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You walk into a room filled with
people. You look left. You look right. All you see are
dozens of people wearing "Hi, My Name is ____" badges.
You panic. You want to run and hide. "I don't want to
make small talk with these strangers," you cry to
yourself. But alas, you're here, at the dreaded
networking event. Anxiety sets in. You want to go home
and never go to another networking event again.
It
doesn't have to be this way. We all make excuses for not
networking: "I don't want to sell myself," "I don't want
to impose on anyone," "It feels sleazy," "I hate small
talk." There are many more excuses, but they all miss
the point: Networking is a valuable tool that enhances
your job search, your career advancement, and enables
you to find a satisfying and rewarding career path and
more. Overcoming the resistance to networking is crucial
to your career, job search, and life.
Why
Does Networking Matter?
In
every area of your professional life, having colleagues,
mentors, advocates and/or teachers benefits you. These
individuals make up your network. They offer insight
into challenges, connections with other professionals,
an 'inside' perspective of an organization or support
during a crisis. There are a multitude of areas where
you need and use networking, from your job search to
giving back to your community; and you may already be
networking without realizing it. Read below to
understand how networking works in everyday situations,
and how to make it work for you.
Networking is Essential to Your Job Search
This use of networking is
one that we're most familiar with. Whether you are
unemployed or want a move from your current employer to
a new organization, the assistance of others is
critical. When hundreds of resumes are submitted for one
position, having a personal endorsement or
recommendation can get you the interview.
Differentiating yourself from a pool of resumes shows
your value to a potential employer. Also, when you speak
directly with the hiring authority, as opposed to
Human Resources or a Recruiter, you get an inside
track to the hiring process.
Networking in this case starts with letting your close
friends and family know you're in the job market and
clearly defining for them what type of work you're
looking for and the people you'd like to meet. Then, you
ask for an introduction or contact information with
permission to use them as a referral.
Making
new contacts is much easier when your friend Bob
connects you: "Mr. X, my colleague Bob encouraged me to
call you to discuss Widgets International. I would
appreciate a few minutes to talk to you about your
company and my experience." With each contact, be sure
to follow-up with a request for additional contacts as
well as with a thank you note.
The networking naysayer
is thinking: "I don't want to impose on Bob. Why would
he want to connect me with his colleague? I don't have
any connections useful for him." The networking pro
knows that any connection is a valuable connection,
whether or not you receive an immediate benefit. Most
people enjoy connecting people they respect with others,
and view the introduction as an opportunity to provide
benefits for two people at once. It reflects well on the
referrer...if it's a good match, everyone involved is
thankful for the referrer's awareness and kindness.
Networking for Promotion
You're
doing well in your job, you like the company you work
for and you want more. You want more challenges, more
opportunities, and more compensation. You're ready to
move to the next step professionally. You boss
constantly acknowledges your work and is very
supportive, but she is not the only one who makes the
promotion decisions.
This
is where networking impacts the promotion process. When
the decision to promote is being made you want everyone,
especially decision makers, within your organization to
know about you, the work you do and the contributions
you make. Your direct reports, colleagues and supervisor
think highly of you, but do others outside of your
department?
How do
you get people to know and endorse you if you don't work
with them regularly? Here are just a few examples:
-
volunteer for
projects that extend outside of your department,
-
seek internal
training opportunities that expand your knowledge in
other areas of the company's business,
-
attend brown-bag
lunches on topics that aren't directly related to
your work and ask insightful questions,
-
write a white
paper on a topic which requires you to research
other areas of your organization and ask to
distribute it or present it firm-wide,
-
attend an
occasional social event and introduce yourself to
someone who is doing work you're curious about.
These
examples are 'planting seeds' and each can grow in to an
opportunity to allow others to learn who you are and how
you enhance your organization.
We can
hear the naysayer: "This will never work. It requires
too much time and energy and takes me away from my job.
I'm not good at schmoozing." The networking pro knows
that this process isn't in addition to your job - this
is essential to moving ahead. You build time in to your
week to learn, connect and share. This isn't schmoozing,
this is being genuine and curious, and therefore makes
connections that are easy to maintain.
Networking to Build Your Business
If
you're a small business owner or entrepreneur,
networking can have a critical impact on your business
and bottom line. You already know that you want everyone
to know about your product or service and its benefits,
and networking helps bring this to fruition. As a
business owner myself, I had the feared vision of
attending a 'networking meeting' with 40 strangers
trying to figure out how to give them all my business
card. I didn't want to do that and I never have.
The
way to use networking in this capacity is to find the
activities and actions that fit with you, your business
and your preferences. If you enjoy being in a crowd and
introducing yourself to others, find lead groups and
professional networking groups where you can mix and
mingle. If you prefer one-on-one connections, arrange
coffee or lunch meetings where you can share your
business and provide something useful to your contact.
And, if you prefer not to leave your office, you can
utilize various networking websites (LinkedIn, Ryze,
Ecademy) to help build your word-of-mouth.
The
naysayer is moaning, "I hate this...I want to work in my
business, not doing this stuff that pulls me away from
what I do best." The pro knows if you don't get the word
out about your business, it likely won't be around in
the future. And, in order to keep up with this, you need
to find methods that match with your personality and
preferences in order to actually enjoy it.
Networking to Expert Status
You
love your work and are feeling professionally satisfied
- but you want a bigger impact. You want to share your
knowledge beyond your department, company, profession or
community and get recognition for your accomplishments.
Whether you want to grow a business, get media coverage,
run for elected office or become a star, the more people
that know about you and your expertise, the more likely
this will happen.
Once
you are clear on the value you can provide, you take a
similar path as stated above regarding promotion. This
time, though, your targets will be broader. Look for
opportunities to connect with other experts in your
field or related fields, find professional associations
who are interested in your knowledge, and speak with
journalists that write about your expertise. As with all
networking, provide them with something useful -
information, presentations or other connections - and
they will want to do the same for you.
The expert naysayer
claims, "I'm too big for this...they should come to me."
The pro knows that until you're Martha Stewart,
Tiger Woods or Bill Gates, you may have to work to
expand your reach, enhance your credibility and become
famous.
Networking to Give Back
This
time, it's not about you, your career or expanding your
reach. It's about making a difference to someone else,
your community or your world. Although networking and
community service may sound in opposition, they go
hand-in-hand. You may need to ask others for time,
money, advocacy or information sharing. You need to
spread the word about how you're helping others, so
others can support you in the work you do.
Networking in this capacity means getting the word out
about your passion, commitment and vision. Whether
you're going to clean up a neighborhood park, help
underprivileged children in your city or change national
policy, you will want involvement from others. The best
way to do this is to ask those who know you and your
mission.
The
giving naysayer says "my cause is important enough that
I shouldn't have to ask of others." The pro knows that
in order to get your cause funded and your dream
fulfilled, you can't do it alone. The pro wants to tell
everyone about their cause, because if you show others
your problem you'll have more hands to help fix it.
Networking Is a Service
What
do all of the scenarios have in common? Networking is a
tool that provides you access to people and resources
that can support you in getting what you want. When it
is only about YOU, getting what YOU want, the above
naysayer may have some points.
Through the above examples, you can see networking is a
service. Networking is something you provide to others,
to help them while helping you attain goals. It is a
give-and-take process that creates a better situation
for all involved. A job searcher is connected with an
employer, filling both parties' needs. A deserved
promotion occurs highlighting the connector's ability to
match resources to needs. Your business grows while
providing valuable service. Your reputation grows while
sharing your expertise to help others.
When I
ask clients how they would feel if a friend, colleague
or acquaintance asked them for assistance in any of the
above situations, every response is always "of course,
I'd be happy to help them." Remembering what you would
do for others is important to keep in mind as you
embrace networking.
When
you next think about networking, ask yourself these
questions:
-
What value or
service can I provide while asking for assistance?
-
What type of
interaction feels most comfortable to me regarding
networking?
-
How can I
incorporate the service of networking into my daily
or weekly routine?
-
How can I stay
curious and have fun with the people I want to meet?
-
How do I feel if
someone else was asking me this same networking
request?
If you
feel comfortable with your answers to these questions,
networking becomes a resource and a pleasure. Explore
and have fun!
Copyright 2006
Julie Cohen, www.juliecohencoaching.com
Julie Cohen, PCC, is a
career coach. She helps her clients clarify and achieve
their professional and personal goals including greater
career satisfaction, life balance, leadership
development and personal growth. For questions, comments
or to discuss this article, Julie can be reached by
visiting
http://www.juliecohencoaching.com/contact.html.
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