How To Build A Professional Network: 5 Creative Ways For When You’re Just Starting Out
Publié le 23 August 2023
Get on the path to long-term success by learning how to build a professional network with 5 creative ways when you’re just starting out in your career.
If you’ve been in a career for a while, then you likely have a comprehensive contact list. From work colleagues to clients and suppliers, your professional network will have been built up over time and probably covers all bases, from a supplier who may be able to help at short notice to a workmate you can approach for advice about a job-related issue.
However, what happens if you’re just starting out on your career path or have recently relocated to start a new position? In that case, your network is either non-existent or is now redundant. How do you build–or rebuild–a professional network from scratch?
What is a professional network?
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A professional network is a series of connections with other professionals who work in your career field (or related fields) or who you work with closely. As you build and grow your career, it represents relationships that you have established and nurtured and comprises people who may be able to help you in the future. That help may be as simple as advice or as lucrative as helping you close a sale.
The relationships may be close ones, maybe someone who works beside you and who has been there longer and can advise you, or it may be as simple as someone you have exchanged a virtual business phone number with. Whatever the relationship is, it is one that is firmly based on what your job is.
What are the benefits of a professional network?
It’s all very well thinking about building a professional network, but what are the actual benefits?
- Strong business connections. Opportunity is a two-way street and strong relationships across your chosen field can bring benefits to you both.
- Sharing of ideas. There will be countless times when you’re unsure how to proceed with something. A good network means you can share ideas and experiences or recommendations.
- Get noticed. If you’ve just started in a career (or have relocated), then a network is a good way for others to notice you.
- Hiring and promotions. A professional network means it can be easier when it comes to being promoted or finding another position.
- Mentoring. If you’re new to your career or company, then there may be times you feel like a fish out of water. Professional networks can help establish relationships with people who can advise and mentor you.
- Build personal relationships. As they say, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. A professional network will provide many socialization opportunities and can help establish relationships that transcend a work setting.
5 creative ways to build a professional network
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If you are just starting in your career or job, it can be challenging to build a sustainable professional network. Here are some ideas as to how to start building that network.
1. Networking events and conferences
You may find that there are many such events held in your area or online. Look for ones that are related to your career field and that are likely to include people you would want to connect with. In some cases, initial contact may only involve a brief chat and an exchange of business cards but the thing to focus on is that you have established a relationship that can be built on.
Career-related conferences can be another great way to build relationships. These could be general trade conferences with a large attendance or micro conferences that focus on specialized subjects such as AI customer self service. It may again be a case of brief chats and business cards but you are building a foundation for a hopefully beneficial relationship.
2. Say yes often
If you’re the new kid on the block, then you want people to get to know your name quickly and feel that you’re part of the team. A good way to both achieve that and to build your professional network is to say yes when managers are looking for people to collaborate on new projects or tasks. These can be projects directly related to your department or can be more company-wide and could even be social related.
Not only will your enthusiasm be noted by management, but it affords you the opportunity of getting to know people in your team better as well as colleagues that work in other departments. All of this can help with your professional development goals. Your organization may also hold social or even sports events so getting involved in those can really widen your network’s reach.
3. Don’t be shy
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If you always remain in the background, people will never notice you. Even if you’re naturally shy, make the effort to talk to people and introduce yourself. Or, if you have identified someone you think you need a connection with, ask any mutual contact to introduce you to them. Of course, the opposite holds true and you don’t want to come over as too exuberant.
Approach people you think would be a good addition to your network, Find some common ground when starting a real or virtual conversation. You could suggest a blog or article or research that you think they may find interesting. For example, you could send them an email suggesting they read more about AI’s effect on social media and hiring.
4. Nurture those relationships
Although you don’t want to come over as too pushy, you equally don’t want to leave things at a simple exchange of business cards. Depending on the person, you should adopt different strategies when it comes to nurturing that relationship. For example, if it’s a work colleague, you could suggest having a coffee together at breaktime. If it’s a prospective client, you may want to invite them to lunch (if your expense account allows it).
Any relationship, whether professional or social, involves a degree of give and take. You want them to value the connection as much as you do. So, look for opportunities where you can give them help or advice too. For example, you could suggest to a manager that they consider Dialpad’s system for conference calls as an alternative to the current solution.
5. Follow up initial meetings
While this could be considered part of the nurturing process, it’s important enough that it should be highlighted. Initial meetings may be brief and they may even be part of a teleconference or video call. If you have met someone, whether in person or virtually, and think they could be an important part of your network, then follow up on that first contact.
Your follow up could be as simple as a message or call saying that it was nice to ‘meet’ them. Or you could link any follow up to the content that was discussed during the meeting. For example, if the meeting was discussing different domain names for an international client, you could send them a link that offers an .com.au domain name which could prove useful.
Professional Networking – Things To Avoid
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While it is important to build a solid professional network, there are some potential pitfalls to avoid.
- Don’t let your relationship be a one-way street. There should be mutual benefits in any relationship and, if a contact does you a favor, then you should be looking for ways to return that favor, even if it’s something as simple as sharing the MarkUp.io blog on video sharing.
- Avoid being unprepared. Nothing can make you look more unprofessional than meeting a potential contact and not having something to talk about. Know your strengths and, perhaps more importantly, know what the two of you have in common.
- Contact solutions. There can be nothing worse than meeting a potential contact and they have nothing to offer you other than a phone number. Always ensure you have a good stock of business cards or, in this digital era, solutions such as virtual business cards or a QR code.
- Don’t be too pushy. Remember, this is a new relationship and while enthusiasm is good, coming over as too pushy can be off-putting. This can be especially true at networking events where you don’t want to monopolize someone’s time. Think of these events as a form of speed dating!
- Be honest. Some of these relationships may last for years, so it is crucial to always be honest. There is no point in exaggerating or embellishing your abilities and achievements as you will eventually be found out and that can damage the relationship irreparably.
The Takeaway
Having a solid approach to networking can be crucial to your career development. While you may initially think about how a potential contact will benefit you, you should also be thinking about how you can benefit them. As with any type of relationship, a professional one has to be beneficial to both parties.
In addition to a personal network, consider connecting with people via various social media options. LinkedIn may be the most obvious of these but there will also be specialized groups on other platforms as well.
There may be some temptation to try to be the person you think the other person wants you to be. Try to avoid that temptation; be natural and be yourself in every situation where you are interacting with people who could be part of your professional network. Although some of those contacts may only be temporary, others may stay with you throughout your career.
