Connecting with Intent: High-Value Outreach That Makes People Want to Help You

The best networking has a goal. Not "let's connect," but a clear picture of exactly where you want to go and who can help you get there. When hiring slows down and the job board thins out, that clarity is the whole game. It is the difference between spinning your wheels and quietly building the relationships that hand you your next job before it is ever posted. This is how you stay in motion, and in front of the right people, when there is nothing to apply to.

Most people network backwards. They collect contacts, fire off "are you hiring" messages, and wonder why nothing happens. Here is the better way, the way the best people in this industry have always worked. It starts with intent.

Start with a clear topline goal

Before you reach out to a single person, get specific about who you are and what you want. Not "I need a job." Something sharp: "I am a footwear designer looking for my next job." Or "I am an apparel developer who wants to build technical product for a brand I believe in." That one sentence is your compass. Every message you send, every person you connect with, every company you target should ladder up to it.

Without that goal, networking is just noise. With it, every action has a point, and people can feel the difference. Intent reads as confidence, and confidence is magnetic.

Build your list: ten companies, no permission required

Now pick ten companies you would be genuinely proud to work for. Not the ones with an opening today, the ones that fit the vision you just wrote down. It does not matter one bit whether they are hiring. You are not waiting for a door to open, you are blazing a trail toward a picture of yourself that does not exist yet. When you build your own path, there is no line and no competition. It is just you.

This is also the answer to a slow market. Openings dry up, but companies never stop needing great people. A focused list of ten keeps you busy, in motion, and building, while everyone else refreshes the job board and waits. We broke down exactly how to build one in building your action sports company hit-list.

Start with the people you would work alongside

The most underrated place to begin is not at the top. It is sideways, with the people who already do what you do. Peer connections open doors sideways. They tell you what it is really like inside a brand, they hear about openings before they post, and they are the ones who vouch for you when your name comes up in a meeting.

Chase Weikal

Project Manager, Global Creative at Vans

Chase Weikal is a Project Manager for Global Creative at Vans, exactly the kind of person you would work shoulder to shoulder with. Reach out human to human, shared craft, real curiosity, and something of value to offer. That is the easiest first move on your whole list, because you are talking to a peer, not pitching a boss. Get a few of these going and you are no longer an outsider looking in, you are already part of the conversation.

Reach up with high-value outreach

Once you have peers in your corner, reach up to the leaders you would actually want to work for. This is where your outreach has to be sharp, because their inbox is full and their time is short. The goal of a great message is not to ask for a favor. It is to make the person on the other end think, "I want this person on my team." You do that by leading with value and specificity instead of need.

Every message that actually earns a reply has the same bones:

• A specific hook. Reference their real work, a project, a product, a talk. Prove you did your homework and did not paste a template.
• A reason it is them. Say why this person, at this company, matters to your goal. Specific beats flattering every single time.
• Value you bring. Share your own relevant work or a genuine idea. Give them a reason to be glad you showed up in their inbox.
• An easy ask. One small, clear next step. A sharp question, a fifteen minute call, a link to your portfolio. Make saying yes effortless.

Notice what is missing from that list: "please help me." You are not asking for a handout, you are opening a door that both of you might want to walk through.

Kelly Kikuta

Design Director at adidas Golf

Say you are that footwear designer. Kelly Kikuta is a Design Director at adidas Golf, with a footwear design career that runs through some of the most respected names in the game. She is exactly the kind of leader you would want to learn from and work alongside. Do not send her "are you hiring." Send her something only a fellow designer would write: a specific reference to work you admire, a sharp observation about where footwear design is heading, a link to your own relevant project, and one real question. You just went from a stranger asking for a favor to a designer she would remember.

Do not skip the recruiters

There is one more kind of person on your list who gets ignored far too often, and it is a mistake. The recruiter. Recruiters are not gatekeepers to sneak past. They are allies, if you make their job easier.

Corrine Escueta

Talent Acquisition at 5.11

Corrine Escueta drives talent strategy at 5.11, which means she is the person who actually moves candidates forward. If you are an apparel developer, reach out with a tight, useful pitch: who you are, the exact kind of product work you do, why 5.11 specifically, and one line of proof. You just handed a recruiter a qualified candidate on a slow day. That is a gift, and it is remembered long after the conversation ends.

Why this works when hiring is slow

Here is the payoff. By reaching out with intent, before there is any job to apply to, you are building relationships that exist independent of an opening. So when a spot does open, and it always eventually does, you are not applicant number two hundred fighting through the software. You are the person the team already knows, already likes, and already pictured on the roster. You skipped the entire line by refusing to stand in it.

That is momentum, and it compounds. Every intentional connection makes the next one easier, because this industry is small and word travels. The people who stay busy building relationships during the slow stretches are the ones holding offers when things pick back up.

This is the whole reason Malakye exists. We have connected the action sports and outdoor industries with their people since 2002, so you can see the real humans behind every brand, not just a logo. Build your list, find your people on the companies pages, and reach out with intent. And when a job does land on the jobs board, make sure your application clears the software too, which we covered in how to beat the ATS with AI. Stop waiting in line. Cut the trail. There is no competition on a path you make yourself.