Networking is one of the most trite terms floating around right now, mostly due to social networking sites exploding. There is myspace, facebook, twitter, linked in etc etc. As much as I hate to use the word, its one of the most important things you can do for your career and your life. So lets dive in.

The first thing to understand is that every where you go, you are networking. Networking is simply this: building relationships. I know that kind of sounds weird…well, am I networking when I go to the store to buy groceries? Potentially, yes. The other day I was at Albertsons buying some groceries. I don’t normally buy any groceries at Albertsons because its not near my house, and its not near my girlfriends house. I went to the back to buy some tilapia and struck up a conversation with the guy working the seafood counter. Even though I knew I was going to get tilapia I asked him what his favorite fish was and how he liked to cook it. I told him I was going to get some tilapia because I like less “fishy” fish at which point he told me “Oh you’ve got to try this shark!” I said thanks for the recommendation but it was kind of expensive so Id just stick to the tilapia…so he said “well, we are having this special and shark isn’t included, but Ill toss it in for you, you’ve gotta try it!” So I went home with some shark instead.

Now take that and dissect it. Networking is about learning things about other people. You are doing yourself a major disservice if you do all the talking when you meet someone. People have had great experiences and everyone has some sort of wisdom that they have gained. The vast majority of people are dying to share their wisdom and expertise with you and help you in any way they can, provided you are actually building a relationship with them and are interested in what they have to say.

Networking in person
What you want to do is ask questions to learn about the person. The truth is for anyone in the world there is some sort of common ground. The real key is listening to what they say because you can then build on that to ask another question. Most of us do this naturally in everyday conversation when we are interested in what someone is saying but sometimes you have really make yourself focus.

Applying this at work
For some reason most of us have divided what we do for work and what we do daily into different buckets. This is fine for some things but when it comes to networking we should be doing the exact same things. For instance my talk at the grocery store was just natural, yet these kinds of things don’t necessarily happen at work – especially in large corporations. Get to know the people you work around…don’t think of it as “networking” so much as connecting and finding common ground with people. Talk and get to know them, just like you would meeting a friend of a friend for the first time. The trick is breaking through the “work” layer when you are networking into the “personal” layer.
What is the payoff?
Luckily I have a story about this as well. When I was 16 I started working at Hewlett Packard doing web design for an internal web page and ordering office supplies. I was outgoing and got to know all of the people around me. Now fast forward 7 years. I am working for my current company and someone from my old team called me because they heard a position was opening and a lady I knew from all those years ago was the hiring manager. As it turns out the job req was already closed and they had all the candidates they needed. All of which were people with MASTERS degrees (I have a Bachelors). Well, the lady recognized me and brought me in to interview anyway….skipping the first two screening interviews. I got the job. Now, in the end, I did not take the job and decided to stay at my current company but look at what it can do for you. If I had not been so proactive in networking all those years ago I could never have had an opportunity just get handed to me like that.

No matter what you are doing or where you are, always keep in the back of your mind exactly how powerful networking is.

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