Help Wanted. Help Given. Through Networking.

You cannot be serious about your career and not have some sense of commitment to "Networking". You can read all about it in every career advice book -> go out there and start building your network!! You can join services like LinkedIn and receive notifications/prompts on how to better promote your profile and other tips on building your professional network. I myself am a big fan and proponent of Networking. I do agree that it is a critical tool in building and managing your career.

However, there is one curious thing about the way Networking is perceived and written about. It is almost always written from the point of view of the individual building their own connections in their specific industry. The goal of this exercise would be personal branding, business success, finding the next big job, etc. In other words, the primary goal is solely for the individual to advance in their career. I think this wrong. I think this only part of the power of Networking. The other real benefit is when you can leverage your network to help others. I wanted to share a real example of how I have seen this real benefit work in real life.

I often get calls from friends and colleagues who are looking for jobs. I am sure you get them too. My main practice back then was to call a colleague who I thought might have that exact job/desired role open. The downside of this approach was that I was limiting my search to a few people and "hoping" they had a role open. Not surprisingly, it did not have good results. Then, a couple years ago, I intersected with several colleagues who were in the market for new roles. I really wanted to help them. So, I changed my approach. I put my network to work for me:

• I contacted a broader list of colleagues in the same industry and offered to intro them to my contacts. I did not ask about a specific role. I simply recommend that this would be a great person for them to chat with.
• I focused more on "informational interviews" and less on specific jobs or positions. My goal here was to bring my job-hunting colleagues into my personal network and allow them to get to know each other and see if there was a "fit".
• I also tested out LinkedIn. I posted that I knew people looking for a new opportunity and to DM me if interested. Several folks in my network saw the post and contacted me.
• I did the same on Twitter. This also generated some interest and leads.
• I did some prep work with my job hunting colleagues. I spent time finding out what their desired role was, if relocation was an option, and other key questions. This better prepared me to handle the leads that came in from my network.

By adopting this new process, I started having some success in actually helping some of my colleagues find new roles and get hired (which is a great feeling!).

In conclusion, Networking is a powerful career tool. It can really help you achieve your personal career goals. But, it also has the bigger benefit of allowing you to help others. My experience has been helping with the job hunt. It has shown me a totally different side of Networking. One that can really help people. One that I hope to use more often and with more success.