A network of contacts are the people one knows personally or professionally. A wider network means more opportunities to consult people with different backgrounds and expertise in a wide range of professional fields.
Increasingly, surveys show that people believe they will find their next job through their network of contacts, through a recommendation or through an ad shared by someone they know. The older a person gets, the more likely they are to find out about a job opportunity from their network of contacts rather than an advert.
Barriers to networking
Uncertainty about how to make contact or how to stay in contact with someone they have met are the biggest barriers to expanding their network.
Shyness and introversion also contribute to some people having difficulty meeting new people. Worry about potential rejection and lack of time also get in the way.
Strategies for expansion
According to Michael Melcher, author of Your Invisible Network, there are seven types of people in everyone’s network that are important to the future of his/her career. These are friends, work colleagues, clients, beneficiaries, sponsors and mentors, bosses and senior stakeholders, and so-called “weak ties.” These are people one has known for a long time but have lost contact with over time, or people one has recently met.
Often relationships with people with “weak ties” are transactional and communication only happens when either party needs information from the other. Being asked something simple like how is a person, or something personal about his/her family helps build a deeper than transactional relationship.
The “20 minute” habit
One of Mr. Melcher’s practical tips is to build a “20 minute” habit – instead of social networking, a person is better off spending 20 minutes a day expanding their network of contacts. This is done, for example, by spending time on LinkedIn to update one’s profile information, to comment and offer a new perspective under posts on topics important to one, or to review the current positions of contacts there.
The power of “ping”
From the English word “ping” appears a term, currently without translation into English, which means to write to someone without a reason or specific purpose. In this type of communication, a response is not necessarily expected, and the communication is more informal. Messages like “I read this article and thought you would find it interesting” or “I heard this podcast and it reminded me of when we worked on that project together”. This type of “ping” encourages relationship building with little effort put in.
