Networking to get ahead

Date: 25 October 2009

Learn to make the most of networks - Sally Jones offers some tips on how they can help you get ahead

For many of us, networking, either online or face-to-face, has an image of friendless loners sitting around clutching glasses of warm white wine and swapping business cards with other sad losers. The endless e-twaddle posted on Twitter or Facebook and the self-congratulatory tone of many profiles on business networking sites such as Linked In can induce a rush of shyness in the most aggressive self-publicist. My own reaction had always been “None of your goddamn business” when passionate networkers nagged me to update my profile or attend power breakfasts in Midlands hotels.

Some options seem more fun than others. Edgbaston Priory tennis club in Birmingham runs a Business Breakfast club where networkers enjoy a few hard sets one morning a week and then swap cards, anecdotes and recommendations over coffee and croissants. The sparky Millipod online newsletter at Faversham in Kent carries everything from local job offers and flat shares to pensions advice and jokes. (Heard the one about the family called Pallas who named their children Buckingham, Blenheim and Crystal? Thought not.)

So why the growing popularity of networking techniques and can they really help people find another job or build a business after redundancy?

Networking expert Andy Lopata, former managing director of Business Referral Exchange, is convinced that networking has a huge range of applications but falls down when would-be networkers lack clarity and focus and can’t spell out their skills and needs.

“Social media like Linked In are effective if you use them properly,” he said, “but nothing beats seeing the whites of someone’s eyes to get to know them.”

He has the following advice for people using these sorts of sites. Get your profile absolutely right. It’s your window on the world and must sell your skills and explain how you can help people. Then go out and connect with those you like and trust, and include them on your network. Be selective. Ask for recommendations from business colleagues: not whether you are a nice guy but your business qualities, so if a possible employer looks at endorsements, these should encourage him to offer you a job. Target companies and people you want to work for. Look at the networks of people in your network and if you find they know people you want to talk to, ask for an introduction. Some 70%-80% of jobs are filled by recommendation or referral so before jobs are advertised most employers know who they are after. Make sure you’re on that list.

Steve Sutherland, former finance director of struggling Charlton Athletic, was made redundant in May, but had already employed classic networking techniques to parlay his way to a lucrative new portfolio career.

“When I realised last season would be difficult, I made a point of going to all the away games to pick up on old relationships with people in other clubs,” he said. “I e-mailed everyone I knew in my last two weeks at Charlton to say I was going freelance and ask if could I help them. Within a fortnight I had done several football sponsorship deals and started working with Greenwich council on its Olympic sponsorship strategy and as commercial consultant to the Amateur Boxing Association to maximise its commercial opportunities in 2012.” Rory Murray, who writes an influential blog on his website Returnon relationships.net and trains networkers alongside his main job as an IT consultant, believes many brilliant technicians can boost their careers with a better grasp of self-promotion through networking.

“Firms’ best assets often lack social skills and are dreadful at promoting themselves,” he said. “One stupendously clever guy who created sophisticated information networks at BT never managed to put across what he did. He was virtually invisible to the senior management and therefore a prime candidate for the sack.

“I encouraged him to describe his work as like someone designing the motorway and road network to get the traffic round Britain. The penny dropped and suddenly he could explain his real skills. He went from the verge of redundancy to someone they couldn’t get rid of.”

So what is the best advice to anyone facing the sack or simply anxious in uncertain times?

“My watchwords are ‘Make friends when you can, not when you need them’,” said Lopata, “and ‘give without remembering, receive without forgetting’. It makes ethical and business sense.”

Village champions needed to revive rural business

THE BBC and the Big Lottery Fund have launched Village SOS, an initiative that is challenging villages across Britain to come up with ideas for business in their area.

Whatever the project, whether it is to set up a business online, in the arts or in tourism, the Village SOS scheme aims to revive commerce and create jobs in rural Britain. Grants of up to £400,000 will be offered to six villages.

But these villages will not have to do it alone. In conjunction with the enterprise charity Make Your Mark, the BBC is searching for six budding entrepreneurs, so-called “village champions”, to lead the businesses.

Starting in May 2010, each village champion will receive a salary of £30,000 to work full-time with one of these rural businesses for a minimum of one year. Village SOS will be filmed every step of the way for a television series for BBC 1.