From finding your purpose to being strategic, networking needn’t be as scary as it might first seem. In this month’s The Huddle column, Alice Olins debunks the myths around networking and sets out five simple networking tips for building your career confidence. 

To start off, I’m going to list five examples of when I networked last week to prove that networking isn’t what you think it is: 

1. Coffee morning with friends 

2. Virtual Co-Working session 

3. Postscript conversation as part of a coaching session 

4. New business call with an exciting brand 

5. Having my nails done 

Yes you read that right, having my nails done turned into an unexpected networking opportunity thanks to a brief conversation with the woman sitting next to me, which has since led to a chat on Instagram, and the seeds of a new work-related contact.

Did you notice how none of those networking examples seemed scary, or even particularly network-y. That is my point: a point which I feel I may have now laboured. Please excuse my insistence around networking-not-needing-to-feel-like-networking, it’s just that there are many words when it comes to professional development that need a swift rebrand: networking is one of them. 

My stab in the rebrand dark is conversations with a purpose. Doesn’t that sound so much nicer an easier than networking? You love chatting, right? And you’re good at it. Chatting is a natural human phenomenon that lubricates all of our relationships whether or not they’re in the workplace. So if your chatting muscle is well defined, why do you still have the ick around networking? 

Because the immediate visual that comes to mind when someone drops the networking word, is a glass box room, no atmosphere, soggy hors d’oeuvres and back-to-back awkward moments when you know you should be introducing yourself naturally and with intend, but you can’t seem to move on from words like ‘dynamic’ ‘inspired’ and ‘progress.’

Let me say it one final time: networking is just chatting that has a purpose. 

Why am I beating this networking drum so hard today? Well, if you consider that approximately 85% of new jobs come through the hidden job market* (read: networking) you’re hopefully getting the gist now. It’s about the same statistic, by the way, when it comes to investment in small businesses: networking changes careers, feeds entrepreneurship and leads to all sorts of positive professional metrics. 

To help build your networking confidence and give you a framework in which to develop your skills, I have compiled my Top 5 Networking Tips. Like anything, the more you think about networking differently (Conversations With A Purpose!) the less you’ll associate it with all of that awkward terror. As with everything, start small, but be brave. The dividends you get back will more than make up for any fear that you might feel. 

5 networking tips you need to know

  1. Accept you’re already a neat networker: Why don’t you also write a list of the accidental/unexpected networking moments in your last week too? You’ll soon see that you know how to network and that networking can mean all sorts of interactions. The more you view yourself as a networker, the more you’ll welcome it into your working life.
  2. Find your purpose: Networking is nothing without direction. The purpose of a conversation, or a LinkedIn post (because you are networking when you are getting out and about on social media, by the way), can simply be: to connect with Sandra, or Catherine or Jo. Equally, your purpose for a certain networking interaction might be, to build a deeper relationship with a view to establishing that person as your mentor; other common networking purposes: to gain more knowledge, to create new opportunities, to be more visible.
  3. Be strategic: Write a plan. And don’t just write your networking plan, get busy with your diary too. What I hear again and again from my coaching clients is that while their intentions are all good, once work gets busy, networking gets pushed off their task list. Prevent this by making a weekly 20 minute meeting with yourself; this is your solo time to write emails to others, get your LinkedIn posts or comments in check or have a quick virtual meeting with an old contact who has some intel to share.
  4. Be a spider and a bee: Women tend to network with other, like-minded women: we are bees in our safe, similar hive. There are benefits to this kind of connection: support, collaboration, trust. Men tend to network more like a bee: they have a wider, potentially flimsier web of contacts. There are benefits to this too: male networks tend to be more diverse (in all senses of the word). The aim is to be a bee and a spider: look to connect/reconnect to those who don’t fit into your hive, whilst keeping your bees close too.
  5. Nourish: your network is a living organism that needs feeding and tending too. What I mean by that is stay in touch with those who you’ve worked with before, breathe life back into old work friendships, tend to the industry-specific connections you have now, stay in touch with old school friends, and look to grow this wonderful source of so much potential and positivity.

Networking isn’t scary, it isn’t a single act or a reason to feel bad about yourself. Networking is a joyous, fruitful act of many dimensions. The trick is to find the ways that networking feels good for you, and then to get busy using those tools in all sorts of interesting and exciting ways. Who’s with me in doing a collective rebrand in favour or Conversations With A Purpose? 

check out more from the huddle series:
how to set realistic goals
5 ways to be more resilient

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