{"id":58219,"date":"2024-05-17T12:58:14","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T12:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"\/aa8iae7\/professional-networking-video\/"},"modified":"2024-05-17T12:58:14","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T12:58:14","slug":"professional-networking-video","status":"publish","type":"product-content","link":"https:\/\/www.mindtools.com\/aa8iae7\/professional-networking-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Your Professional Network"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ew-video\" data-videosource=\"embed\" data-videotranscriptkey=\"transcript-986cecec-bc7a-4cc4-b750-7454ad3d64fd.txt\"><div class=\"ew-video-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"360\" scrolling=\"auto\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.jwplayer.com\/players\/Obtke3un-5WSyalpf.html\" title=\"Professional Networking\" width=\"640\"><\/iframe><\/div><a class=\"ew-video-transcript\" href=\"https:\/\/nova-live-content.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/public\/transcript-986cecec-bc7a-4cc4-b750-7454ad3d64fd.txt\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Download transcript<\/a><\/div><p>Welcome to Mind Tools&#8217; video learning series.<\/p><p>How often have you heard people say, &#8220;It&#8217;s not what you know, it&#8217;s who you know that counts&#8221;?<\/p><p>Well, that&#8217;s doubly true in business! The better your professional network, the more likely you are to succeed. But, if the word &#8220;networking&#8221; sends chills down your spine, you\u2019re definitely not alone!<\/p><p>With confidence and practice, professional networking is a great way to share knowledge and contacts among your peers. And it can create exciting new opportunities for projects, collaboration and career development.<\/p><p>Here are six steps to help you build an effective professional network.<\/p><p>First, <strong>write down your objectives<\/strong> \u2013 these are the things you want to achieve, like <a class=\"ew-link\" data-url=\"\/abpk6sg\/information-gathering\" href=\"\/abpk6sg\/information-gathering\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">finding specific information<\/a> or building a network of specialist contacts.<\/p><p>Keep these goals in mind as you move through the next steps.<\/p><p>Next, <strong>decide what you have to offer<\/strong> \u2013 what knowledge, skills and insights do you have that other people might find useful?<\/p><p>Next, <strong>map your network<\/strong>. You can do this by listing the professional contacts that you already have, along with any that you&#8217;d like to have.<\/p><p>These can be people that you work with, former co-workers and clients, business contacts, and anyone in the professional organizations and voluntary groups that you belong to.<\/p><p>Then, <a class=\"ew-link\" data-url=\"\/afv9hac\/gap-analysis\" href=\"\/afv9hac\/gap-analysis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">identify any gaps<\/a>. Ask yourself: will your network make the most of what you have to offer? Will it help you to meet your objectives? Or, do you need to widen your list of contacts?<\/p><p>Now, you can start to <strong>plan your networking actions<\/strong>.<\/p><p>Be ready to talk about what you do, what your organization does, and what you&#8217;re interested in learning from face-to-face situations.<\/p><p>Also, think about how you could use social media to connect with people with similar interests and experience. As you make more contacts, try to act as a &#8220;hub&#8221; \u2013 someone who people from different networks will turn to.\u202f<\/p><p><a class=\"ew-link\" data-url=\"\/a9f9kqi\/building-rapport\" href=\"\/a9f9kqi\/building-rapport\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Building rapport<\/a> is the key to making this happen. And balancing conversations between what you have to offer and what you\u2019d like to achieve will help you to sustain those contacts.<\/p><p>To learn more about Professional Networking, <a class=\"ew-link\" data-url=\"\/aany5dn\/professional-networking\" href=\"\/aany5dn\/professional-networking\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">see the article<\/a> that accompanies this video.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Improve your networking skills, gain new professional contacts, and boost your career with these six simple strategies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"product-content-category":[7060],"product-content-type":[2592],"reading-time":[5124],"class_list":["post-58219","product-content","type-product-content","status-publish","hentry","product-content-category-networking","product-content-type-video","reading-time-2-minutes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - 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