I’m fed up of networking! You too?
A new way of networking I’ve been involved in networking ever since the beginning, in fact I am a networking forerunner. I wrote a book in a very Anglo-Saxon style where I presented a networking method that is not “do-goodish”, “new age”, or too “emotional”, and is instead based on business expertise … In this blog you can also find a series of articles on the use of networking for job searches, e.g. Changing jobs thanks to Networking.
Well, I’m now fed up of hearing and reading about networking. Everyone’s talking about it and thinks they’re experts. Lots of people are writing about it too. Many people are presenting it as a panacea for resolving all the evils (starting from unemployment) and are putting it forward as a one-stop-shop for people looking for work.
I do not agree.
I do not agree because:
- it’s never good to generalise
- if you don’t know what you’re doing you run the risk of ruining your reputation and being exposed as an opportunist
- you can’t ask everyone to resolve your problems
- we don’t have time to waste with chitchat
- generosity is not very widespread so you can hardly expect it from others if you don’t engage in it yourself.
In short, I’m fed up. But before closing this chapter and rejecting it - sometimes I can be a little extreme in my positions - I found an article offering a slightly different perspective that I thought would be worth sharing with you. The article is by the Columbia Business School and is entitled Networking for a job? Try this instead.
The article looks at a book by William Duggan called “The Seventh Sense” which presents a method called “idea networking”
1. This involves finding an idea to engage an interlocutor on your interests, strengths and areas of expertise. The idea should be presented as a question, such as – assuming I work in AI – where do you think AI can take us in the health sector within the next 5 years? I am a biomedical engineer and data expert and I am looking for an opportunity in a developing context…
2. Finding a person to ask the question to, not a hundred people to introduce yourself to. Don’t speak about looking for work, just ask the question
3. Aside from collecting feedback, extending the circle of people you ask the question to by asking the advice of your interlocutor who will, on average, give you three contacts who will in turn give you three more… ideally. Until you find someone that is impressed by the fact you’re using your brain to think about an idea rather than begging for a job.
Not bad, don’t you think?
I think companies have been doing this for years when they offer research papers. Just think of observatories at universities … and management consulting companies like the ones I worked for in the past … So, it’s nothing entirely new but it involves applying that which you know to different contexts.
You’ll need to learn to perform this exercise well in the future … in order to survive!
For example, if you’re thinking about presenting yourself to the market as a consultant rather than looking for a position as an employee, what better method could there be than to present an issue, a question or a point of view for “getting someone’s attention” and showing off your professional skills even before discussing your background?
For more information about how to network, offer your services as a consultant, and how to sell your services effectively or look for a job, contact us at info@goodgoing.it.
