And what helps you to grow in your career? Is it knowledge, skills or attitude? Of course all three of them, but the chances become better if you have good network of influential people.
What is "networking"?
Networking is by no means 'buttering others'. Networking for career development is connecting with people who can aid your growth. Ideally, networking is developing relations which can be mutually beneficial. Networking is about developing professional connections but it's by no means an alternative to knowledge, skills or hard work. It's in fact complementing your strengths and creating positive results for your professional growth.
Thus, it's very important for young graduates to learn how to network for their career. Now, you must be thinking if this is the case, then how do you network? Who do you network with? When to network and where to network?
You can network in your college, at seminars, during internships or even on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Similarly, you can network with your college principal, your faculty, internship supervisor or your relatives. Each one of them can help you substantially in your career growth.
These days, good colleges have faculties from industry who are working at some decision making capacity, and for them offering a job to someone who is actually very skillful isn't a difficult task. Similarly, your college principal may write a recommendation letter for you and his positive remarks may offer you career growth. These are simply some examples of how you can network with people and develop professional connections.
Especially as students, during internships you have a great opportunity to connect with various influential people by presenting them your internship report, or by presenting your research paper, etc. Some smart graduates even go to the extent of asking their supervisor to allow them to work on certain projects without financial rewards. For them, it's a way to show their desire and ambitions and eventually network to impress them by being different.
On this note, here are some tips for you to improve your networking skills:
1) Be proactive: Don't wait for others to speak with you, take the first lead of introducing yourself. If there's a reason to extend your communication, then do so. But make sure you don't bore the other person, and be crisp and move on.
2) Dress professionally: Your dress is your external impression. In fact, it's your first impression. If you dress well, people will give you more attention, and they will most probably want to network with you, too.
3) Be outspoken and participative: Go out, attend trainings, and participate in talk shows, volunteer. Don't wait for your friend to join you, you take your call.
4) Use good language: Use professional language. Extend respect to seniors, pay attention to your body language, and listen carefully to what others have to say.
5) Don't overdo: This is where many people make mistakes. Don't overdo any of the above. Stay within your limits and impress others.
Networking is a very important skill. However, it isn't something which is taught in colleges, and you must ensure that you learn networking skills to influence others and progress in your career.
Now go start networking.
The author is Chief Operating Officer at LCCI Nepal, an international training and certification company. He can be reached at roshan@lccinepal.com.
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