I have a good friend who I worked with when I was at the Indiana State Department of Health a few years ago.
“I have never had to apply for a job since my first one,” he told me. “I’ve been asked to come work for my new employer every time.”
Michael was in his late 40s at the time. I was staggered by what that actually meant: he had networked his way into every single job he had held since he was 26. No job search, no cattle calls at Monster.com or CareerBuilder.com, no mailing out résumés. He got his job based on who he knew, not based on killing hundreds of trees to put his résumé into the hands of people he didn’t know.
I’m surprised at the number of people, especially those in corporations, who look down on networking as “the thing the sales guys do” or “that’s just for marketing.” They think it’s unimportant, that everything they need for their job and personal development are found under one roof.
Then the bottom falls out, and they’re suddenly unemployed.
“Not a problem,” they think. “I’ll just reach out to my vast network and something will come up for me.”
Problem is, their vast network turns out to be all their Mafia Wars friends on Facebook, and their former colleagues at their last job.
Uh-oh.
“What about Bill?” they think. “He got a new job not too long ago. I’ll call him.”
Problem is, “not too long ago” turned out to be three years ago, and you can’t even find his phone number.
“Oh crap, I need to start networking,” they think. They start hitting LinkedIn and Smaller Indiana in a panic, trying to reach out to people they met at a conference last year and never kept in touch with, hoping to find that important, high-paying job they need.
That’s when they realize, the time to start networking was a year or two ago, not the day after they lose your job.
Most small business owners and entrepreneurs get this. They’re handling the sales, marketing, HR, finance, bookkeeping, and R&D function of their company, and networking is one of those things that are automatically understood. They attend the networking events and organizations, like Rainmakers, that will make a difference in their business.
But it seems that most of corporate America hasn’t gotten the message that you’re only as good as the people you surround yourself with. And if the only people you’re surrounding yourself with are from work, you’re never going to rise above that level of performance.
If you want to grow personally and professionally, you need to meet other people from other companies, in other industries, and even in other careers. Step outside your comfort zone, leave your cubicle or your office, just once a month, and see who else is out there. See if there are other people in your profession or your area who can make a valuable contribution to your growth and development.
Find a networking organization, like Confluence, you can be a part of, even if it’s only once a month for a couple hours at a time. (Full disclosure: I’m the president of Confluence.) Join the board of a nonprofit organization, and rub elbows with other high-powered corporate professionals. Volunteer with a community group. Join a trade association for your profession. Or join one for the profession you’d like to have.
Otherwise, you’re going to find yourself in need of a vast network of friends and professional colleagues, and you’ll realize that you’re going to spend the next several months building that network, instead of actually using it.
And by then, it will be too late.
About Erik Deckers
