How well connected are you in your work sphere? By this I mean the industry that you’re engaged in and not just your workplace. If you are in the media world is it just your colleagues that are within your network or are you connected to a whole bunch of people across the spectrum? Being well networked can go a long way to advance your career and your social life.
Opportunities seldom come knocking at your door. In reality, you have to leave your comfort zone to go knocking on the door of opportunities. Merriam-Webster defines the word network as, “the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions; specifically: the cultivation of ‘productive’ relationships for employment or business. These associations can be personal relationships with friends, family, and others you meet in an informal gathering. They can also be business relationships you develop with vendors, customers, supervisors, subordinates, and even competitors you encounter during the course of your career.”
Networking is not about having over 20,000 Facebook friends. Networking is not a one-off thing that you do. It is something you engage in consciously throughout your lifetime. Networking is developing genuine and mutually beneficial relationships.
When you meet someone for the first time that is in your profession, are you usually interested in connecting with him or her? If your answer is yes, do you make the move to create a relationship?
When you’ve made up your mind that an individual should be a part of your professional network, below are steps to enable you to have a seamless engagement.
- Strike up a conversation with the individual. Since you are both in the same industry this should not be too difficult.
- After introducing yourself and exchanging casual thoughts, exchange contact information with each other. Don’t just get their official contact, but more important is their personal email and cell phone number.
- Be sure to be patient to enter the information into your phone accurately and confirm that you have entered it correctly with the person you are exchanging contact with. Always back up the information of the persons in your network.
- You can later reach out to them to join your social networks through your Facebook, LinkedIn and other accounts asking them to connect with you and share contacts.
- If you have interesting online information or other stuff you think will be of interest to them, you can link them to these. These could be something you have published or photos you have posted, your website, blog, etc.
- Interact with them; asks for feedback on your communication with persons you are interacting with in your network.
- You can ask your new contacts to subscribe to your RSS feeds, newsletters or visit your website or blog regularly and post comments.
- Be sure to keep in touch with them as you or they move around. Keeping in touch in a meaningful manner with those in your professional network takes work, however, try to keep the channels of communication open as they cycle of life rolls on – job changes, relationship status, moving from one town to another, etc.
It is important to note that professional networking is not the same as making friends. There are people we work with that are not our friends and we have no interest in becoming friends with. Having people in our professional network is not the same as having them as friends. The reason and criteria for choosing those in our professional network is not the same yardstick we use in choosing our friends.