I Suck at Networking
One of my goals this year is to network more — to get myself out there, and meet like minded people with similar interests and career paths. While I’m an on-and-off again networker, when the opportunity does come up, I tend to do quite poorly at it. Rather than being my outgoing self (well, most of the time), I find it hard to just walk up to some random person and introduce myself.
The other day, I was put in the same situation — went to an industry event, and knew no one. In situations like this, I like to whip out the “oh no, theres some urgent emails that needs dealing with, and I’ll get to networking right after that, I swear” strategy. Basically, I sit by myself and type away on my computer or phone, until the event/presentations start. It works for avoiding people, but not so much networking.
This year, I’m trying to make an active change to become better at it. This includes actually talking with people (either in registration lines, lunch lines, before, after, etc), but it takes a bit of a push.
To help counter this, I ended up buying an ebook on it, called Networking for People Who Hate Networking. While I think its only part of the solution, its a good step. I’m 1/4th the way in, and it seems to be helping a bit… but I still think I need more practice.
The good thing though is — I’m fairly committed to continue attending these networking functions. Its part of my professional growth plan/goals, so its not going away. I figure, the more events I attend, the easier it will get. Its the motion of getting the ball rolling that takes the most effort I find — once I’m past that, I’ll be better off.
How do you network — online or off. Share your tips in the comments below. Any idea helps!
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Maybe I need to read this book! Networking events always sound like a good idea to me, but when I get there and have conversations with these people, I just get so utterly bored. They always seem to remind me of the people I work with – who would rather sit around having boring meetings about nothing than doing something productive. Hmm, maybe I’m just crazy.
I know that feeling! This is why I’m trying to branch out, and attend different events — meet new people, who I dont see on a day to day basis.
You’ve always been good at blogging networking–I’m sure you’re better than you think at networking. P.S. – This is the former broke professional. Hope all is well.
I had to attend several networking events while in school which helped me get some practice and become a little more comfortable with it. It’s still not something I love, but I’ve found that it’s not so bad when you’re at an event that fits your niche or profession very well.
I’ve also been using twitter more within the last year, and while I haven’t “networked” on purporse, I’ve ended up meeting some pretty cool people outside my usual finance circle.