How to network: for the fresh grad

At some point of your life, you will be invited to a business event where everyone is in suits, poised with tall glasses in one hand and chatting in small groups. Welcome to the business world, where such events are inevitable and the skills of networking are invaluable.

A great approach to networking is to rethink how you make friends when you were young. Now you are in a new classroom and you have to get to know all your classmates again. As a rule of thumb, be genuinely interested in the person you meet and chat. There would be some that you can get along with, some which you can't find any common topics, and some that hit off with you immediately - just like what happens in your class. 

Remember the necessities for networking, as explained from my previous post on checklist for networking.

Also, for those people where you can't find anything in common but find yourself stuck with them for some unforeseen circumstances, there is always a list of general things to talk about to fall back on.

Then there comes a situation where you are forced to network because you need to seek help in something. There is no other way but to find someone with the expertise to advise you or introduce to you some useful contacts. I think the 2 most common problems about networking that a young person would have is
1) he is afraid to ask for favors
2) he dislikes the notion of knowing a person just to benefit from it

In my own version of Networking, i think it is about doing favors. I think people understand you might not have anything to offer back now, but when the time comes, you would duly do so, or do so for others in return. It is actually a gentleman's agreement from this perspective.

In a nutshell, networking is similar to other activities in life. You will be hesitant and nervous in your first attempt, but after some practice you will get the hang of it. You will get the help of mentors and when you get better, you will share your knowledge and advise the young. Remember to always pay it forward. Happy Networking!

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Checklist for networking

I thought this might be useful for someone attending a major event for their first time, or someone who's starting a job where he would meet many new people. So what can you prepare for networking?

1) Name cards

You'll be surprised even the most experienced networkers forget this. 

2) Your objective

It's not really the quantity that counts, but the quality that counts. If you are an entrepreneur, and your objective is to further your business, investors and potential partners should be your top priority. Do not spend too much time talking with insurance agents/ property agents at the event. Leave them for another day.

3) Pen (Optional)

If you are the type who describes your new contact made on the back of his namecard, you might want to remember to bring a pen along with you. I personally think this move is very useful, so you would remember under what situation you met the guy and what did you guys talked about.

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Never Eat Alone - for the intern

OK a golden tip for my fellow interns! I would highly recommend you to always find someone to eat lunch together. From a personal perspective, lunch sessions with my co-workers/ bosses always bring about an interesting topic and new perspectives. Some of the benefits that you could get

- Better working relationships
- Better understanding of issues within and outside your workplace
- Great advice and life stories from bosses and co-workers

Especially if you happen to be one of the 99.9% of workforce with extremely busy bosses, lunch is always the best way to interact with them.

A couple more tips to get your lunch appointment: 

Tip #1: If you find it hard to approach your bosses, thursdays and fridays are always the best time to fix lunch with your boss for the next week.

Tip #2: I make it a point to eat lunch with bosses at least once a fortnight, and I find that setting yourself a target really helps!

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