Networking is a key part of obtaining your first job after graduation. You connect with company recruiters, university alumni, and your peers and classmates to build a vast community of connections. You exchange business cards, connect on LinkedIn, and fill your phone with contacts so that you can reach out to any person at any time. As a result, you land your first consulting job. Congratulations, you did it! But does this mean your stop networking?
Absolutely not.
Networking is a lifelong activity, and you should be working on it every week. However, the nature, process, and purpose of it differs at various stages in your career. The purpose of this blog is to identify a few places where continued networking is important as well as for the best ways to do it.
1. Networking to Meet Clients
If you are a consultant, then chances are your business requires clients. Whether you work for MBB or a boutique firm, you make money by charging a client for hours worked on a project. Once one project ends, another one needs to begin; thus, new clients are needed all the time. To do so, a consultant should aim to build up their network so they can constantly bring in new work.
There are many ways to network with potential clients. Obviously, you want to keep your online profiles up to date, including your LinkedIn Profile and your company page, but you can take this a step further. Attending national or international conferences, large industry meetings, and other multidisciplinary events will allow access to companies and clients for you to talk to there. Bring your business cards and just talk to as many people as possible. To really land clients, follow up with those you talked to afterwards, and try to take them out to lunch or drinks.
2. Networking to Meet Future Employers
Sometimes the first job you accept is also the last one – as you stay with one company until you retire. However, currently that is not the case. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average person will hold 12 jobs throughout their lifetime. Thus, you may want to build up your network of future employers so that you are prepared at any time to move on. This means you want to keep your current job title and description up to date online as well as keeping your resume polished.
To build your network, hand out your business cards to recruiters at conferences and meetings, so that they may contact you if there is a good opening for you. Keep close contact with former classmates, colleagues, and managers, as they can alert you to potential new opportunities when they arise. Finally, as a consultant, always strive to provide the client with your best work; sometimes clients can hire away consultants for a full-time position. You never know when you may need that next opportunity but having multiple options in your back pocket gives you peace of mind.
3. Networking to Meet Future Employees
While networking is very important for you as a consultant (gaining clients, securing a future job), sometimes it can also be used for the benefit of your firm. If you recruit a strong candidate to join your team or department, you could see overall improvements to your firm. Alternatively, hiring a weak candidate could make your job more stressful, so you want to make sure you always have access to high quality potential hires.
One way to build out this network is to use your alumni connections. Whether its your undergraduate institution, your fraternity or sorority, an academic society, or even a previous job, keep a good list of previous connections you have made. In addition to existing connections, you can meet new people by attending alumni events or conferences for the groups mentioned above. Your shared background provides a great connection to start a conversation with them. These are the types of events to meet and recruit stellar students or consultants to try to bring into your firm.
4. Networking to Make Other Lifestyle Improvements
Finally, lets step out of the office for this one. Networking can be used to make other improvements to your life that have nothing to do with your current or future job. Meeting an accountant at a bar can lead to tax advice and assistance later down the road. Grabbing dinner with realtors might open future opportunities for owning condos or properties. When you visit the gym, network with trainers or dieticians for health and wellness improvements. Network with as many people in useful careers as possible, as it has the potential to benefit all facets of your life.
Growing this network is a bit different than the others. You might already have some of these connections with your family, friends, and coworkers. To add to this network, make a point to introduce yourself to everyone at events you attend such as dinners and socials. When engaging in discussion with someone new, talk about careers and ideas, not simply sports scores and viral videos. Make many conversations and make them count.
The Bottom Line
A very popular saying is that “your network is your net worth”. While this process is important in landing your first job right out of school, it is also a lifelong activity. Utilize your connection building skills to bring in new clients to your consulting firm, so you can improve your career and your work product. Branch out to recruiters and hiring managers to give yourself back up job options or new opportunities when you want to pivot. Attend alumni events to find potential new hires with similar skills and backgrounds to your own. Finally, be willing to include any and every career in your network, for you never known when a certain connection will come in handy. Every member of your community has a value, so when you sum it all together, a strong network really does increase you net worth, and you should build it up every single day.
Ricky Hollenbach is a Thermal Sciences Associate at Exponent Scientific and Engineering Consulting. He solves problems in the thermal-fluids, heat transfer, and turbomachinery disciplines. He earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Duke University.
Image: Pexels
🔴 Interested in consulting?