How networking has helped make me successful in my new role – Dave’s story

“Networking has helped make me successful in my new role,” explains Dave, “It has given my manager visibility of the work I do, made it easier to do my job, and is opening the door for future job opportunities. I am connected to colleagues and people know about the work I am doing.”

Dave is one of my clients, he is in his mid-fifties and was made redundant from an engineering role. I helped him find a role in a large corporate organisation in a shared service team in 2016.

Dave like most people doesn’t like networking and has plenty of reasons why he doesn’t want to network. If you don’t network you will be making your job more difficult because you are handicapping your chance to connect with people.

“Networking has helped make me successful because it has made my work visible”

In large organisations it is difficult for your manager to know what work you are doing. Judging the success of someone in a corporate role is often very subjective. The success indicator manages use more than any other is stakeholders speaking highly of you. Dave shares: “Networking has helped make me successful because it has made my work visible.”

Just this week his boss returned from a meeting of senior leaders, from different business units, who were singing his praises. His boss made a point of saying that when they were introduced to her, they made a point of talking about him and work he has been doing for them.

This is awesome!

As a result, his manager is aware of the work he is doing which will help him with promotions and getting his bonus.

Networking should be an easy part of your job

Dave received this praise because he did a great job for these stakeholders. He followed the three secrets to making networking easy:

1. Talked to lots of people
2. Took a genuine interest in them
3. Delivered on what he said he would do

Because he networked his boss is aware of what he has been doing.

Networking isn’t about being fake. Networking isn’t about going to awkward drinks evenings with people looking for jobs. Networking is about building connections with people, listening to them and doing what you said you would do.

Networking should naturally flow from doing a job well. That’s what Dave has done.

The my career habit difference

The my career habit networking difference, is to make building your networking a high priority from day one in your job. In our 100 day new job plan, networking is a key area to work on to have an immediate and long term pay off for you in your role.

Too often, professionals hide away from networking and being visible. They assume their role is judged just by the work they do. Organisations don’t work like that, the work is the people and the connections between them.

Dave’s add-on to take networking to the next level

Not only has Dave been doing a great job for his stakeholders, he has also been building connections with other shared services teams.

“I walked by one of the large meeting rooms and saw the finance business partners all in there. I popped my head in and said hello to everyone. I remembered their names and was able to ask personal questions, how was their dog doing, how was the holiday.”

Dave is doing a brilliant job of networking to make his job work for him and achieving his career goals.

Find out the 3 essentials to being a good networker and why networking is the key to achieving your career goals.