Networking guru Keith Ferrazzi says “Power, today, comes from sharing information, not withholding it.” By cultivating a personal network of contacts you can put the power in your hands to land your next great role in shared services.
A recent survey by JanusHire https://tinyurl.com/ha9d9dj3 highlighted the importance of a personal network of contacts in finding executive-level roles in shared services / GBS. This path to undercovering roles was the number one choice with 42% of respondents indicating they found their current or latest role through their network.
Building a personal network takes time, dedication and a system for tracking it. This article outlines the essential building blocks for that system.
Create a List
The first step is to put all data related to your business contacts into one list. Include the contact’s name (including any nickname), company name, title, contact information, and a column for how you met or know that person. The last item is important because as you grow your network you may have trouble remembering who is who.
Categorize the List
Once you have the list, group your contacts using categories. You might have a category for people you worked with at a specific company or people you met through school, etc. By using categories you make it much easier to manage a growing list.
Set Frequency of Contact
Building a long-term relationship with people that you have on the list means periodically connecting with them. The frequencies you assign are important because they are the first step in creating a reminder system. Frequencies should normally be lengths of time such as: quarterly, every six months, or annually. If you don’t plan on contacting someone at least once every year you might want to ask whether they should be included on the active list.
Keep track of the last time you made contact.
On a weekly basis record the date of all exchanges with those on your list, whether they be email messages, phone or video calls, personal visits or other interactions. This, combined with the Frequency of Contact determined in the prior step form the basis for your reminder system.
Review your list weekly and ensure you are staying in contact given the frequencies you set.
Each week you should review your list and determine if any of your contacts have not had engagement within the frequency you set. This gives you a guide on who to contact in the following days to ensure no one falls too far outside their ideal frequency of contact.
JanusHire provides job search tools that help busy executives in Shared Services/GBS land their next dream job. Networking is one of the three paths to landing your next great role. Don’t waste any time in putting the foundation in place to build a large and rewarding network of contacts.
