Networking Some Insights

I was not going to start another blog until Sunday which was going to be on a different topic altogether. I will still blog about that event next week, however, I decided to discuss a little bit about networking while in transition or while looking for business prospects. I attended some very good sessions on this through various places one being at "The Employment Connection Center" with Bonnie Dick, and a few others through small business group presentations such as the "JLG-Event". There were also some ideas coming from different resources along the way.

Now even while you are not necessarily looking for anything, you most likely already have a network of people with whom you can turn to when that situation does present itself. For example, some business professionals may already belong to a specific organization such as a group of Accounting Professionals who are more often working for different businesses, or whatever other groups that you might belong to. There are also different leaders within our communities who are always interacting with others who might be of great help to you.

There are a few things you might want to take into consideration.

First, it doesn't hurt to try to get into one of Bonnie Dick's presentations to hear her suggestions on the subject matter.

Secondly, I've been hearing many great things about the 30 second commercial. The 30 second commercial is a brief introduction of who you are and what you do. It should highlight at least 3 of your greatest strengths and as the title implies, be long enough to give people an idea of what your skills are but brief enough to not make the person listening to you so uncomfortable that they start tuning out on what you are saying.

Several bad examples that I have seen mentioned at some networking events were the following:

1. People just stating that they are in transition and that's it. They say nothing else and it's difficult to even point that person in any direction.

2. People who have rambled on for beyond 30 seconds and try to spend 40 minutes engaging in conversation with people with a bottled drink in one hand and just constantly talk about themselves.

3. People who go there and hide in a corner with someone that they know and only spend time conversing with the person whom they do know. While it's imperative to still greet people that you may have met before at other events, don't let that completely consume your time if your goal was to meet some other individuals in the process.

4. People who immediately say that they don't need that person even though maybe that person that they don't feel can help them just happens to know the right person that you just happen to be looking for.

5. Individuals who have at the most inopportune time just broadcasted themselves on video in a middle of a discussion on Project Management shouts "I need a job" while trying to share his knowledge on the subject matter which just so happened to fall on deaf ears because everyone was just too shocked to listen after he blurted out his first sentence.

Word to the wise, if you find yourself trying to gracefully exit away from these individuals, just simply look them in the eye and say: "Well I wish you the best of luck", then shake their hand and move on.

Now there are certain events that I've heard termed: "Speed Networking". I'll admit that I did attend one of those events and I must say that I was not that impressed with it. One one of the reasons being is I felt that I was racing against the clock and no one was really listening. The reason being that the room was already noisy enough with so many people in it trying to blurt out an introduction of themselves and a coach holding the timer and pushing people to move onto the next table. There is not much relationship building going on at that time and people are just throwing out their business cards to get to the next table in time - which was advised by someone else is something which you do not want to do.

Another presenter at a JLG Event had mentioned back in July's presentation is that you don't want to come across as being a sleaze. What he meant by this statement is the person who feels that he has to go around the room and hand out his business card to everyone without finding out the needs of the individuals that he is handing his cards out to will not get very far. The reason is he is looking at the quantity alone instead of also including the quality of possibly building good relationships with individuals. Like someone had mentioned, you don't have to meet every single person in the room to reach your goal. You also want to take the time to listen and engage in conversation with that other person that you have met to find out what they are there for.

Networking is not just about meeting new people, it's not just about looking for jobs, it's about building relationships with people so that eventually something good comes out of it. Also another suggestion is just don't collect the business cards after some event and do nothing with them. Keep in touch with the people that you do meet if any interest happens to be there. Network with others while not even looking for a job or a new client.

Another piece of helpful suggestion is take the time to research the companies that you may be looking to either work for or service. There are plenty of online resources that can help you out with this, however, that's not the only way that you can find out information about these companies. While having informational interviews is one approach, how about attending some events where these companies happen to be putting on some type of presentation on their products and services? Now you might ask who would be attending these events? Mostly their potential clients who just so happen to be working for other companies. Let's say you go to these events without stating that you happen to be in transition but you are interested in the subject matter that is about to be discussed at this event. While you are there, if the opportunity presents itself, you can actively participate in the discussions that might occur and can think of any value that you might add to that discussion. In this way, you are getting yourself in front of people without really mentioning that you are actively searching.

The reason why I bring this up is because there are several things going on here:

1. You are keeping yourself up to date with the latest trends within the industry in a different way besides going online to research that information. Companies can see from your participation in the event that you are interested in them.

2. You might just happen to get a call from your target company asking you to provide feedback on what was presented at the presentation. Opportunity here for at least an informational interview and it expresses your sincere interest in them if you happen to follow through with some feedback.

3. You are getting in front of other people prior to them possibly even having a job opening at the time. So by the time that you have already build some type of memorable and positive relationship with them, and they are actually looking for someone who matches the skills that you have to offer, your one of the first who comes to mind. Sure they will still post the job opening, however, they might already have you in mind for that position if you bring value to what they are looking for.

4. Also, dress like you are there for business. It does not necessarily have to be a business suit, but something that one would wear in a business office environment on a daily basis.

It's imperative to create business cards with your contact information so that when someone is interested in setting up a meeting with you, they have a convenient way of contacting you.

The last point that I would like to mention. Let's say that you are just starting out in a new contract project or you just so happen to land in the career that you were pursuing, don't stop t he networking process there. This would be the time to build your relationships with the people whom you are working with. Some people have mentioned to me that they didn't get anything out of their last jobs but I often ask, did they try approaching management about other projects? First you want to build this trust relationship with them and prove that you can handle the tasks at hand that you sold them on when you agreed to work for them. After a certain period of time, if you see another project that you would like to become involved with, then express your interest to them. For example, there was one place where they only had one person who was imaging these laptops and that person did not have a trained backup person to fall back on in case something happened to them. I brought this up with the supervisor at the time and gave my key strengths on what I could bring to this project and she gave me the approval to go ahead with it. From there, I started building several other skills to bring enhancement to my existing skill set.

My theory has always been that the opportunities are definitely there, my question would be, how did you go about seeking that opportunity? If the answer is that you never received that opportunity, then maybe this person did not make an effort to go directly to the decision maker and present themselves as the key person for that particular opportunity. Don't wait for these key decision makers to come to you, find ways that you can present the idea to them and go to them and ask. It never hurts to ask.