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Building Your Professional Network-Beyond the Social Media Maze
1.
2. BUILDING YOUR PROFESSIONAL NETWORK FROM THE
GROUND UP
Today we will learn how to:
• Create a professional network
• Expand the network
• Maintain the network
• Feed the network
• Harvest from the network
3. WHAT IS A NETWORK?
• Collection of collaborating colleagues?
• People who power your professional purpose?
• A power group of professionals, connected by
various types of contacts, that work together to
help each other?
• Dictionary.com: “an association of individuals
having a common interest, formed to provide
mutual assistance, helpful information, or the
like”
4. PURPOSE OF A NETWORK
Verb: “to cultivate
people who can
be helpful to one
professionally,
especially in
finding
employment or
moving to a
higher position.”
Find professional
resources
5.
6. WHERE TO START
1. List each Note: Every
professional or colleague for these
student position positions is
you have held in important. Whether
your field, the person is a
including manager, a
volunteer or coworker, or a
society offices. receptionist, they
2. List the can be a valuable
colleagues with asset in your
whom you are network.
currently in
contact with for
each position.
8. DREAM A LITTLE DREAM
3. Where would Note: Do not be
you like to see shy about who you
your career in 5 list here! Include
years? people you have
4. List the people never met in
in your community person, if needed.
who are close to You have to reach
that goal or have high to climb that
the power to help ladder!
you reach it. (Link-
ups)
9. GET READY TO COOK
5. List Your Topics
of Expertise
• Tools
• Techniques
• Topic expertise
• Service
expertise
• Contacts with
expertise
10. HOW ARE YOU NETWORKING?
6. List Your Current Note: It’s important to
Methods of make sure you are
Exposure aware of every
• Email lists method of exposure
you are using. Each
• Networking sites one needs to be
(LinkedIn, etc.) maintained regularly.
• Professional
forums
• Networking
meetings
• Resume sites
• Teaching
workshops or
classes
11.
12. NOW WHAT?
What do technical communicators do
best?
Take uncoordinated bits of data and
turn them into something intelligible!
We’ll start with our people…
13. REACHING THE TOP
June J
Bill A
KC
Position 1
Jane C Jim G
Lance R
Amy L Terry K
Amy’s Vice
Position 2
Manager President
Ankur G Bill C
14. COLD CALLING
What do you do if
you don’t have a
link?
Cold calling
Send an
invitation to an
event or lunch
15. NETWORK MAINTENANCE
• Interact regularly-on sites, in email, on
the phone
• Regular chatter, answer questions, ask
questions
• Regular updates that showcase your
professional expertise
• Gather with local contacts regularly in
person-meetings or lunches
16. NETWORKING SITES & RESOURCES
RESOURCES TO USE
• LinkedIn
• FaceBook?
Really?
• Twitter
• Slideshare.net
• Your phone
17. NETWORKING LUNCH
T H E C O N TA C T Y O U THE CONTACT YOU DON’T
KNOW
KNOW
• Arrange regular • Invite them to a one-on-
lunches with local one with you or as a
contacts speaker to a group
• Invite a large event such as a regular
enough group that networking meeting
absences aren’t a • Have questions ready
problem about their work
• Rotate who brings • Always send a physical
the main topic of thank you note and
discussion email
• Rotate locations • Follow up with a phone
call to repeat with a one-
on-one again
18. FEED THE NETWORK
• Answer questions
from contacts
• When someone
needs a
professional need
filled, help them
• Post your
professional needs
to your contacts,
particularly jobs
• Always say thank
you
19. HARVESTING FROM THE NETWORK
Why are we in the
network?
To harvest! Jobs,
work, resources
When you are in
need, contact
your network
first
A well-fed network
will get to work
for you.
20.
21. ACTION PLAN
1. Build on your list of colleagues
2. Meet up with your contacts
3. Contact your link-up contacts that can help you reach
your goals. Ask one or more of them to be your mentor.
4. Review all of your current methods of exposure for
outdated information.
5. Get your name out with your expertise.
6. Start feeding the network!
22. CONTACT
Jenna Moore, Past President of STC Carolina
jtigerheart@gmail.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/techwriting
Twitter: jcpmoore
Slideshare.net:: jenna3
Editor's Notes
Network:
Ask the question: What are some of the professional resources you’ll want from your network? Jobs, workers, answers to questions, training, tools expertise,
3 minutes5 minutesAt one of my companies we had an incredible receptionist. He was probably the best dressed non-executive in the company. And he needed to be since every single client that came to us saw him. He had an incredibly positive attitude, was a joy to be around, and, most importantly, knew every single person in our local office. If you want a direct link to your local Vice President, your receptionist can be a great asset. So don’t discount them. I can also assure you that while I have forgotten some of the other colleagues I barely interacted with in that company, Douglas is firmly ingrained in my mind permanently. And I know that goes for everyone who interacted with him.
3. 2 minutes4. 3 minutesWe’ll talk more later about how to reach them.
5 minutes
3 minutes
You know Amy, Jane, Bill and Ankur. In turn, each of them has a list of contacts, who has a list of contacts, and so on. If your goal is to reach a position that requires help from the Vice President, then you need to find the link that will get you there. Amy has that link. So you network with Amy to meet her boss. Then network with her boss to meet the VP.
Sometimes you might find that where you want to go is not within your network’s reach-Yet. So it’s time to be brave. It’s been traditional for years to send a resume without knowing the person. That’s a start, but with sometime as many as 600 or more other resumes on a desk, yours might not get noticed. Take it a step further and call-or send an invitation to lunch or an event. Invite this person to get to know you, even outside of the context of a job. Ask if you can simply talk to the person about their work. Offer that it doesn’t have to pertain to a position at all. If you know you eventually want to work there, you will be willing to wait until an opening is there, so don’t press it. Call and ask for a lunch.
These exposures get your name ingrained in your contacts’ brains. They get to know you and they remember you as “the person who…”. Over time they will think of you first when certain topics arise and they will turn to you as a guru. This kind of regular maintenance is essential to networking. Local gatherings are great for just getting to know someone. When you can have this kind of contact face to face the “ingraining process” can go much quicker. The rapport is built faster and stronger. You can treat this like a partially social event, but also pick your contacts’ brains about work and let them do the same to you.
How do we do this networking? Social media sites are good, but don’t rely on them completely. Not all your contacts will check them regularly and you want to make sure that you are truly in touch. Make a point of using your phone or a personal email regularly to contact them on a personal, direct level.
Why are we all in the network? To get something out of it. You’ve heard “you get out what you put in.” Well, here’s your chance. When someone asks a question you can answer on a forum, answer it. When someone needs to fill a position and you know someone who can do it, pass it on and make sure both ends know you’re involved. When you need to fill a position, post it to your network. This is feeding the network. The more you help others, the more they help you. For example, I helped a colleague this way one time. When I received a call from a pediatric medical office that needed a writer, I knew that I personally could not fill that need. It’s out of my expertise. I also knew that I had no personal contacts that could fill it. I did know that one of my local network members has a staffing agency and probably knew someone that could fill it in. So I took down the contact information for the office and offered to contact my colleague for them. By making this contact myself I made sure both parties knew I was the one that connected them. In the future, they’ll remember that. The office got what they needed and my network colleague was able to place an unemployed medical writer in that position, helping them both out. Later on, when my husband had been laid off, my network colleague was able to find a position for him to fill in. So, as I said, feed the network and it will help you.
For every position you have listed, expand that list of colleague contacts by 5. You might have to really search or put some serious effort into finding some of those former colleagues, but it is worth the effort! Contact the colleagues you have on your list and arrange a lunch or meet-up with them. Do it here, do it at home, or do it online. But do it within one week. So get home from the conference and by Friday you should be contacting people and have it scheduled by next Monday. It should take place within a week after that. Why so quick? Because if you put it off you won’t do it. Not everyone will make it, but everyone will want to make it. So it becomes regular.