Networking for Personal and Professional Growth

 
Even if you are not thinking of changing your career, it is important to keep in touch with your industry’s latest developments, what is happening, what people are doing, and the latest advances in technologies. Why is this so? This is because it is important to create and maintain long-term relationships with your peers, elevate your profile and keep your professional knowledge up to date, both for yourself and for the good of your company. 
 
Networking is best when it is based on a foundation of mutual support and trust. Here are the advantages of networking, and how to be good at it, both online and in person.
 

The advantages of networking

• Building your confidence

Knowing how to network is important, and it is especially more so when you are just starting in your career. When you begin building a professional network, you are compelled to get out there and learn how to communicate effectively with different people. Even if you are not yet confident in your networking skills, simply getting out of your comfort zone and creating connections is already helping you build the social skills and know-how invaluable at every stage of your career.
 

• Growing your business connections

When you actively network with your professional peers, you keep yourself visible and present in peoples’ minds. You build trust and connections and try to assist whenever possible. This helps to strengthen your professional relationships and actively create possibilities for returned favors in the future when you need them. How do you do this? You can pass on information of any open positions on LinkedIn that you think your colleague might be interested in, introduce someone to a colleague who may be looking for assistance, or simply forwarding any articles that are relevant to them with a note saying, “Hey I read this and was thinking you might be interested in seeing it.”

 

• Keeping up to date with the latest developments and ideas in your industry

A good network of your professional peers is a great source for you to keep up with the latest ideas and information useful to you in your career. When you exchange information on what’s going on, the latest developments and news and trends, it lets you gain new perspectives on your own work, strengthen your experience and build your reputation as an industry “insider”.
 

• Advancing in your career

When you are keen on advancing your career, it is important to have a good network of professional peers who can help you. This is where you have to make it a point to attend as many professional or social functions and events – they are not a waste of time! By doing so, you make yourself visible and keep your professional profile high. These shared encounters at networking events help keep you at the top of peoples’ minds when new opportunities arise.
 

How to network effectively in person

• Have an objective in mind

To network effectively, you have to approach an event to gain the maximum benefit from the time you invest in it. Make it a point to talk to at least 10 people, introduce yourself, hand out your business cards and get to know them.

•  

  Be ready to mingle…

Even if you are not an outgoing person, no one needs to know. Your professional persona can be as different from your personal one if you like. You may be a very private person, but networking means being outgoing as part of your professional self. Maintain eye contact when you talk, and be interested in people and what they have to say. See how other people do it and learn from them. If necessary, rehearse some of the things you want to say – if it helps, think of yourself as an actor in a role!
 

• …but don’t oversell

Attending a networking event is all about creating and developing professional relationships and contacts. Even if you are there to gain exposure, or if your boss has told you to get someone’s contact information, the event is not the time to push any agendas. Focus on the human side of professional relationships, and you will come across as a genuine person – and that is someone others will want to keep in contact with and do business with.
 

How to network effectively online

For the last few years, professional networking has no longer been limited to in-person exchanges. This has become especially valuable in these days of social distancing, and there is very little difference between networking with someone in your office and someone on the other side of the world. So how do you network effectively online?
 

• Be proactive on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is by far the most popular space for professionals to have an online presence, so use this to your advantage. Make sure you have a polished profile on LinkedIn, with a clear photograph of your face. Add and accept connections. If you can, share articles related to your industry, and if you can, make constructive or supportive comments when others do so. Bonus points if you can add to the conversation by publishing your own insights and expert opinion.
 

• Seek out opportunities to connect members of your network with others

By giving referrals and creating ways for other people to connect, you can build your own professional reputation as someone who creates opportunities. You can do this by sending introductory emails to the parties you wish to connect and let them continue the conversation.
 

• Remember to follow up

Whether in person or online, always remember to follow up with your newly-formed contact the next business day or as soon as you can. Just a one-liner email is usually enough, saying something like, “it was a pleasure to meet you at (event), and I really enjoyed our chat about (topic you talked about).” If you promised to send any information or introduce your new contact to someone, always remember to do so.
 
Now that you have these handy tips on how to network professionally grab any opportunities that come your way to advance your career and professional profile. The more you practice, the better you will get at it in years to come.