Taking the Work Out of Networking
When I was 14, I remember stumbling across a quote that has stuck with me since. Although I always struggle to remember the precise quote, it was something along the lines of “Always ask an expert”. It resonated with me, because as a teenager I was baffled by why we had exams on the content of books, when in the future if I ever wanted to know anything on these books I was forced to learn, I wondered why I wouldn’t just look it up in the book then? Or why couldn’t we just ask someone who was a fan of that books subject? This was of course a sort of naive view on the world. Nevertheless, the quote has stuck with me. And this quote is the reason why I have developed my network of experts.
Whilst I was ‘clever’ at school, I wasn’t a genius. But, I always had a great ‘network’ of friends. I loved learning and experiencing different groups of people, and I still do now. This played out in my academic journey. I just scraped a 2.1 at university, with an overall mark of 61%. Then, I just scraped a PhD place, with one opening up only because someone else dropped out close to the start date, when all the good candidates had been snapped up. But, I made lots of friends from different groups along the way.
Since then, I have worked on these strengths, my interpersonal skills and my networking skills. I am lucky that meeting new people has always been something that I have enjoyed. I didn’t quite realise at the time, but over my PhD I was building on my networking skills and my network by going on many dates, continuing to love learning new things from new people, saying yes to most things offered to me and not settling for one straight career track. Now, whenever I reflect on my life so far, I am always so proud that my most wonderful opportunities have been through my network.
I’m sure you’re all aware of the benefits of networking. Access to knowledge and job opportunities are the top reasons to network. I am also a big fan of the collaborative opportunities that come out of good networking.
The trick is to know what you offer your network. Be certain of your strengths. If we go back to the quote I treasure from my teenage years; to have a network of experts to call on, you have to be able to give something back, because that’s a nice thing to do and otherwise your network is dysfunctional. The definition of network, in the sense that we are talking about, is to interact with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts. The exchange is key.
As I write this, England is slowly making its way out of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. This means, our usual in person networking events and opportunities have stopped. There are still ways to network. I’ve tried messaging people on LinkedIn, getting in touch with my current network for a catch up and attending online hackathons.
Networking is now one of my strengths, but it did take some ‘work’ and I now have a little more of a strategic networking plan. But luckily, you’re reading this, and I know my strength is networking, and I am willing to share it, so welcome to my network! Get in touch if you’d like help with yours. And, I’ve developed a free networking service with my friend Steve Cross to help you find interesting people and build your network. Here’s our website, go there. This targeted approach myself and Steve have created means a personalised match-up with someone else who is keen to extend their network — you’ve got nothing to lose!
P.s. if you happen to be a product manager in Med Tech please join my slack community.
P.p.s. if you happen to be a PhD student please join my supportive slack community.
