Slides supplementing the University of Sydney Writing Hub's Profiling Your Professional Self portal.

1. Networking
Connecting and relating professionally.
Meeting people in career settings.

2. First principles
1. Networking is like saving money. You first start doing it, after which you can draw
results from it. It’s also like a garden. First you plant, water, and cultivate. Later,
you receive your harvest.
2. You can learn from your networking experiences the moment you start actually
networking.
3. Networking is experiential and action-based. Thinking and planning are important,
but doing is essential.
4. Merely having a list or database of contacts is not networking, though contacts
are necessary fuel to get you started.
5. Your contacts will confer networking benefits to you, when they trust you enough
to know it’s good business for them to refer you. This can happen quickly.
6. Networking isn’t about who you know, but who knows you — and sees you as
credible. When you are credible, people will give you their trust.

3. 1. I don’t like the idea of networking. It feels like I’m
selling myself.
A. Networking is less about selling yourself, than it is
about connecting and relating with people who will
be interested in you, from a career perspective.
B. A flow-on benefit of networking well, is that it can
position you for access to the hidden job market,
where the majority of positions, which are never
advertised, are found.
Objection 1

4. Objections 2 and 3
2. I don’t have a network.
Yes you do. If you know other human beings, have any
friends, colleagues and acquaintances, you have a
network. It may not yet be the network you want or need
to have, but it’s a network.
3. I don’t have the skills to network.
Yes you do. Everyone can improve their networking skills,
but if you have ever initiated meeting a friend for coffee
or a chat, been given or asked a favour, received or
given a gift, you have the skills needed to network.

5. Start your network
1. Decide how to document and organise your network, e.g. in a
spreadsheet, in LinkedIn, or in a notebook
2. Categorise your contacts in a way that works for you. E.g.
working family, friends, peers, co-workers, employers/ees,
acquaintances, industry, primary, secondary.
3. Note or highlight the seemingly consequential or significant
people in terms of their career success, contacts or relevance
to your career path
4. Identify something usefully specific about your relationship with
each person. E.g. something in-common, what you might give
or hope to gain

6. Grow your network
Form your own ‘standard operating procedure’ to expand your
network*:
1. Go where people in your profession go. E.g. industry events,
annual conferences, working groups, media sites
2. Hand out business cards to new contacts
3. Invite each new contact to connect with or follow you on LinkedIn
or Twitter
4. Invest a half hour each day to review LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter,
and other relevant sites
5. Like or comment on selected news feeds and reports
*Source: Frank, Christy. Stand Out & Succeed: Discover Your Passion, Accelerate Your
Career and Become Recession-Proof. Nero: Collingwood. 2015

7. What do you want?
Be intentional and specific with your network. List what you really want, for
example:
1. Introductions to people who can…
2. An information gathering interview with…
3. Contact details for…
4. To find a door-opener into…
5. A connection to {x position} who has worked at…
According to Bolles (What Color is My Parachute? Ten Speed Press. NY. 2013.
p128), you are often looking ultimately for a bridge-person, i.e. someone who
bridges the gap between you and your job of choice. It may take more than one
step to reach such a person.

8. Finding the right person
Frank (2015:221) identifies four ways you might identify a
person who has the power to hire you:
1. Interrogate your current network
2. Search organisation contact information online
3. Approach an organisation directly, asking for the name
of the person responsible for your area of interest
4. Filter contacts with LinkedIn’s advanced search
functions (see Bolles, 2013:128-9)

9. Making contact
Don’t expect people to reply to unsolicited email. You will
likely need to approach new contacts by phone as well as by
email or other means. When you email, be brief, unless you
have an excellent reason otherwise. Write five sentences at
most, stating:
1. Who you are, in the context of this email, e.g. We met at…
2. What you want, why you’re making contact
3. A useful thought, i.e. some insight, opinion, advice
4. A time, place or mechanism for suggested action

10. Five types or steps of
informational interviewing
1. What jobs combine your interests, knowledge, skills?
2. Will this career fit me? What training is required?
3. What kinds of organisations have such jobs?
4. Which particular settings interest me? Size, culture,
location, applications.
5. About the specific organisation and position. What’s
it really like?
See Bolles (2015:136-53).