Networking

We typically associate networking as politicing, asking for favours or (worse in the context of Malaysian politic) establishing cronyism.

As i observe around, there are various stages during our career which networking is a must.

A) Starting your career at the very first job
You are a nobody other than your academic credential. Unless you are the alumi of Harvard, Oxford or Cambridge, networking is needed to let people know about you, the new lad in town.

B) Springboard for the next job advancement
There is just one position ( the departmental head, the director post) but many candidates to fill up the role. How would the decision makers make the selection. My recruitment experience tells me that the refferal chat and a quick phone conversion with the previous employee or colleague of the same company will be the last check before making the decision to hire / promote or not.

C) Looking for a job after redundancy
Under this scenario, the person carry with him/her the 'pressure within'. Awkward to describe being unemployed, it is harder to breakout from the shell and start up any conversion.

At one stage of my career, i was offered a manager (regulator affairs position) which requires to be the advisor to the country presidents for the region. I was lucky enough to ask the predecessor about approaches when dealing with them. A mere manager, should i just be the soldier and only act upon when the commander instruct? The truth apparently was to treat them as just any friend whom can interact both ways. Typical icebreaker such as how does work his career to the position, how he or his family fits into the new country environment (as most of them are expats), etc. Once mindset change to a college with a expertise instead of boss-subordinate, even the presidents will refer to you as the person whom know better with regulatory matters.

A simple check before any networking is to ask the intention, who will be the person and do expect one time encounter will be sufficient.

From this article, STAR sharing (Situation, Task, Achievement, Result) is another great way to do soft selling of yourself.

End of the day, networking is just about social skill. Starts with hello and ends with thank you.