How to Network No Matter Where You Are in Your Career

Having trouble finding a new job, feeling like your career has stalled or lacking connections with other professionals? Consider networking.

No matter where you are in your career, whether you are just entering the job market, or are further along into your profession, networking can help make connections and spark passion within a career interest or industry. Networking can also go a long way when finding a new job. Zippia found that a whopping 85% of jobs are found via networking with personal and professional connections. If you aren’t ready for a new role, don’t count networking out, as it is also a great way to help advance your career. Zippia also found out that 79% of American professionals cite networking as playing a vital role in their career progression.

Read this article to learn more about networking and its best practices.

Utilize LinkedIn

With a reported 930 million members in more than 200 countries, LinkedIn is a great way to find other professionals in the same field and connect with both current and past colleagues.

The first thing a professional can do when using LinkedIn is to make sure that their personal profile is fully built out. This includes adding all work experience, providing public contact information, adding a professional headshot, creating a succinct introduction and adding skills/certifications. By including all this information, users may create an optimized profile. This will allow other people on the platform to know that it is a real profile and help them be confident in sending it a connection request.

Possessing a strong number of connections is also a great way to get the most out of LinkedIn. Connections are “friend requests” in a professional sense, where different types of content can be viewed that other connection share. After connecting, users are also able to reach out to other connections via direct messaging. Consider sending friend requests to co-workers, peers from school, professors, members of local communities and other professionals that share the same career space.

Here are some more tips on how to utilize LinkedIn to its full potential:

• Join LinkedIn groups
• Share and post relevant content
• Explore job pages
• Follow well-known brands
• Give and request recommendations from other connections

LinkedIn is a great tool for modern-day networking no matter where someone is in their career.

Reach Out to Former Colleagues and Managers

Sending connection requests to previous colleagues on LinkedIn is an easy step, but actually taking the time to reach out and engage in a conversation takes some effort. It may be difficult for a professional to figure out the best way to start a conversation with a former co-worker that may have been from many years ago. However, networking often requires someone to make the first move.

The best way to start a message is to be friendly, but also be direct about the intent of the message. Consider reaching out on LinkedIn, connecting via phone or sending a brief email.

Here is an example of a message that can be sent to an old co-worker when looking for a new role:

Hello {Name},

How are you doing? I hope you have been doing well!

As you may know, I have been working at {Company Name} for the past {Number} years. While I have gained new experience, I am now looking for a new position. I was wondering if you had any leads on positions that are hiring at {Name of Their Company}?

Any information would be greatly appreciated, and I look forward to talking soon.

Best,

{Your Name}

{Email}

Reaching out with this type of messaging allows for a personal approach and lets them know directly what the sender is looking for.

While reaching out to an old colleague may be nerve-wracking, reaching out to a former manager might even be more anxiety-inducing for some. Just like reaching out to an old colleague, the sender needs to make sure that the message is welcoming and is direct to the point with what they are trying to achieve with the message.

Here is an example that can be used to reach out to a previous manager for a recommendation:

Hello {Name},

How are you doing? I hope you have been doing well!

It has been great seeing all the work that has been done at {Their Company Name}.

As you may know, I have been working at {Company Name} for the past {Number} years. While I have gained new experience, I am now looking for a new position.

I was wondering if you would be willing to write me a recommendation for a new position that I am interested in. Also, would you be comfortable if I included your name and contact information on my resume?

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best,

{Your Name}

{Email}

No matter what the goal of reaching out is, keeping connections with former colleagues is very beneficial. Career professionals at all levels should consider reaching out to former teammates to check in.

Attend Professional Development Events

Networking is all about professionals putting themselves out there to make relationships with others in their field, whether it be in-person or virtually. This is all done through effective communication and messaging, which may not be a strong suit for all professionals.

When networking, it is near impossible to control the situation, but there are many ways to prepare beforehand. Here are some quick tips when attending an in-person networking event:

• Dress professionally
• Bring business cards with current contact information
• Truly listen to other attendees
• Have an effective introduction
• Don’t fluff responses, get to the point

So how does one attend these types of networking events that relate to their profession?

For example, if a mechanical engineer that works in the pre-cast concrete industry is looking for ways to connect and network with fellow professionals face-to-face. A solution to this would be to simply search terms like “mechanical engineer conference”, “pre-cast concrete exhibitions”, and “engineering networking events near me.” One of the many great things about these types of events is that while a lot of them take place at convention centers around the world, many are also hosted virtually which can be extremely beneficial for remote workers and anyone who is unable to make it to a certain physical location.

Many companies also allocate funds to send their employees to these types of events to not only network, but to also improve their overall career development. Consider taking advantage of these programs to meet new people and gain valuable insights about professional industries.

Join a Professional Group

Just like joining clubs in school, there are thousands of professional groups that workers can join no matter where they are in their career.

For professionals at all levels, there are groups specific to industry and profession. A great example is the National Society for Professional Engineers (NSPE). This is a group dedicated to networking and advocating for engineers across the world. They offer discount rates for recent college grads and can be a great resource to meet others in the industry.

There are also professional groups that cater to C-suite executives. Many groups have been formed for executives to meet others in the business to talk about business ventures, experiences, the general state of the industry and more. For example, Chief is a C-suite executive group that was formed to let female CEOs have an open space to talk about their experiences in the space and have an open conversation about the struggles they face as a woman in leadership.

Professionals should consider their areas of interest and explore groups that might be beneficial to advancing their career. Individuals can find both local and national professional groups for any type of role or industry that they are in.

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Networking is a powerful tool and when done right, it can help workers reach any professional goal in no time.

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