You’ve probably heard of networking as something you do or at least something you need to cultivate in order to advance your career and access the best opportunities.
Many people, especially those with experience in the world of entrepreneurship or active job search, know that other people are everything if you want to move forward and get that lucky break you need right now.
What exactly do we mean by networking?
Networking is nothing more than the process of building a network of mutual support among different individuals, usually within a professional context and with the expectation that this support will generate some benefit at work: getting a job, a recommendation, unlocking a decision, getting in touch with someone interesting or necessary…
Different levels of networking
Whether we understand it as a process or as a result, networking can have different levels of depth. For example, it can be based exclusively on a superficial “buddy-buddy” dynamic in the expectation of receiving a favor.
It can also become rarefied, becoming a strictly opportunistic or self-interested exchange of favors. On the other hand, what is desirable is that it can constitute a more solid structure of mutual support in which people cooperate and help each other (with expectations, of course, but also with generosity).
In this case, the network members consider each other more consciously and share the desire to promote and collaborate in developing each other.
Good networking is infinite
The network creates a network. That is, its nature is to expand. In this sense, part of the importance of having your network of contacts is that it is formed by your own (direct) contacts and also by the contacts of your contacts.
It is the “friends of my friends are my friends” that has been said all along but applied to networking with a professional objective.
And it works in all directions. That is why networks are made up of themselves but also of other networks that transcend them and that, even if they do not work on the front line, can be activated as long as a person knows how to touch the correct springs.
What are the advantages of networking?
1. Provides emotional support
Looking for a job, undertaking a business project, and facing a moment of transition at work (layoff, retirement, reorientation of objectives…) is never easy. However, it can be more bearable if we have the empathetic company of other individuals who help us interpret and experience our situation constructively.
2. Provides advice, information, and guidance
In the situations just mentioned, it is important to remember that four eyes see more than two… and multiply that by a few figures. No one has access to all possible knowledge, contacts, and ideas, which is why it is so useful to have people whose radars reach where ours cannot.
3. Facilitates access to other contacts
As mentioned, the nature of all networking is to expand. We may not know the exact person who can give us the crucial piece of information we need now… but we know someone who does know that person or at least might know that person.
Networking processes must be coherent, not a patchwork where people are mixed in an incongruent way, but we never know who will provide us with the perfect match: when in doubt, there is no one to spare in our network of contacts.
The importance of having a network of contacts
No one in life is capable of advancing alone. No one consistently achieves everything they have by themselves. In short, no one is the exclusive result of their own authenticity and originality. All human beings are social, group, and relational creatures. This means that we define ourselves, develop and survive our environment in the context of multiple relationships with many other human beings.
We need others in every aspect of our lives, from the beginning to the end. Therefore, the importance of having a network of contacts, if not powerful, at least sufficient, is crucial to succeed in our professional life.
Therefore, building that network through a proper networking strategy is one of the most important tools for professional development: when we are looking for a job, when we are immersed in the process of entrepreneurship, or when we want to improve or move up professionally, either inside or outside our current company.
We hope you found this post about networking interesting. If you want more information about ifeel’s emotional well-being service for companies, simply request it, and we will get in touch with your team as soon as possible.
