1

Care

ers

Effective Networking1st June 2012

Dr. Tracy Bussoli

2

Care

ers

Activities of networking

• Preparing for networking• Finding people• Making contact• Talking about yourself• Asking for things• Finishing the conversation• Following up• Maintaining links

3

Care

ers

Objectives

• Why: Think about why we need to create and maintain contacts

• How: Learn some rules/tools to help with creating and maintaining contacts

• Some Practice

In small groups

• Why is important to create contacts?

5

Care

ers

Why creating contacts useful?• Build partnerships with business and industry• Make your research more effective and successful encouraging

wider impact on society and the economy• Create partnerships with internal departments and external

organisations• Find a new employees for your team• Find out what the competition is doing• Find people who supply goods and services you may need• Get known by others• Get others to know what you do• Help others with their business challenges• Increase your knowledge of your marketplace or specialist area

of expertise• Make new social and business friends• Meet key people and decision makers for partnerships and

fundraising• Raise your own and the organisation’s profile

Care

ers

How

Some principles………..

Care

ers

Finding people

In person and on-line

8

Care

ers

Finding people• Start with people you know e.g.

supervisors and academics• Whom they might know?• Think ‘connectors’• Think about them; who do they

interact with?• Use professional / industry

associations• Conferences and events• Use LinkedIn / Facebook

9

Care

ers

Finding People…..get out there

Don’t spend all your time at a PC waiting for people to come to you.

• In person…at meetings, chance encounters, on the phone 80%

• Electronically…..email, linked-in, etc. 20%

10

Care

ers

Because….

• A tweet: forgotten in microseconds

• An email: forgotten in two minutes

• A telephone conversation: forgotten in half an hour

• A face to face meeting with a follow-up thank you…..six months!

11

Care

ers

Building relationships

AllianceAdvocacyAssistance

AdviceAnswers

Talking to people

• Half people are number 1 and half are number 2.

• In three minutes, number 2 has to find out as much about number 1 looking for things that connect you.

• Then reverse the process.

• Each pair in the room then feeds back a few things that connect them

13

Care

ers

Finding Contacts in person

Talking to people

14

Care

ers

Preparation: Think about you

• Connector team-builder – networker – resource finder

• Creator inventor – designer – innovator

• Influencer persuader – salesperson – campaigner

• Pioneer entrepreneur – trailblazer – risk-taker 

• Researcher investigator – explorer – enquirer

• Adviserconsultant – guide – counsellor

• Inspirer visionary – motivator – example-setter

• Communicator educator – explainer – spokesperson

• Problem-solver trouble-shooter – analyst – fixer

• Implementer achiever – worker – pragmatist

• Strategist decision-maker – goal-setter – navigator

• Organiser planner – anticipator – coordinator

• Mediator negotiator – agent – intermediary

• Nurturer developer – carer – helper

• Evaluator auditor – judge – monitor

• Something else?

What do you want people to remember about you?

What stories will help them remember?

15

Care

ers

Preparation: Think about them

• What is interesting about them?• What questions might they have

answers to?• What do they need or value?• How could you benefit them?• What could they do for you

without effort?

16

Care

ers

What type of questions should I ask?

• Open questions

• Start with What, Where, How, When and Why?

17

Care

ers

Questions• How did you get into this area?• What would surprise someone

from outside the field?• What motivates you in this role?• What challenges do you face

regularly?• What one bit of experience or skill

would get you noticed in this area?• What other questions would you

ask?

18

Care

ers

Script elements

• Intro: Hi, my name is...• Label/hook: I’m really interested in...• Request: I was hoping I could ask you

a couple of questions about...• Appreciation: ...was really helpful

because...• Follow-up: Could I contact you

another time if I have more questions?

Networking Scenarios

• On your handouts, you have four scenarios that involve elements of networking.

• In groups, choose 1 scenarios and discuss how you would approach this.

• Member from each group feeds back.

In small groups, think about the different ways of finding relevant contacts online

21

Care

ers

Finding Contacts: Online• Names on publications• Professional bodies• Linked-in, Facebook, MySpace,

twitter• Forum/discussion boards of

professional bodies/linked-in.• Networking Events (find out who

is attending beforehand) • Queen Mary Alumni (linked-in)

22

Care

ers

Some Features of Linked-In

23

Care

ers

Searching for Companies

24

Care

ers

Search for People

25

Care

ers

Finding Jobs

26

Care

ers

Joining Relevant Groups

27

Care

ers

So, what’s stopping you? • Shyness or

embarrassment?• Fear of failure?• Making a fool of

yourself?• Moral objections?• Lack of confidence?• Lack of contacts?• Lack of time?• Don’t know how?• Something else?

London Closed Because of Snow by Lars Ploughmanflickr.com/photos/75062596@N00/3246533121/

Learning from others

In pairs:

Tell your partner about a person that you think is good at networking.

What do they do and how does this add to their success?

Report back in to whole group

29

Care

ers

Resources• Networking for Introverts: http://

www.slideshare.net/sachac/the-shy-connector• Personal Networking: how to make connections count,

Mike Cope, Pearson Education, 2003• Vault Guide to Schmoozing, Mercer Lerner, Ed Shen, Mark

Oldman, Hussan Hamadeh, Vault 2002• Networking for job search and Career Success, L Michelle

Tullier, PhD, JIST works, 2004• www.quintcareers.com/networking.html• http://www.slideshare.net/neilfws/what-can-science-netw

orking-online-do-for-you-presentation• http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/advanced_search/r

esults?v:project=ezpubproj&render.function=xml-feed&sources=ezpub&query=networking

• http://academia-101.blogspot.com/2006/03/networking-and-other-academic-hobbies.html

• http://aclinks.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/networking-on-the-network/