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Networking is a vital part of career management. Meeting and talking to people is the best way of finding out the information you need to make decisions about your development and potential career moves. It is also the best way to market yourself.
Developing relationships
While working with any organisation, networking is about developing relationships with people in different parts of the organisation. In a small organisation this might involve making sure that you get to know everyone else and learning about what they do. This could put you in a position to spot appropriate opportunities for your development.
In a larger organisation, networking is about getting to know people in different departments and divisions, helping you to know what is going on. This also helps them to know what you can do and what your future aims are, and therefore to help you in developing yourself. Such contacts may be on the basis of a ‘mentor’ or a ‘sponsor’, or simply someone who knows what you are good at and who will tell others about you.
A number’s game
Networking outside an organisation in which you are working is about making contacts, meeting new people and getting to know about different industry sectors, organisations and roles. Follow up every contact you have in your chosen sector. Take time to meet up with people. It is amazing how many people land jobs through “who they know”. Don’t be shy in putting yourself forward!
If you sat down and made a list of the people you know - family, friends, acquaintances, suppliers, customers, colleagues, ex-colleagues, children’s’ friends parents, anyone else on your Christmas card list… and so on, the list would be long.
Remember that Partner you met at a conference and got on really well with? The university pal who owes you a favour? Let’s say you got to 200 names, and this is probably a very conservative estimate for most of us. If each of these 200 people knew 200 people each, that means that you have access to 200 x 200 people, i.e. 40,000 people through your contacts and their contacts.
This represents an enormous source of information to help you to make informed decisions. Once you have identified your contacts, be bold and get in touch with them. At this stage it doesn’t have to be as blunt as asking them for a job. Ask them if they would be willing to meet for a coffee, to have a chat or to look at your CV and give you some advice. People like to be asked for advice and will almost always be happy to agree.
Once you have arranged a networking meeting, consider what you want to get from it.
It might be:
• suggestions or advice about career choices;
• information about changes in organisations, people or products;
• an up-date on what is happening in the industry;
• introductions to other people or ideas for other sources of information.
During the meeting:
• Try to build rapport and find out more about your contact as a person.
• Explain the reasons behind the meeting and what you would like to gain from it.
• Exchange information; you may know things that are useful to your contact too.
• Ask for advice; you do not need to take it but it might give you new ideas.
• Make sure that the contact will introduce you to other contacts; your network becomes
self-perpetuating.
• Make sure you thank the person for their time, and leave them feeling that you have been a pleasure to meet.
In networking, and indeed any other situation where you are discussing your career, it is important that you can talk about yourself, your career and your skills in a way that is clear and memorable. Your skills stories are the basis for this, but you also need to be able to explain broadly who you are and what you do. Try preparing a short statement that would answer the questions:
• What do you do?
• What is your recent experience?
• What are your particular skills and attributes?
It needs to be short to keep the listener’s attention and to make sure that the key points do not get lost in a lot of unnecessary detail. Try to include a few ‘hooks’ to catch the listener’s interest. In a brief meeting situation this will make him or her remember you, or in a longer meeting, it will encourage him or her to ask you questions which enable you to sell yourself and your skills.
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