The Art of Networking
Your whole life is shaped by the people you know.
Why 90% of roles are filled by somebody knowing somebody, and how to make that work for you.
Stop fighting over the ten percent.
Ninety percent of roles are filled through relationships and connections. Yet the moment most executives seek out their next role, they do the opposite: polish the resume, refresh the job boards, and wait on recruiters who don't know them. That's the ten percent most executives in transition drown in.
In The Art of Networking, Kurt Phelps, an executive recruiter for more than twenty-five years and the founder of Phello, pulls back the curtain from the hiring side of the desk and shows why the many years of relationships you've already built are the most valuable, recession-proof asset your career will ever have.
And Kurt doesn't stop at the why. He walks you through the exact process he's used for decades and taught to thousands of executives: clear steps, the tools to support them, and a proven path to landing your next role.
Through the real stories of executives like Norm, Ines, Ted, and Chris, Kurt shows what happens when you stop fighting over the ten percent and start tending the ninety. Download your free copy today, and take back control of your next role!
What you'll learn
Nineteen easy to digest chapters in four parts: the belief, the art, the proof, and the invitation. Six fundamental ideas you can put into practice this week!
The 90 / 10 rule
Why job boards and recruiters are the ten percent, and where your time should go instead.
You are the product
How to stop thinking like a candidate and start running your career like a company.
Bigger than a job
The four kinds of opportunity your network opens: full-time, consulting, advisory, and board.
"How can I help you?"
The one-line shift that turns reaching out from asking into offering.
Age as an advantage
Why your age is a wall in the ten percent and an asset inside your network.
The year-round rhythm
How to make networking a habit instead of a fire drill.
Real executive stories. Outstanding results.
Learn from peers who have stood exactly where you are. These Phello members put the book's ideas to work, and their success stories show what happens when you do.
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NormCISO · Omaha
Came in wanting one more full-time CISO job. Now the fractional CISO for four companies, with several advisory board seats.
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InesWireless executive
Joined in her early seventies. Built the best run of her career: consulting, advisory, and board work.
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Ted & ChrisCIO & engineering exec
Met inside the Phello community. Ted went on to hire Chris onto his new enterprise AI team at Lenovo.
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JeffMarketing executive
Spent a year consulting inside his network. One of those relationships became a full-time role.
About Kurt Phelps
Kurt grew up in a small town in New York's Southern Tier and studied engineering at RIT. In 2000 he co-founded Global Network Recruiting and grew it into a global executive search firm.
After years of teaching executives to network for free, he founded Phello to give them the website, tools, training, and community to do it for themselves. He has taught this process to thousands of executives.
Out of three hundred and fifty people, do you know who responded first? The CEO who had fired her ten years earlier. “I’d love to catch up. Let’s have breakfast.”
Your story has now started.
Read it in an afternoon, and take back control of your next role!
Questions
Is the book really free?
Yes. No email, no form, no catch. Download the PDF or the ePub and it's yours to keep, print, and share.
Which format should I choose?
Choose the PDF for reading on a computer or printing it out. Choose the ePub for Apple Books, a Kindle (through Amazon's Send to Kindle), or any other e-reader, where the text resizes to fit your screen.
Who is the book for?
Current and former senior executives at a career crossroads: between roles, curious about consulting or advisory work, after a board seat, or simply ready to stop leaving their next move to a job board.
Do I need Phello to use what's in the book?
No. As Kurt puts it, "None of this requires a platform." Phello just makes it turnkey: the website, the CRM, the training, and the community in one place.