It’s no secret that success is often attributed to who you know. Networking, the art of building and sustaining mutually beneficial relationships [1], can be a helpful way to build a business, find a job, or make a career move. For those to whom this skill does not come naturally, here are a few tips on how to boost and sustain your professional network so you can achieve your desired goals.
Evaluate Your Existing Network
The first step in networking is thinking about who you already know. By doing a little digging you’d be surprised by how well connected you are; everyone you know is currently your network of people. Spread your career thoughts to your parents or peers, and perhaps they might have friends with whom you can talk. It’s not inappropriate to approach these people, as long as you do so graciously and politely.
Tap into Social Networks
While spreading your career aspirations verbally is a useful way to expand your network, joining social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace can help you increase your professional networks exponentially and quickly. These sites enable you to reconnect with old friends, classmates and work colleagues, which in turn, increases your network!
A unique aspect of social networking sites is the ability to tap into 2nd degree friends, or friends of friends. Having someone or something in common greatly increases a person’s motivation to lend a hand. By exhibiting graciousness and shared interests, you’d be pleasantly surprised by how willing people can be to help. If you identify someone you think would be a useful contact, the best course of action would be to contact the friend you have in common, who can introduce you and help in your networking process.
Leverage Your Network
Now that you’ve thought about your existing network, evaluate how each person in your network is relevant to your goal (i.e. to find a new job, a client) as well as how you might be able to give back or help him or her. Once you’ve identified and evaluated your network, prioritize and focus on those people whom you value, those with whom you’d like to develop closer relationships or those from whom you have something you can learn.
Build Your Network
If networking is new to you or if it feels daunting and uncomfortable, start small, according to Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time [Broadway Business, 2005]. Set a goal for yourself of initiating a meeting with one new person a week. It doesn’t matter where or with whom. Introduce yourself to someone on the bus, someone standing in line with you at a store, or someone in the elevator with you. You’ll find that it gets easier and easier with practice.
Be Genuine while Networking
While networking may sometimes seem superficial or disingenuous, those who do this well grasp the nuances between befriending someone in order to ask for a favor, and authentically connecting and creating meaningful relationships. Be sincere, honest, transparent and authentic in your interactions with people. Show a genuine interest in other people and in their lives. According to Ferrazzi, there is one guaranteed way to stand out in the professional world: Be yourself. “Charm is simply a matter of being yourself and being genuine. The best way to become good at small talk is not to talk small at all. That’s the art.”
Reciprocate in Relationships
In addition to being genuine when establishing relationships that will help you professionally or personally, it is crucial that you view these relationships as reciprocal. People will be hesitant to develop relationships with you if you clearly need a favor. Think back to the definition of networking — building and sustaining mutually beneficial relationships.
A way to reciprocate in networking is by thinking about the interests of the people you know, and how you might be able to help them. For example, as you take an inventory of your network, you might recall that a friend from college is a marathon runner and so is one of your work colleagues. Lastly, make sure your relationship is sound and well-developed before asking for a favor. Again, others around you are far more likely to help you if they already know – and like – you.
Organize and Sustain Your Network
Now that you have created an inventory of the people you know, get organized! Take all of the names you have just generated and enter them into a database that works for you. Note how you know each person, and potentially when you were last in touch with him or her.
Keeping in touch and maintaining relationships can be time-consuming, but it is critical to keeping people as a part of your network. Good excuses to get in touch with people are sending a personal note around the new year, birthdays and anniversaries, thanking people who have made an impact on you in some way, and sending the occasional email to inquire how someone is doing.
You may want to go as far as creating a rating system for your network that corresponds to how often you want to be in touch. For example, those people with whom you are actively involved would get a “1” meaning you would contact them at least once each month. Those people whom you want to maintain as an active part of your network, but are less integral may get a “2,” meaning you would contact them a few times a year.
Networking and connecting is actually a way of seeing the world. If you can begin to adopt the way you think and see each person as an opportunity to learn something and to teach something, you’ll be amazed at how your network will expand.
[1] Darling, D. The Networking Survival Guide: Get the success you want by tapping into the right people. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003.
Elana Romirowsky - Elana (Lonni) Romirowsky is a freelance writer and informal Jewish educator living in New York City. She holds a bachelor's degree in ...
