Prepare to Network
Posted on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 At
12:42 AM
You have two choices:
1. Identification
When you meet someone, you need to ‘identify’ or present yourself. Who are you? What do you do? And, if you are chasing people actively, why are you getting in touch?
But don’t put together a lengthy speech explaining it all. Think ‘elevator speech’ instead. Imagine you are in a lift with the managing director of your dream employer. You only have 20 seconds to talk about yourself before he gets out of the lift. How would you describe who you are and what you do?
Rehearse talking about yourself in only twenty seconds!
2. Ice-breaking
It’s natural to feel nervous networking – worrying that you’ll have nothing in common with the people you meet. But remember that even the most senior person is still human.
And so they will have families and personal relationships. They’ll probably hate bad weather and traffic, and more than likely enjoy at least the occasional drink or two! So, try to think about common topics of conversation to break the ice.
3. Impression
We’ve already talked about making a great impression in Chapter 3. But it’s worth reiterating its importance.
You must never let people feel that you are simply using them as a source of information. So show a genuine interest in them.
Think about the areas it’s appropriate to ask them about:
4. Information-gathering
Whatever your goals, you will have a purpose to your networking. Perhaps you only want to get someone’s business card so that you can file their details away for a later date. Or maybe you actually want to gather information about the job market.
So take a few minutes before speaking to someone new to think about the questions you are going to ask them.
More often than not, any given person you meet may not have the information you need. So what you might need is an introduction to someone else – further contacts that you can speak to.
For example, you could say: ‘You were talking about X earlier. Do you happen to know anyone else that I could talk to about that?’ As long as you are polite, most people will only be too happy to think about other people they might know.
And don’t worry about calling on people you’ve never met. If someone approached you and asked you about your job and your views on your industry, how would you feel? Most people would feel flattered and only too happy to talk.
- Network actively. Pick up the telephone and ask people to give you maybe just 10 minutes of their precious time to talk or maybe set up a half-hour meeting over a coffee.
- Network passively. Simply prepare to make a good impression on people that you might meet.
1. Identification
When you meet someone, you need to ‘identify’ or present yourself. Who are you? What do you do? And, if you are chasing people actively, why are you getting in touch?
But don’t put together a lengthy speech explaining it all. Think ‘elevator speech’ instead. Imagine you are in a lift with the managing director of your dream employer. You only have 20 seconds to talk about yourself before he gets out of the lift. How would you describe who you are and what you do?
Rehearse talking about yourself in only twenty seconds!
2. Ice-breaking
It’s natural to feel nervous networking – worrying that you’ll have nothing in common with the people you meet. But remember that even the most senior person is still human.
And so they will have families and personal relationships. They’ll probably hate bad weather and traffic, and more than likely enjoy at least the occasional drink or two! So, try to think about common topics of conversation to break the ice.
3. Impression
We’ve already talked about making a great impression in Chapter 3. But it’s worth reiterating its importance.
You must never let people feel that you are simply using them as a source of information. So show a genuine interest in them.
Think about the areas it’s appropriate to ask them about:
- their job and their company;
- their interests outside of work;
- family or acquaintances that you might have in common.
4. Information-gathering
Whatever your goals, you will have a purpose to your networking. Perhaps you only want to get someone’s business card so that you can file their details away for a later date. Or maybe you actually want to gather information about the job market.
So take a few minutes before speaking to someone new to think about the questions you are going to ask them.
- What information are you after?
- And how can you probe gently for it without sounding like you’re interrogating them?
More often than not, any given person you meet may not have the information you need. So what you might need is an introduction to someone else – further contacts that you can speak to.
For example, you could say: ‘You were talking about X earlier. Do you happen to know anyone else that I could talk to about that?’ As long as you are polite, most people will only be too happy to think about other people they might know.
And don’t worry about calling on people you’ve never met. If someone approached you and asked you about your job and your views on your industry, how would you feel? Most people would feel flattered and only too happy to talk.