By March 2020, everyone in the world was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Working in the cruise line business, I dealt with voyage cancellations starting in China as early as January 2020. However, no one was prepared for what came on April 15, 2020. At 8:30 a.m., Miami Herald reported 26 percent of Royal Caribbean’s U.S. workforce would be furloughed or laid off. One hour later, I learned I was part of the layoffs alongside 1,300 of my colleagues.

After taking a few days to process what happened, my gut reaction was to update my resume. But what was I intending to do next? How would I tailor my resume?

So, I decided to take a step back. I took every career and personality test I could find, but they didn’t help me answer my underlying question of “what do I do next?” What finally worked for me was putting pen to paper, taking time to answer two simple questions:

  1. Why do I work?
  2. What do I value right now?

At this intersection of why I work and what’s most important in my life, I built out a clear vision for my next role. Life is full of different chapters — and priorities change along the way. It’s critical to be clear on what you currently value and need in your next job. For every opportunity and offer, I evaluated it against what I had written in my vision. Through this method, I used the process of elimination to quickly rule out roles that didn’t fit my current needs.

I spent hours submitting applications and cover letters, but never received a personal follow-up. Since my career path hasn’t been perfectly linear, a flat version of my story wouldn’t pass an HR resume scanner. Instead of scanning job boards, I set up alerts on LinkedIn and Google. If a job description excited me, I looked for someone at that company to message.

Every job offer I’ve ever received came from networking, and this time was no different. Many of my best job prospects even materialized from cold message requests on LinkedIn.

How did I successfully utilize networking as my main job search tool?

Once I defined my target roles and companies, LinkedIn became my new best friend. Because I was also attending various online events and conferences, I’d follow up on LinkedIn with those I enjoyed meeting so I could simultaneously fuel my network.

A key mindset for successful networking is to focus on meeting interesting folks and learning something new. However, my goal in networking was never to find a job. I was simply educating myself on whether this role or company could be something worth pursuing further. If it’s a good match, the rest will come naturally.

While cold messaging people on LinkedIn can be extremely intimidating, I found it to be quite successful as long as I followed the below guidelines:

  1. Request. Stand out by writing something personal and specific. Ask for 15 minutes to 20 minutes of their time. Focus on learning more about their work, journey or company.
  2. Research. Once the date is locked in, prepare. Read their blog posts, look at their personal and company social profiles, and review their career journey. Write down all questions related to your initial ask so you’re mindful of their time and focused during the conversation.
  3. Recommend. In the last few minutes, use the momentum to ask for their recommended next steps. My go-to question is “Who else would you recommend for me to speak with?”

What did I learn from networking this time around?

Cold requests for networking work! If the message was written personally and thoughtfully, I saw a +50 percent success rate. My current job came from a cold networking request. On my list of successful female leaders was Sarah Engel, chief marketing officer and chief people officer at January Digital, The Digital Leadership Company. I reached out and she accepted my request. After our 15-minute call, she put me in touch with her colleague who is now my boss. The lesson learned here? Take that chance and send that message!

Countless job openings are never listed. If listed, the role is in immediate demand and more competitive. Most of my job offers came from speaking with people who found my experience and interests to be a fit for an upcoming opportunity. The key thing to remember here is to embrace your individuality as it will lead you to find the right opportunities.

The importance of regularly networking

Networking shouldn’t be something you only do when you need a job. Start by always taking the call when someone messages you with a thoughtful request.

When you meet people, you’re always learning something new. For your current job, it’s helpful to meet others in your industry or function to hear how they’re approaching similar challenges.

Networking can also be a useful check-in tool to make sure you’re still happy in your current role based on what you learn from others. If not, it’s an opportunity to understand what you can act on to make it better. If you take action and nothing changes, there’s your answer.