‘Networking’ — The Key to Success in Your Career
Networking is crucial for advancing in your career and enhancing your professional development. It offers many benefits, from opening doors to new job opportunities to providing support for personal and professional growth.
To maximise the impact of your networking efforts, it is important to understand why networking is important and how to network effectively. In this article, we delve into the significance of this essential professional soft skill, provide insights on why it matters, and offer tips to help you build and strengthen your professional network.
What is Networking?
Networking in the business world involves forming and maintaining a list of personal and professional contacts that can help you move ahead in your career. Your network includes individuals you interact with who can potentially provide valuable support or advice to build a successful career. To have a productive network, it’s essential to actively seek opportunities to grow and expand it.
Advantages of Networking for Career Development
Networking with individuals from diverse professions, cultures, and backgrounds broadens your perspective on life. You must start networking from your college days. Your colleagues and college alumni can act as trustworthy references for advancing your career. In fact, masters courses like MBA with distance education and regular mode also provide alumni access programmes.
Furthermore, engaging with people from different ages, cultures, and viewpoints increases your open-mindedness and understanding. This exposure to diverse perspectives also helps you develop better teamwork skills as you learn to work effectively with others who may have different approaches and ways of thinking.
Setting career goals for professional development, at its core, means the ongoing evolution of your professional journey. It is shaped by various factors, including the positions you want to hold, experiences gained in and outside of work, pursuing essential training and certifications, seasoning yourself in essential soft skills, formal & informal education, and constructive feedback received throughout your journey.
Networking with individuals at your company, industry, and beyond provides you with opportunities to improve your visibility among top management, hone your areas of expertise, and sharpen your soft skills. These opportunities can enrich your professional journey and lead to further growth and success.
Six Reasons Why Professional Networking is Crucial for Your Career
1. Enhance Your Professional Profile
Being seen and recognised is a crucial aspect of networking that contributes to career development. Regular participation in professional and social events helps increase your visibility.
Additionally, establishing a reputation as an informed, dependable, and supportive professional by providing valuable information and support to others will improve your image within your industry.
Lastly, boosting your profile within professional circles also increases your chances of being approached by employers seeking talented individuals, making you a more attractive candidate for job offers.
2. Build Business Connections
Networking builds trust and fosters collaboration toward shared goals. Consistent engagement with your network and offering support strengthens relationships and creates opportunities for mutual assistance in reaching your goals.
3. Share New Ideas
Your network is a valuable resource for fresh and innovative ideas to enhance your work. Sharing information on your challenges, experiences, and goals is a vital aspect of networking that provides new insights.
Asking for help is well-received by most people as it makes them feel valued. And so, reaching out to a trusted former colleague, mentor, teacher, or friend for a coffee chat can be a mutually beneficial experience, as they may reciprocate the gesture in future.
Returning the favour by offering helpful suggestions can establish your reputation as a creative problem-solver.
4. New Job Opportunities
Widening your connections provides access to new prospects for business, career growth, personal development, and increased knowledge.
In addition, proactively cultivating networks keep you in consideration when there are new job openings and enhances your chances of being introduced to relevant individuals or receiving a referral.
Remember that many job opportunities are not publicly advertised, especially as you advance in your career. Being a well-known member of various networks is a crucial way to take advantage of these hidden opportunities you may not have otherwise been aware of.
5. Boost Your Confidence
Continuous exposure to new people through networking helps you push beyond your comfort zone, strengthens your social skills, and boosts your self-confidence.
In addition, the more you engage in networking, the more you will develop and master the art of forming meaningful connections.
6. Develop Meaningful Relationships
While the primary purpose of networking is to form and maintain professional relationships, it is common for work connections to lead to strong and lasting friendships.
In addition, your networking contacts are likely to be individuals with similar goals, making it likely that your professional support network will also extend into personal relationships.
Best Places for Networking
- Job Fairs
- Alumni Association
- Former Colleagues
- Volunteering Events
- Trade Shows
- Social Media
Tips for Effective Professional Networking
We just discussed the importance of professional networking, but how can you enhance your networking abilities to make the most out of it?
Unfortunately, there is no universal approach to networking, as different people excel using different strategies.
For instance, introverts may find coffee sessions or smaller events more comfortable as compared to social gatherings.
Nevertheless, here’s an overview of some useful networking techniques.
1. Connect with Relevant Individuals
To maximise the benefits of networking, a strategic approach is crucial. Rather than connecting randomly, make connections with individuals who can support your professional objectives.
For instance, if you aim to switch careers, concentrate on establishing connections with individuals working in the desired industry.
2. Form Mutually Beneficial Connections
To foster mutually beneficial relationships in your professional network, focus on building connections that serve both parties. This way, the individuals in your network will not feel exploited for personal advantage.
3. Regularly Connect with Your Network
Maintaining professional relationships requires effort, similar to personal relationships. To establish strong and lasting connections, staying in touch with your professional network is essential.
Regular communication through short emails or LinkedIn messages is often sufficient to keep the relationships thriving.
4. Build Your Online Presence
Networking online is a useful approach to building professional relationships. Platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media sites provide opportunities to gain insight into your career path and connect with relevant individuals and professional organisations.
In addition, keeping an updated profile on these sites will keep you informed about the latest developments in the field, including hiring patterns and employment opportunities.
5. Be a Part of Events
Networking events are ideal for expanding your professional network, improving your networking skills, and staying informed about industry trends. If in-person networking events are not possible, consider attending virtual events like webinars for networking opportunities.
6. Be Attentive
Effective networking depends on asking open-ended questions that encourage further discussion. Keep in mind that networking is about establishing relationships, not just acquiring contacts.
Showing that you have listened to and valued someone’s experiences and perspectives will make them feel heard and appreciated.
Conclusion
Networking offers many benefits, including accelerating your career development and improving your communication skills. It also helps in developing a favourable reputation among your network of individuals which can increase your chances of receiving job offers. So, don’t limit yourself to conventional networking circles, find a networking approach that suits you and approach it with a positive attitude. By doing so, networking will become an enjoyable experience rather than a chore.
