Networking 101: Building Connections

Develop a lifelong relationship building strategy to exchange information, stay on top of trends, and share your knowledge. Connecting with other people throughout your career and during career transitions is one of the best resources you have for professional success, a productive search, and strong mental health. Take advantage of the social networking resources available to you in order to connect with other alumni.

Identifying Potential Networking Contacts
Look among those you already know or know through someone close to you.

First, describe the kind of people you want on your target list.
  • List occupations or functions ______________________
  • List the industry ________________________________
  • List target companies or organizations ________________
  • Ask anyone who knows the above kinds of people and would be willing to refer you to them
List names, phone numbers and email addresses of people who meet the above criteria. Do this in less than an hour with one or two close friends or family members, using the brainstorming categories below. Use a laptop, phone book, personal address books and email contact lists to get the contact information.
  • Friends, Family: look at your holiday card lists, address books and email contact lists
  • Neighbors: current and past
  • Acquaintances: golf, swim, tennis, fitness center, club members, PTA members, parents of your children’s friends; parents or adult children of your friends, bus and train commuters
  • Classmates: from any level of school including continuing education and grad school
  • Teachers: college professors, your children’s teachers
  • Anyone you wrote a check for in the past year
  • Drug store owner or other small retail business owners, home and auto repairers
  • Doctor, dentist, optometrist, veterinarian and other healthcare professionals
  • Lawyer, accountant, financial planner, real estate broker
  • Insurance agent, stock broker, travel agent
  • Co-workers and former co-workers
  • Relatives of relatives
  • Community leaders, politicians or others in town who know lots of people
  • Local chamber of commerce members/employees
  • Pastors, ministers, members of your church
  • Trade or professional association members, leaders, meeting attendees
  • Hair stylists, bartenders and wait staff who know you
  • Speakers at meetings you have attended
  • Business and community club members and leaders: Rotary, Kiwanis, etc.
  • Representatives of direct sales businesses: home party organizations selling make-up, jewelry, toys
  • Volunteer organization colleagues
  • Those you know through hobbies and interests including specialty listservs, chat groups and social networking sites such as LinkedIn,
Every Day Networking
By networking every day with people you see or talk to throughout your normal daily activities, you build a vibrant professional network. Through solid networking, you can potentially gain customers, vendors, and competitors within your work "playing field." This is a non-targeted activity with the purpose of introducing yourself to others and learning about them in turn. Describe your work, identify common interests, and show a genuine interest in those to meet. 

Using online networking sites such as LinkedIn and those for professional associations is a thriving and effective method for expanding and nurturing your professional relationships. However, online networking should complement, but not replace, face-to-face networking. Online networking may initiate relationships that you strengthen over a cup of coffee, or at an in-person event. Explore the sites and members' profiles and consider these tips as you reach out into the world of online networking:
  • Your online profile is your 24/7 business card. Complete your profile and keep it up to date.
  • The Summary section of your online profile is the place to present your professional sound byte. It will help prospective contacts understand who you are and the common interests you share. If you are open to being contacted by recruiters, be certain that your summary and profile contain keywords for your profession and industry.
  • The written or verbal sound byte includes descriptive nouns, adjectives, and supporting skills, experience, and knowledge that are tied to your overall networking goals or the goals for a specific encounter.
  • When you identify someone with whom you want to connect, write a more personal message, rather than using any default message for connecting. Remind your prospective contact when and where you've met before, if that's the case, and briefly indicate the common interest(s) you have. You'll get a higher rate of positive responses.
  • Participate in group discussions and forums and respond to questions. Responding to a question posed by a group member may also add to your reputation as a subject expert. 
  • This is all business correspondence, so use concise business writing, and check your spelling.
  • When you make a career move, inform people by sending an e-mail to people on your distribution list; thank them again and offer your work-related assistance to them and their families, as well as to their friends. As you move forward this is your professional network, so annually e-mail the people on this list to talk about your career progress, to ask about theirs and to offer help if needed. Some of these contacts may become customers, clients, vendors, future mentors and continual friends seeking advice that goes both ways.
​Targeted Networking
As you develop more specific goals for your networking, your strategy, actions, and questions become more targeted. Think about what you are trying to do regarding your long-term goals and how networking can help. Identify what you need to know in order to be successful and the targeted functions, companies, geographic areas, etc where you wish to focus your attention.

As you develop your strategy, set specific, reasonable, and action-oriented short term goals that will keep you moving toward your long-term goals. Identify people who are doing the kind of work you want to do, those whom are working for an organization you'd like to be a part of, and individuals who can introduce you to the previously mentioned “target people.” 
  • Have the following tools ready: 1) a resume targeted to the sort of work you want to do or a quick summary of what you've done if you're still investigating possible work targets; 2) business cards with your name, contact information and an indication of your targeted job title(s) or industry(ies); 3) your sound byte; and, 4) a handbill.
  • Contact your targeted people, preferably by phone, to set up a 20-30-minute in-person or phone appointment at their workplace or wherever it's convenient.
  • During this appointment, ask questions related to information about the person's work or company, and inquire about the work, the industry, or suggestions on how to conduct your job search. 
  • Stay true to what you described as the focus of the networking interview. If you didn’t mention a specific job posting that you wanted to be considered for, don’t jump to that question. Build rapport with your contact. If you feel the person would be receptive to changing the course of the conversation, ask whether they are willing to discuss the position. But, be respectful if they can’t, don’t want to, or don’t have the time.
  • Moving the conversation to focus on a specific job can sometimes change the networking interview to a job interview before you’ve had a chance to collect information that you need to decide whether this is a role or company that you are interested in or to collect information that you need in order to effectively match your skills and experience with the position and present your most relevant strengths.
  • Ask for suggestions of and instructions to two additional contacts before leaving.
  • After the appointment, send your contact a thank-you note.
  • Record the contact information of the person you visited, the additional contacts you were given, and high level notes from the networking interview.
Group Networking:
Attend and talk with people at professional meetings, conferences, events, and gatherings that are related to your occupation or industry to further develop your targeted network list.
  • Use your prepared sound byte when you have the opportunity to introduce yourself to a group, or when you're asked, “How are things going?”, “What do you do?”, “What kind of job are you looking for?”
  • You may not get the chance to have an in-depth conversation with someone at an event because of other conversation or the program agenda. Use your time in conversations to assess which people you would like to talk with again and ask if you can follow-up later.
  • Exchange business cards with new people you meet or connect with them on LinkedIn.
  • Recognize that attendees may be in your targeted network or may be able to connect you to others in your targeted network. Sometimes they may know of an opening and offer to pass on your resume to the person who's hiring (the best option) or to the human resource office.
  • Thank those who helped you connect with more people in your target network. Do this via e-mail, a personal note, a business letter, voicemail or a phone call, depending on your preference.
  • Add your new contacts to your records and also add the names and contact information of the people who referred you to those new contacts.
Networking Resources (PDFs)

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Adapted from material that originally appeared in the University of Illinois Alumni Association's Virtual Career Center
© 2017, Julie L Bartimus Consulting, Naperville, Illinois​