What are you doing to build and nurture your professional
network?
In an era where career advancement is rooted in
connection and community, it is no longer optional to make networking a part of
your weekly schedule. Even if you are in a job you love, this still holds true. At
all stages of your career, in every industry, professional relationship
building is critical to your ongoing growth and success.
Like everything in the work world, networking has evolved
alongside social media. It is no longer an awkward tool of self-promotion,
reserved for corporate types. As our personal and
professional lives collide online, there are increased opportunities to engage
professionally. We effectively leverage these opportunities when we network
with integrity and authenticity on an ongoing and consistent basis.
Your career requires you to network and in today’s
marketplace you must be more active than ever. But networking requires
planning. An approach that is strategic and measurable; that you can
learn from each time you introduce yourself to a new crowd or reacquaint
yourself with an old one.
If you are strategic and view networking through
an opportunity lens, it can serve as a powerful professional development boot
camp experience. Networking demands that you test your ideas, hone your
ability to communicate and improve your executive presence.
Networking is a full-time job and the more time you dedicate
to it – the more you will learn what works for you and against you. The more you procrastinate, the more you will find
yourself disconnected from the opportunities that may potentially advance your
career or allow you to meet the right people.
Procrastination will
take you back a few steps and you will lose the competitive edge that comes
with meeting new people, gathering knowledge, and observing others that have
mastered networking.
Networking is not easy. For some, it’s like
having to take a required class in college that you had no interest in, but had
to complete in order to graduate. Remember, in business and in life – success
is earned from learning how to do things that you don’t like doing.
Networking requires 100% commitment. You don’t
need to be naturally outspoken to be successful in networking environments.
However, you do need to be prepared to deliver value when called upon. In
other words, when it’s your turn to say something – make it count.
Networking is a responsibility and it requires active
behavior. You must be extremely engaged about what others are saying. It’s not about you, but about how well you integrate your
voice and perspectives into conversations.
What matters most to those who are listening? Your audience
will serve to help you connect the dots of opportunity and potentially act as
an enabler for you.
Networking is both an art and a science. But in the end – networking should be fun, exciting and a
rewarding approach to advancement. The more you network – with a positive
outlook – the more you will learn. And if you’re always learning, you are growing and thus
developing yourself – especially your interpersonal communication skills.
Once you have become a pro at networking, you can begin
to share your experiences, tips and tricks with others. Networking is the Strength to help you succeed in your career
or business.
HIGHLIGHT THE BENEFITS OF NETWORKING
·
Heighten Your Professionalism
When you have an event to go to and
if you have a meeting, it gives an opportunity to choose a dress for the
occasion, get prepared, get your note
together and allow to be focus which is all aspect of professionalism which add
credibility, which also add trust.
·
Allow You to Establish and Promote Your Personal Brand
Your personal brand is how you promote yourself. It is the
unique combination of skills, experience, and personality that you want the
world to see you. It is the telling of your story, and how it reflects your
conduct, behavior, spoken and unspoken words, and attitudes.
·
Builds Your Skills In: Communication, Leadership and Development
You’re really and able to tap into
some aspects that will elevate you and advance you in your career, academic
even in your businesses.
·
Exposes You to Resources and Development
This is one of hiding mystery of
networking in resource sharing,
Enables you to connect with people,
not just yourself in getting a job, getting particular link or introduction to
meet someone but also to learn about how to improve the way you do things, how
to improve your processes, how to improve the technology you use, how to able
to build more organize and streamline different activities and prioritize them
as well.
I have heard people say in different
event just go out there and network but you can’t just go out and network or
every single networking event, it goes beyond that, it takes a lot of energy,
resource, it takes money a lots is involved, you are going out to network with
a systemic plan.
·
Gives You Access to Mentors, Coaches and Sponsors
Mentor is a person or
friend who guides a less experienced person by building trust and modeling
positive behaviors Coaching is a form of development in which an
experienced person, called a coach, supports a learner or client in
achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. Sponsor is to support a person, organization,
or activity by giving money, encouragement, or
other help.
PRINCIPLE OF NETWORKING
1.
You Must be Consistent in Networking: You need to do it all the time
Networking
is not about meeting people who can get you a job today or tomorrow. It’s not
about instant gratification.
And it’s not something you do only when you
need something, you must be consistent about it, even if it’s not healthy you
must keep networking.
2. Give First: it’s all about what you can do for
them.
Many
people think that as soon as you’ve made a connection with someone and offered
a miniscule bit of value, you can immediately get value from them by asking for
a favour, connection, etc.
Huge
mistake!
Do not
ask the important people you just met to immediately do something for you
that’s equal or lesser in value to what you’ve just done for them.
3.
Give More than it Takes: Pour more into the networking bank think about the quality of
the connections you make and the relationships you build as depositing money in
a bank account. All of the things you do for
the other person serve as the principal. You start making withdrawals from the
account in the form of getting value back from the
relationship only after you’ve made enough deposits and let the
principal grow enough to generate substantial interest.
4.
Human interaction or dialogue in person: You don’t network by proxy, do it
yourself to be make more effective. Dialogue in person, initial the
conversation and it keep going.
5.
Integrity: Build
trust, do what you say you’re going to do, make sure you’re dependable.
6.
Always moving forward don’t just stay there: You don’t have to spend the whole day
networking with just one person, move to the second person, third person… Your
conversation should be brief not long conversation until you invite them for
dinner, coffee or something.
Have a systematic plan: Yes! Systemic plan, this where the strength of networking
lies. Lets talk about that
Ø Set a networking goal: You must a
goal you want to achieve while networking, your goal can be: to educate
yourself, advance your knowledge in particular areas, sharing, job hunter that
could be a goal. Maybe
you’re a business owner and you’re trying to draw and get partnership or
securing new customers.
Ø Research: Who do I know that might be
able to move me towards achieving that goal? Who might they know that could
move me towards achieving that goal? Or who I want to know that could move me
achieving that goal? Or do I know anybody or Who could I get to that person, so
I can communicate with him or her? Develop a relationship and add values
to them, build some trust with them (Build relationship map)
Ø Identify some people 60-100 that you
can connect with it over the course of the year not at once but individually,
identifying the right people
Ø Drafting the message of communication,
you want to reach out to them, send them text, email… though it depends on the
relationship you might just pick up your phone and call them.
Ø Executing that plan: In executing the
plan, in the beginning of every month, the list of people in the relationship
map, you can pick 5 people you will like to contact, whether you call them or
email them whichever means you choose depending on the relationship you have
with them. See if they want to get
together, lunch, dinner, whatever it might be, Saturday afternoon, whatever.
Funny enough five of them
might not, after the first week reach out to your relationship map call
another, keep it going and you want to do that throughout the year.
EXPLORE NETWORKING PREP WORK
1. Graft Good Conversation Questions
Asking good
question can increase your credibility, memorable brand
1. What do you enjoy about your work?
2. How do you add values to others?
3. What are interests/passion?
4. How do you use your social media and
technology to stay current?
5. Are you a member of any professional
groups or associations?
6. What can others learn from you?
7. What was the last publication that
you read?
2. Practice Elevator Pitch
A personal
elevator pitch is a quick summary of yourself. It’s named for the time it takes
to ride an elevator from bottom to top of a building (roughly 30 seconds or 75
words). Elevator pitches are sometimes thought to be specific to an idea or a
product, but having a pitch to sell yourself as a professional is a common use
case for elevator pitches, too.
Example
Elevator
Pitch
My name is John
Waziri, BSc, Marketing, 21 at mercer. This semester, my focus is applying for
internships abroad. My extracurricular activities as a member of Beta Gamma
Sigma and volunteering at a local food bank. Allow me to build additional
skills. Hopefully after graduation, companies such as Coca- cola will hire me as
marketing analyst
3. Business card
Business
cards typically include a person's name, e-mail address, phone number, website,
and company name. They are often used at networking and corporate events to
provide other individuals with an easy source for retrieving contact
information. You get a business card for ease networking.
On
the final note do follow up
Induct:
induct counterparts into your circle
Inform: be
an informational expert
Inquire:
inquire about future opportunities
Invite:
invite your counterpart
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