A Career in Your Suitcase: A Practical Guide to Creating Meaningful Work, Anywhere by Jo Parfitt Colleen Reichrath-Smith

Author:Jo Parfitt, Colleen Reichrath-Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Summertime Publishing
Published: 2013-02-15T16:00:00+00:00

Networking Skills

Connecting

It is said most people have a personal network of 250. As mentioned earlier, each of those contacts will, in turn, have his or her own contacts. Ask your contacts to connect you with someone in their network. Check if they have a LinkedIn profile, a newsletter, blog, Facebook page or Twitter account and suggest to people in your network that they may find it good to connect with another person in your network. The best networkers, as we said earlier, like to give presents - and giving a connection or tip is a great gift. Whenever we are told about a great seminar, new book, or exciting conference we email the information to any of our contacts we think may be interested. Sometimes this generates new and beneficial relationships between contacts of mine who were previously unknown to one another. The strength of your network depends on the connections made between your contacts.

Alternatively you may want to introduce two people to each other because you know they will benefit from knowing one another. You will soon discover some people are much better at connecting you with others. In fact, they offer to connect you before you have even asked. It is worth nurturing contact with these valuable people. In his book, The Tipping Point, author Malcolm Gladwell calls these connecting people ‘mavens’ because of their knowledge, connections and ability to influence their network.

A solid foundation for a relationship is usually created if you start off with being connected by a mutual friend. In this way, your initial conversation is not a cold call. Instead it begins in a much warmer place. If you can, be introduced to someone at a party or network event, but many such connections are initiated online. When we make Internet connections for our friends we tend to send an email to both the people we want to introduce, and say something along the lines of ‘Jane meet Sue, Sue meet Jane. Jane is an interior designer who has worked on some of the great stately homes of England. Sue works at Highview House and is looking to turn it into a hotel’.

I (Colleen) am not a natural networker. Networking is a skill I have learned and have come to really enjoy. I find that when networking is more about someone other than me I can do it very well. So I take the focus off of myself and enjoy learning about other people. When I see someone standing alone and I have also attended the event alone, I will approach them and start by discussing something general about the event. If I learned something about them that connects them with someone else I have just met, then I will share that information with them, encourage them to approach that person too or introduce them myself. I get a real buzz from connecting people with other people and other resources, although I am nowhere near a ‘maven’. And the bonus is that, without much

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