Networking is essential for your professional career. It helps you build a relationship with leaders from multiple industries, helping you climb the ladder of success. Since it is so necessary for your career, you should know how to do networking. Yet, people are intimidated by networking and avoid taking the first step. They even forego going to networking events, which not only builds their career but also aids in building a good personal relationships.
If you are intimidated by networking too, here are a few effective tips to keep in mind.
Tip 1: Prepare
Networking opportunities can be present anytime. Therefore, you need to be prepared for the same. That means always having a virtual business card and a digital resume. Before you present any business card or resume to others, ensure that you proofread the same. Otherwise, it can be embarrassing when you share them, and there are mistakes on the same.
If you know you have a networking event to attend, you should prepare beforehand. That means:
Checking your business card, resume, and other things for a mistake
Ensuring you wear the right clothes
Doing background research on the people coming to the event, amongst other things.
Tip 2: Ask questions and be ready to listen
Networking is about building relationships, and you cannot build relationships without starting or having a conversation. That will require you to ask questions and build the conversations based on the answers. Also, when someone answers your questions, don’t stop them in the middle. You also have to listen to them and appreciate what they are saying. If you only talk and don’t listen, the other person will lose interest in what you have to say, and networking with them will be out of the question.
Tip 3: Always follow up with the people you connect with
Networking is also about building rapport because you may not need the help of your connection now, but you might later. And it will be embarrassing to just ask them for help out of the blue when you haven’t been keeping up a relationship with them. Thus, every year, find two or three opportunities to connect with them. For instance, if you talked about a certain topic or industry, and you come across an article with interesting deets, you can share the link with them. It allows you to keep in touch and build a great connection with them.
Tip 4: Don’t forget to express gratitude
Expressing gratitude is necessary because you don’t want a superficial connection. Networking is also about making a genuine and caring connection. That means expressing gratitude to the other person when they share something useful with you. Or sharing things with them benefiting them.
Some of these tips may sound basic, yet they can help you get the best results. Networking means connection and without good connections, having a great career is out of the question. Try these tips and share other tricks which worked best for you.
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