BOLD Mark
Active Member
“Networking” sometimes is a concept that is misunderstood by many young adults, including people with unique abilities or learning differences. By “networking,” I mean reaching out to people that you may be acquainted with or that may be friends, neighbors, relatives, or business contacts of other people you know in order to have them assist you with a project, a job possibility, information-gathering, or other task that is timely and important to you.
Perhaps because it involves so many variables (Will the person know who I am? Will she be in a good mood to talk if I call her? Will he be angry I am taking up their time? etc. ) that might be things they are dealing with for the first time in such a way, I have had many folks express severe dis-inclinations to even try networking, and instead employ a different, often more difficult and less efficient route to get a result that may well not be as desirable, such as sending a cover letter and resume to a third person without a boost or helpful nod from a person who might be able to help with an introduction.
The thing about networking that is sometimes not grasped by people with no experience doing it is that it’s a compliment to the person you are asking to help you, and, done tastefully, it helps their reputation and image of connectedness with others. It’s also something that usually takes very little time and effort, and is often just a task that someone is glad to do in order to help another person out, knowing full well that they themselves have probably networked in the past and that they may be doing it again in the future, perhaps with people involved in your networking inquiry or others than these people might have contact with. On the “burden vs benefit” scale, it’s a small, reasonable burden against massive and untold possible benefits, and it also normally makes people feel good to help others out, and they know they have a favor or two banked in the game of life, which can take odd and unexpected turns sometimes.
One thing that helps people with early networking efforts is figuring out how best to contact a person they are attempting to network through, and helping them with the email draft, phone call script, or live conversation that they will undertake. No matter what medium it will take place through, having a quick and cogent main idea (I’ve also explained it as a “thesis statement” when comparing it to an essay need, something they may be more immediately familiar with) to let the person they are contacting quickly be able to understand what they are hoping for is always a good idea. This also helps the client think through what it is precisely that they want…is it just an email address, or is it an introductory email that they can follow up with? In most cases, the more the better, but this can vary.
Also helpful is practicing the “small talk” that can go on in a personal conversation or email, possibly reminding the person you are reaching out to who you are and how they know you, or, if you have never met, establishing that you are a friend of a friend/relative that has mentioned them. Better yet, having the contact set up a group email or meeting. For an email, helping establish this in a written draft is normally pretty easy, and for calls, having this written up as a script or in a few different sentence bites that they can use is also good. Writing it down along with things like “wait for answer” and a flow chart of possible follow-up sentences also helps prevent talking too much or getting off on tangents that might hurt the outreach and confuse the matter.
Helping people make a list of people they know, encouraging them to ask parents/family members/friends about possible contacts they have in various potentially helpful positions, or helping them with internet searches for people that might be able to assist them is often a way to help the client think more broadly about potential networking targets. Often, clients may not understand that even “a slim reed” can be used for networking; it does not have to be a tight and deep connection in order to ask someone to help you network. Adding some reasonable creativity and vigor to putting together a networking list is something that an outside mentor or coach can help with, and when the client realizes that the list of people they could reach out to is longer than they might expect, it can be a step in the right direction regarding belief in giving networking a try!
So, explaining networking as a benefit rather than a burden to people you ask for a favor, lessening the variables, choosing the most comfortable way of outreach, scripting it out, anticipating the small talk needs, practicing via role-playing, and emphasizing the need for a thank-you (handwritten note preferred) are all parts of helping people get used to networking, a skill that will pay dividends throughout life and one that gets easier as you do it.
Perhaps because it involves so many variables (Will the person know who I am? Will she be in a good mood to talk if I call her? Will he be angry I am taking up their time? etc. ) that might be things they are dealing with for the first time in such a way, I have had many folks express severe dis-inclinations to even try networking, and instead employ a different, often more difficult and less efficient route to get a result that may well not be as desirable, such as sending a cover letter and resume to a third person without a boost or helpful nod from a person who might be able to help with an introduction.
The thing about networking that is sometimes not grasped by people with no experience doing it is that it’s a compliment to the person you are asking to help you, and, done tastefully, it helps their reputation and image of connectedness with others. It’s also something that usually takes very little time and effort, and is often just a task that someone is glad to do in order to help another person out, knowing full well that they themselves have probably networked in the past and that they may be doing it again in the future, perhaps with people involved in your networking inquiry or others than these people might have contact with. On the “burden vs benefit” scale, it’s a small, reasonable burden against massive and untold possible benefits, and it also normally makes people feel good to help others out, and they know they have a favor or two banked in the game of life, which can take odd and unexpected turns sometimes.
One thing that helps people with early networking efforts is figuring out how best to contact a person they are attempting to network through, and helping them with the email draft, phone call script, or live conversation that they will undertake. No matter what medium it will take place through, having a quick and cogent main idea (I’ve also explained it as a “thesis statement” when comparing it to an essay need, something they may be more immediately familiar with) to let the person they are contacting quickly be able to understand what they are hoping for is always a good idea. This also helps the client think through what it is precisely that they want…is it just an email address, or is it an introductory email that they can follow up with? In most cases, the more the better, but this can vary.
Also helpful is practicing the “small talk” that can go on in a personal conversation or email, possibly reminding the person you are reaching out to who you are and how they know you, or, if you have never met, establishing that you are a friend of a friend/relative that has mentioned them. Better yet, having the contact set up a group email or meeting. For an email, helping establish this in a written draft is normally pretty easy, and for calls, having this written up as a script or in a few different sentence bites that they can use is also good. Writing it down along with things like “wait for answer” and a flow chart of possible follow-up sentences also helps prevent talking too much or getting off on tangents that might hurt the outreach and confuse the matter.
Helping people make a list of people they know, encouraging them to ask parents/family members/friends about possible contacts they have in various potentially helpful positions, or helping them with internet searches for people that might be able to assist them is often a way to help the client think more broadly about potential networking targets. Often, clients may not understand that even “a slim reed” can be used for networking; it does not have to be a tight and deep connection in order to ask someone to help you network. Adding some reasonable creativity and vigor to putting together a networking list is something that an outside mentor or coach can help with, and when the client realizes that the list of people they could reach out to is longer than they might expect, it can be a step in the right direction regarding belief in giving networking a try!
So, explaining networking as a benefit rather than a burden to people you ask for a favor, lessening the variables, choosing the most comfortable way of outreach, scripting it out, anticipating the small talk needs, practicing via role-playing, and emphasizing the need for a thank-you (handwritten note preferred) are all parts of helping people get used to networking, a skill that will pay dividends throughout life and one that gets easier as you do it.
