A while back, I wrote an article here on LinkedIn about career. In that post, I stressed the importance of taking care of your contacts network, as that is your main source of new opportunities. Now, I am going to drill down into those observations and give you some tips on how to leverage your network.
Rule #1: Networking is about cultivating relationships
It doesn’t matter if you have 200 or 2000 connections. If you can’t cultivate a healthy relationship with most of them, you will probably not get much out of your network.
Be genuine and don’t help others just for getting something back. Build up your social capital [1] by taking the Silicon Valley approach: give advice and help others for free when you think it is helpful [2]. In the worst case, someone you helped will help someone else and the world becomes a better place this way.
The other way around is also true. Don’t use your network to promote people just because they are your friends. If you don’t trust the person enough for a recommendation, don’t do it. As a rule of thumb, I only write recommendation letters to people I have worked with. Networking is about meritocracy, not nepotism [2].
Rule #2: Manage the size of your network
This is a corollary of Rule #1. If you have a 10000 contacts 1st-level network, chances are that you are not paying attention to 99% of it.
It is okay to keep your hundreds or thousands of connections on LinkedIn, but be sure to map your core network and treat it well. I use my contact list in my iPhone to do this: for the most important contacts, I try hard to keep all the contact info and work info up-to-date. I also keep those in a special VIP group. It is much easier to leverage a connection if you know where she is and what she is doing.
Rule #3: Do actual networking
This should be obvious, but most people don’t get the most of it. The easiest way to network is to kick ass at your job. If you do it greatly, people will naturally gravitate towards you and you will have multiple chances to build up your social capital. High performers usually have better networks because of this.
But networking at work shouldn’t be the only thing to focus on, because the best opportunities are not necessarily at your current company. So, in addition to be doing great at work, you should also:
- Go to conferences, both technical and business-oriented.
- Go to lunch/dinner/coffee/drink with your ex-colleagues or friends who work at other companies regularly. Chances are that either they will remember you, or someone else they brought with them will.
- Be a regular at social gatherings: sports venues, concert halls, golf courses, airport lounges, etc. You will end up meeting interesting people at these places, I am sure.
- Contribute to an open source software project, if you are a software engineer. These communities are very tight networks and great job opportunities circulate within them.
- Volunteer. It is a great way of meeting new people and opening new business ventures.
- Write a blog. If you write well, chances are people will contact you, creating opportunities for growing your network or entering new businesses.
- Be (professionally) active on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn. If you are trying to be a worldwide reference in your field, social media can help a lot.
As you can see, all of those require more than one human being to work — networking is, after all, about human relationships. So, get out of your cave and go explore the world.
References
- Gowel, D., “The Power In a Link“, John Wiley & Sons, Chapter 1, ISBN: 9781118134672.
- Gerstenzang, S., “The Cost of an Introduction“, Observer, 2015-09-11.
* This article was originally published on LinkedIn.