Networking for your career stage – are you doing it right?
It’s very important to build a network early in your career, and then manage it well throughout. A robust network will allow you to connect with professionals in your field, share information, and even help identify job opportunities. To advance your career, gain experience, and develop professional skills, your networking strategy should evolve as well. If you don’t continue to develop your networking strategy, you may stall or even hurt your career. Do you know how to network effectively, both in the early stages of your career and once you have some experience under your belt?
How can networking help you in the early stages of your career? When you begin networking, your goal is to build your network. By connecting with professionals, you acquire knowledge and develop relationships, both of which can help launch your career. You need to find information that will allow you learn what it takes to be successful, both in specific roles and within a given field. By consuming information, connecting with professionals, and doing your research, you gain focus as you get your career off the ground. Although networking is a two way street, at this stage of your networking career the focus is on receiving information. As a young professional, it’s easy to search for connections on LinkedIn, reach out to professionals, and ask for advice about getting started. You just need to do it! Be hungry, be curious, and be sincere. Through these actions you will identify important mentors that will provide valuable guidance throughout your career.
As you advance through your career, your networking strategy should change. You already have established connections in place, so rather than focusing on just building your network, you should advance your network. Advancing your network involves both gaining new contacts and cultivating existing relationships. Organizations, colleagues, and other professionals expect you to have a foundation of knowledge. As you continue to network, the emphasis is now on expanding that knowledge and then sharing it. You move past basic cursory questions to advanced topics that allow you to probe and integrate information to find more complex solutions and connections, and then you share it with other members of your network. At this point you also have the opportunity to assume the role of mentor and invest in others around you. It’s important to realize that although you may be a seasoned professional, you can learn from junior professionals that possess different skill sets and opinions, just as they can learn from you. Networking is always a two-way street, and you can gain value if you look for opportunities to educate each other.
As a new networker the focus is to build your network, consume information, and find mentors. As a seasoned networker you shift your focus to advancing your network, sharing information, and investing in others by serving as a mentor. Are you networking effectively given your experience and career stage?
