Cross-Department Networking with Alumni. yay or nay?

I am networking when I apply for positions at certain companies. I found an alum who is a vp of sales and I thought about reaching out to ask him how he likes the company and the city he lives in.

Given that I am taking a rather aggressive apply & say hi maneuver, I wonder if he would be put off by this. Second, since he works in a whole different role, I wonder if he would view this as me screwing with his time.

This is not the first time I see an alum in a different role at company that is recruiting for the position I am seeking. What is the general consensus on networking with alumni in a department different from your target?

While I reached out to him I was considering simultaneously reaching out to a person who is directly in the finance role I am targeting.

5 Comments
 
Best Response

If he is put off, what's the downside? He's in sales, so likely does aggressive approaches himself anyway.

If he thinks it's a waste of time, what's the downside from you asking? Either he'll just brush you off (no downside) or he'll voluntarily waste his time and give you info. Either way, highly unlikely he'll go to the people running the hire process for a completely different division and say anything that would impact your chances.

Those who can, do. Those who can't, post threads about how to do it on WSO.
 

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