Hello Reader,

Here’s what I’ve learned as a woman in STEM:
📌 Career opportunities rarely come from job ads alone.
📌 They come from conversations. From people who know your work.
📌 From the network you’ve nurtured — long before you needed it.

It can feel awkward to reach out when there’s no clear “ask.” But that’s exactly when relationships grow the strongest.

☕ Invite someone for a virtual coffee.
👏 Congratulate them on a recent success.
💡 Share an article you think they’ll find helpful.

Ask nothing in return.

And then one day, when you are looking for a new opportunity, you’ll have a network that’s already rooting for you.

Because you didn’t just show up when you needed something.

You showed up as a human being.

Let’s normalise networking or even better “connecting” as an ongoing part of our career — Not a last-minute scramble.

I know it is hard reaching out to people you either don’t know or people that you admire.

For me it is all about the right mindset as you are approaching it.

You are an expert at something. You have something valuable to offer too. You are a good human being. You can also make someone else’s day also by having a simple coffee chat with them.

A simple template that you can use to get you started:

“Hi (Name),

I saw on your profile… (mention something you find interesting in their profile that you have a question about, or something that you are curious about)

How about a virtual coffee in the next couple of weeks to talk about X. (pick a topic that you are comfortable talking about and that may be of interest to the other person too).

All the best,

(Your name)”

Remember, we are all human beings and we all in some way enjoy meeting new people or re-connecting with old friends. This is a nice experience 🙂

You can do it! 🙋‍♀️💪

Mareike

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