Corporate life isn’t a solo game
Your network is your armor and your allies
Continuing to write about the Employment Security Hierarchy, today’s newsletter concerns the importance of your business network. A quick reminder of the hierarchy:
Previously, I’ve covered Job Skills and Job Performance.
Your business network is your floor for Employment Security
Your Business Network provides a floor, if you will, for Employment Security. If you have job skills, perform well on the job, your business contacts will help you in your next job, communicate job opportunities to you, and you will help the people in your business network with their work as well. Business networks allow you to show that you want to help others, your talents, and your willingness to give to others. That is what a business network does: it supports the people in the business network with their work and their Employment Security.
Others will talk about a business network in the context that you have a personal brand that you are showing others (and this is true whether you think you have a personal brand or not). Others will shape this as your reputation in the market or the company. The reality is that all of this is part of a business network: you want to be well qualified in a subject area so your business network knows that if they need to know about “X,” you are the person to talk to about it because you are willing to help. That is your brand, and that is your reputation.
A terrific business network is more than just transactions -- or handing out cards at a networking event, the picture of what a network is not -- it is a learning method. Your business network can inform you of trends in the business, trends in the company, what is happening around town or in the next department -- and where the jobs are and where they are not. Your business network can inform you of a company’s culture, business goals, and how you can best fit into an organization and contribute in your role. Someone in your business network can place a resume in front of the right person and help you before an interview.
A poor personal brand will ruin your efforts to find a job
And if you have a poor reputation and personal brand, or don’t have the job skills and performance needed, your business network can subvert your efforts so fast you won’t know what happened.
I was on a business trip in Iowa and had dinner at the bar (I don’t like sitting alone at a table). Two others were just over from me, having a discussion. The discussion was about hiring someone for a position. The discussion was over in about two minutes. The hiring manager asked about the person, and the other manager gave a poor review of the person’s performance, including examples. And just like that, the person was out of the running. He or she (in this case, a he) would never know what sabotaged that job application.
Quality business networks help make work enjoyable
Business networks make a difference in the quality of your engagement in your work and your profession, and can help you find work and stay employable. Business, after all, is social, and people want to work with people they know are competent, capable, and likable.
Your business network consists of your friends, family, business coworkers, professional association members, club members in your favorite hobby, the people you worship with, and the parents you meet at your children’s school events. You have fewer face-to-face -- but more “loose” connections -- through social media; your social media network can have surprisingly strong relationships. You have relationships with all of these people, and it is through these relationships that your business network maintains and grows itself.
Your business network doesn’t necessarily mean many people. Over at Personal Math, Greg and Taylor argue:
There are a few ways to get a job in today’s job market. But the easiest way, by far – know 3 people who would hire you again in a heartbeat. AKA, your superfans.
A business network has significant challenges along with the rewards:
You must develop your business network by adding contacts
You must nurture your business network through consistent communication
You must help the people in your business network with their career needs
You must develop an expertise in an area that makes you the “go-to” person for your network
None of this is easy; it requires some thought leadership, tools to help manage your business network, and the discipline to maintain and build it.
Who you know helps you find work
When I look back over my career, except for my first job out of college and two contract positions, every position I had was presented or recommended to me by someone I knew.
In one instance, I worked with contracted tech consultants on a project. Two years later, I got a phone call out of the blue asking me to interview for another company. That phone call resulted in two positions at the company over about five years. The hiring manager asked the two consultants I worked with who would be a good fit for the position he was hiring for. And the answer was me.
Build and take care of your business network.
Be a Cubicle Warrior,
Scot
This newsletter focuses on helping knowledge workers navigate corporate America, from searching for jobs to working in the role, having employment security, and helping you become a Cubicle Warrior.
Navigating Corporate is a reader-supported publication. There are no investors. No sugar daddies. Just me. And the cats.
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