Networking 101: Tips to Expand Your Professional Circle
Key Takeaways
- Networking can take many forms, from volunteering to meetups to social media to conferences.
- Enjoy networking more by finding the networking opportunities that give you energy rather than drain you.
- In addition to seeking people who can help you, look for ways to assist your network.
- Whether you're an introvert, extrovert, or ambivert, self-awareness of your personality strengths will help make networking a more sustainable pursuit.
Networking is a crucial skill for anyone looking to advance their career, discover professional opportunities, change career directions, or simply meet new people. In our interconnected world, having a robust professional network can make all the difference in achieving your career goals.
What is networking?
In the context of career growth, networking means building and maintaining professional relationships that can provide mutual benefits. These benefits include sharing information, resources, opportunities, and support. Networking involves connecting with colleagues, industry peers, mentors, potential clients, and other stakeholders. This happens through various channels, including in-person events, online platforms, and social gatherings.
A stereotypical networking scenario may arise in your mind when you think of the word. Maybe you think of formally-dressed people exchanging business cards at a convention, or strangers spamming you on LinkedIn. But networking has always happened in many more places than those. And today, with the diversity of ways people connect, there are nearly endless versions of what “networking” can mean.
Networking can happen anywhere, including:
- Mentorship programs
- Social media
- Webinars and online workshops, especially when they have discussion forums for student interaction
- Professional courses
- Volunteer work
- Online forums/discussion groups
- Collaborative projects
- Alumni groups
- Industry conferences
- Professional association
- Meetups
- Trade shows
- Company events
- Networking apps
- Giving or attending talks or presentations
- Writing articles
- Informational interviews
- Career fairs
- Hackathons
- Coworking spaces
- Business incubators
- Book clubs
- Professional panels
- Peer review groups
- Study groups
- Retreats
- Informal coffee meetings
- Chamber of Commerce events
- Speed networking events
- Industry podcasts: listening, engaging, guesting, hosting
- Judging or entering competitions
- Public speaking clubs
- LinkedIn groups
- Company newsletters
- Blogs: writing and commenting
- Cross-functional teams
- Collaborative research projects
- Internships and apprenticeships
- Freelancing platforms
- Content creation
- Job shadowing
Why networking is important
There are conflicting statistics about the percentage of jobs filled through personal and professional contacts, rather than listed publicly, but most of the estimates are not small. A strong network is a boon to job-seekers, especially an authentically cultivated network built over the years. But it’s never too late to start reaching out and building the network you’d like to be part of.
We often think of networking in conjunction with finding a job. However, professional networks offer many benefits at all career stages. Beyond job opportunities, networks can provide:
- Knowledge sharing: A robust network can be a valuable resource for exchanging ideas, learning from others, and keeping up with industry trends.
- Skill development: Professional associations, workshops, volunteering, etc., present opportunities to hone skills outside your regular job tasks.
- Visibility and reputation-building: Being active in your professional network can lead to recognition, speaking opportunities, more high-profile projects, and enhanced credibility and influence.
- Support system: Having mentors and peers to turn to can help you navigate career obstacles more effectively.
- Social health and friendship: Because networking introduces you to people with similar interests and goals, the personal/professional boundary sometimes blurs. You may end up finding good friends through professional networking.
The #1 way to make networking easier
The one adjustment that can make networking less painful across personality types is to change your mindset about what networking actually means. When you view networking as simply something you have to do to get the thing you want, you will treat it as a chore. Networking is not a means to an end. It is a life-long project of connecting to others and building community.
The first mindset adjustment is to realize you don’t have to fit into a stereotypical networking mold. Instead, you can find the networking opportunities that energize rather than drain you. Look at the list of networking types above. That is just the beginning!
If you do best in one-on-one conversations, schedule a coffee meeting or video chat with someone. If you like the excitement of groups, attend or organize a meetup.
Maybe you prefer getting to know people when there’s an activity rather than unstructured talk time. In that case, go to a game night or take a class or join a hackathon. There are networking opportunities that match the priorities and energies of each personality type.
The second mindset adjustment is to realize that networking doesn’t mean taking what you need and moving on. It is as much giving as getting.
What can you offer to your network? Being a mentor: that’s networking. Connecting two acquaintances with similar interests: that’s networking. Develop your “help fluency,” suggests the Harvard Business Review — the ways you can assist your network.
Deborah Grayson Riegel
In the natural world, networks are often wide-ranging and beneficial systems—think of mutualism or mycorrhizal fungi. Instead of just taking, how can you find your vital yet interconnected place in the web?
Networking tips for introverts, extroverts, and ambiverts
Because networking has the reputation of being an extrovert’s game, people are always seeking networking tips for introverts. It’s helpful to remember that people in all positions of the introvert-extrovert continuum have natural traits that can help them with networking.
For example, an extrovert who gets energy from being around people might thrive at a happy hour mixer. A more introverted person might enjoy the event, or might not—either way, they will need some time alone to recharge afterward.
Introverts, depending on their other personality traits, may thrive with the more “administrative” tasks of networking that extroverts can find draining. These are important actions like following up an informational interview with a thoughtful and sincere thank-you email, or cultivating an online network by blogging and commenting on others’ blogs.
In short, networking isn’t just swapping business cards at conventions. It actually encompasses a broad range of experiences and behaviors, some of which you may not even realize are networking.
This means that everyone has some aspects of networking that are easier and others that are more exhausting. It’s just that these differ from person to person. The key is to learn your natural networking strengths and practice stretching into areas you’re less excited about.
Introversion/extroversion and DiSC®
Learning to stretch into other personality styles while remaining true to your own is a cornerstone of the Everything DiSC® model. We offer networking tips organized by DiSC style—D style, i style, S style, C style—but these can easily apply to anyone looking for networking tips for introverts, extroverts, and ambiverts. Although DiSC doesn’t directly assess introversion and extroversion using those terms, these personality traits show up in the model in different ways.
Research performed by Wiley, the publisher of Everything DiSC®, shows that the Extroversion-to-Introversion scales of both The Big Five/Five-Factor model of personality and the MBTI/Myers-Briggs Type Indicator map onto the Everything DiSC circumplex in a statistically meaningful way. So, DiSC C-style people are more likely to be introverts, and DiSC i-style people more likely to be extroverts:
Use DiSC to discover your networking style
Networking will get easier and more fruitful the more self-awareness you have. That’s because you’ll understand how to work within your innate strengths and challenges. You’ll also gain perspective on personality types different from your own, helping you connect with more people.
If you don’t know your DiSC style, start with the Everything DiSC Workplace® assessment, which will give you a 20-page report about your personality type and how to connect with others. Those looking for continued networking skills development can find guidance from the Everything DiSC® Agile EQ™ and Everything DiSC® Sales tools.
Personality assessments are a great way to learn what makes you you. With this self-knowledge, you can present yourself in a clear and authentic way to others. You can find the networking situations that you most enjoy and navigate them wisely. In this way, you'll build a robust network to support you, wherever your career takes you next.
Posted 07/16/2024
