your coffee chat "strategy" is too transactional

If you think coffee chats are too transactional and networky, it's because you're approaching them completely wrong. I've coffee chatted over a thousand people in my early career, which I know is an insane number. Most successful ones are when I've asked questions that make them feel very human. For example, asking about career goals outside of work. Do you feel you have a career mission and how do you feel like your current role is helping you get there? Tell your younger self about that first day on the job. What is something you feel like people get wrong about your industry? Asking them questions like this allows them to be more open with you. You can get more honest and candid takes on their industry and career. Even though those are some questions to sprinkle in, don't ask for very, very general advice. You should be asking well-researched questions like, I saw you were working in two different teams in this company. What are the different tradeoffs that you had working in this one versus the other? Counterintuitively, you should also let the conversation steer a natural course. Yes, you want your questions answered, but if the other person feels like they have something very valuable they want to share to you, it's good to listen because maybe it's something that you have even considered yourself that you're going to use in some other area of your life. Have this.