11/04/2013
The thought of networking can be quite unsavoury for some people. Networking is not just long lunches where sales reps schmooze their clients and social networking is much more than building lists of contacts on Facebook to show off how many “friends” you have. Overcoming the fear that networking is overly confrontational and only relevant to the business development profession is an important step to building a long term career view.
networking to access the hidden job market requires proactivity and energy.
The old psychological career contract of a job for life that someone else will manage for you was set aside in the 1990s. While coaching and career advice from external parties can provide invaluable guidance, rapid changes in technology and the related increasing flexibility of the modern workforce and societal demands mean that each individual is now responsible for their own career. The seemingly exponential innovation of the digital revolution affecting the world of work is typified by Apple’s introduction of the iPhone in 2007. This innovation translated into 100 million units sold globally by the launch of the iPad in March 2011.
Networking is a proactive career activity for anyone with career aspirations, modest or ambitious. It is not just the domain of the gregarious sales rep with the gift of the gab, and not just for situations when you are looking for a new career challenge, or after an unexpected redundancy or a performance review surprise. Whilst not every profession has customers in the tradition definition, part of successful networking is recognising that we all have stakeholders who can influence or be influenced by us – in effect making them customers for your career growth. While the customer is not always right, they are always the customer and respectful relationships will almost always lead to reciprocal benefit in the long term.
The thought of “marketing yourself” can fill some with anxiety and dread. Successful strategic networking, however, is often not a pushy or aggressive activity and can be as simple as building relationships based on respect and mutual interest. At the same time, networking to access the hidden job market requires proactivity and energy. This energy can be channelled effectively and simply by being mindful of your interaction with stakeholders:
- Preparing before a meeting/interaction and reflecting on the discussion to identify future actions;
- Active listening with an open agenda;
- Ensuring that you have a couple of simple objectives such as:
- What do you want to find out?
- Can this person act as an advocate for your goals?
- Can they refer you to other people who may assist directly?
- Acknowledge and thank your contact for their time and input.
Practice your networking with people you already know, trust and have built a relationship with. Why does this relationship work? Most people have professional passion points and in many cases there are local chapters of professional groups and online conversation networks accessible to all. Social media platforms such as LinkedIn, for example, can lead to energetic conversations and relationships with like-minded individuals.
In many cases, you will also be a valued contact for other like-minded people for their future careers without necessarily looking for an immediate outcome. Understand your value proposition to others and be generous with sharing this. Recognise when people want to genuinely engage with you, and be generous with your time to others without expecting immediate personal benefit – this can often lead to amazing insights and reciprocal support and trust into the future.
Networking is a proactive career activity for anyone with career aspirations, modest or ambitious
Strategic networking is a mutually valuable activity that builds stakeholder relationships that transcend a single role or purpose and it requires a committed effort, even when not seeking an immediate outcome. Choose to view it as an investment in the future state of your career and embrace it as a personal commitment. Look after your relationships and your relationships will look after you when you need them most – we can all benefit from help in our careers at some stage.