and support,

gaining fresh perspectives and developing long-lasting

personal and professional relationships with others. Now,

if you're familiar with networking,

then you know there are often more formalized networking events. However,

in English speaking culture,

we quite often prefer these informal conversations known as

coffee chats,

cafes and coffee shops are popular because they're convenient,

neutral, and casual.

They also encourage a limited time commitment.

Before we get into the language,

you'll need to initiate and conduct these coffee chats in English.

I want to talk about the expectations in English speaking culture.

There are four unspoken rules you need to know about.

These include professionalism, intact, reciprocity,

casual, yet conclusive meetings and follow up.

Let's talk about each one more in depth. So first,

professionalism intact.

Even though you'll be meeting someone in an informal setting such as a coffee

shop, there is still a level of professionalism that is expected.

This includes punctuality, dressing for the occasion appropriately,

and doing research in advance on the person you'll be speaking to and

their background or business. Moreover,

it's important to be tactful in how you approach sensitive topics such as

potential job opportunities To be tactful means knowing

what to say at the right time,

and the key here is to focus first on building a rapport

or a level of trust with someone before going in and asking for something

from them. And this leads me to the second unspoken rule. Reciprocity.

Networking isn't just about what you can gain from someone else,

it's also about what you can offer to them.

And the culture of reciprocity means that networking is seen as a two

way street offering help advice or a useful introduction,

for example.

But what if you're setting up a coffee chat with a senior leader with

years of experience, know-how and connections,

and you are just now entering into that professional field.

In this case, you might not feel that you have anything to offer,

so rather than focusing on reciprocity,

you can focus on being in receiver mode.

This means that during the conversation,

you are focused more on asking questions and listening as opposed

to speaking, you're there to learn from your contact.

Our third unspoken rule is casual,

yet conclusive meetings.

This means that although you might be meeting in a very casual location,

the meeting itself or the conversation itself still needs to have a

clear purpose, a limited timeline and a conclusion.

You can always start with just a bit of kind or polite small talk and then

quickly move into more substantive topics. Lastly,

follow up.

This is critical and expected when someone gives you

the gift of their time, following up with a thank you email, uh,

opportunity to connect on LinkedIn or sending them an article that perhaps you

discussed are all good practices to get into.

Following up not only shows appreciation,

but it also helps to maintain the connection that you've just started to build.

We're going to be talking about follow-up a little bit more in a moment,

but first I wanna go to the next section. Initiating contact.

How exactly do you invite someone to a coffee chat? First,

you have to consider your relationship with the person you want to connect with.

Is this a warm or a cold contact?

A warm contact is someone you already know.

You might not have a close relationship with them, but you've previously met.

If, for example, you send an email to them, they'll know who you are.

Think of friends, old colleagues, former classmates,

extended family or peers in your industry.

A cold contact on the other hand, is someone you don't know you've never met.

In this case,

there has been no trust established yet they don't know

anything about who you are, what your skillset might be. As a result,

you'll need a way to grab their attention and make a good impression.

Once you've determined the kind of relationship you have with this individual,

then you can think about how to approach or initiate the contact.

Let's start with a few ways that you can do this with a warm contact.

When reaching out via email or social media like LinkedIn,

it's important to have warmth and purpose. In other words,

your message needs to be personalized and clear.

This could include reminiscing about a shared experience or tapping into

a shared interest. Either way,

the approach is a reminder of your rapport and it helps to eliminate any

awkwardness.

Here are three quick examples of sentences you might use to initially

establish or remind someone of the rapport you've had,

how have things been going with,

and then maybe talk about a specific project you know that individual has been

working on or worked on recently. Similarly,

what are you enjoying most about X?

Maybe this person has just started a new role or transitioned to a new company,

or I was reading, watching,

or listening to X and I thought you might enjoy this too.

Once you've established that initial rapport,

you can then introduce the request and here are a few quick examples.

I was wondering if I'd love to,

would you mind if or what do you think about? Could we,

is there any chance you might, and I'm looking for advice on,

I want to give you two examples of what an initial email might look like when

you combine those two elements. Example number one,

it was great seeing you at,

I'd love to catch up over coffee and hear more about your current projects.

And number two,

I really enjoyed our conversation last time on could we meet for a coffee

sometime soon to continue the discussion? Now,

before we move on to how to initiate with a cold contact,

I want to share a quick note if you would love to get more examples of what

an initial email might look like combining this rapport and request.

And if you'd like to see a full real life scenario,

I encourage you to visit this precise lesson over at my Speak Confident

English website.

You'll find more in depth resources examples over at that lesson,

and I'll share a link to that lesson in the description below the video.

And now let's talk about a slightly different approach we use with cold

contacts. Before you even send an email, before you reach out,

it's important to spend time doing a little bit of research about this

particular individual aim to understand a bit about their role, the company,

where they work and their interests.

This is also a fantastic way to find out if you have anything in common with

them. Once you've done your research,

you can then tailor your message to their particular expertise in your field.

You could also mention a particular detail about their knowledge or experience

that interests you. And lastly, as you draft your initial contact,

it's important to maintain concision. In other words,

use just a few words to say what you want to say and make sure your

message is clear. Let me give you three quick examples.

I recently came across your work in,

and I was impressed by your insights on I'm Annemarie, for example,

and I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss this over coffee.

Example number two, I am, and I specialize in,

I've followed your career with interest and I believe we could have a mutually

beneficial conversation. Would you be open to a coffee chat sometime?

And number three, I'm reaching out as an admirer of your work at,

I'm keen to learn more about your approach to,

could we perhaps meet for a coffee to discuss this? Once again,

if you'd love more examples for how to approach a cold contact and an

in-depth real life scenario,

you can find that in this lesson over at my Speak Confident English website.

Before we move on to the fourth section where we'll talk about conducting the

conversation,

I want to make one final important point about your initial contact.

It's always appropriate. In fact,

it's encouraged to be clear about the time commitment you're requesting.

This provides clarity in your request,

it helps for quick scheduling,

and quite often it's more likely to lead to a positive response.

Let me give you two concrete examples of how you could incorporate a specific

time commitment into your ask. With a warm contact, you might say,

could we meet for a quick coffee next week?

I'm sure a 30 minute chat would give us enough time to catch up properly.

And with a cold contact, you might say,

I would greatly appreciate it if you could spare 30 minutes for a coffee chat.

I'm flexible with timing and I can meet at a location that suits you best.

Once you've made initial contact and you've got your time and place ready to go,

it's time to prepare for how you're going to conduct the conversation and you'll

need a few key things. First,

you need to have a specific goal or purpose in mind for this conversation.

Second, you may need to do more research on this individual. And third,

you'll need a selected list of open questions that encourage dialogue

and help you achieve your ultimate goal or purpose for the conversation. Now,

when I say selected list,

I do mean that you limit your questions to just a few,

perhaps three or four. Remember, this is intended to be a dialogue,

an opportunity to ask a question, listen carefully, perhaps,

briefly respond or ask for more. Ask for follow up questions.

It is not intended to bombard someone with an endless list

of questions. With that in mind,

let me give you a few examples of fantastic open questions that encourage

dialogue.

This first one is focused on better understanding someone's background and

experience.

Could you tell me a bit more about your career path and how you got into your

current position?

If your goal is focused on getting industry insight,

here's a great question. From your experience,

what are the greatest challenges facing our industry right now?

Or perhaps your goal is to get advice.

Here's a wonderful question for that.

What advice would you give to someone with my background entering into this

field? Now,

if you want more examples of open questions to use for those particular topics,

or if you're looking for questions on how to find out about a company's culture,

future job opportunities, or how to continue expanding your network,

I've got all of those available for you in writing in this lesson over

at my Speak Confident English website.

Once you've asked your selected list of questions and you've reached your time

limit, it's time to conclude the conversation.

It's always best to end a conversation like this with conversations that keep

the door open for future contact. For example,

how can I keep in touch with you or what's the best way to keep in touch with

you?

Can I contact you if I have any further questions and then follow

up?

I cannot underscore enough how important follow up is,

whether it is an informal informational interview,

a wonderful conversation you had at a networking event, even job interviews,

following up is essential and I recommend that you always

follow up with a thank you note or thank you email within 24 hours.

Showing appreciation for someone else's time is critical.

It will make your conversation memorable and it will leave a great impression.

A simple well-crafted thank you email will include a few key details.

Number one, it will have a personalized touch. Of course,

this includes the person's name,

but it may also include a single statement commenting

on something that you discussed during your meeting,

something that you truly appreciated or something that stood out to you.

Number two, your email will include an expression of gratitude.

All you need here is a clearly stated thank you. For example,

thank you so much for meeting with me yesterday.

I greatly appreciate the time you took to share your insights on and then

include the topic of conversation. And finally,

your email will include interest in continued engagement,

just like we talked about ending your conversation with a question that keeps

the opportunities open for future contact. You want your email to do the same.

Here's an example.

I will definitely follow up on your recommendation to connect with.

Perhaps they've recommended a person or a resource to you,

and I look forward to updating you on how it goes.

You now have a comprehensive process for preparing,

for initiating, conducting,

and following up on professional networking opportunities along with

the cultural expectations or insights you need to know about.

I've highlighted a few times that I have additional examples for you

and real-life scenarios in this particular lesson over at my Speak

Confident English website.

If you are in the process of expanding your professional network,

I recommend that you hop over to that lesson to get everything that you need.

And now I wanna finish with a question for you.

Take a moment to think about someone you've wanted to reach out to,

consider whether it's a warm or a cold contact, and then write a very short,

simple email initiating that contact. If you want,

you can always share your example with me in the comments below.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you found this helpful.

If you did, I would love to know and you can tell me in one very simple way,

give this lesson a thumbs up here on YouTube, and while you're at it,

subscribe to my Speak Confident English YouTube channel,

so you never miss one of my Confident English lessons. Thanks again,

and I look forward to seeing you next time.