How to improve your networking skills Wednesday, 24 February 2016

Networking is a key skill everybody need these days – even if you're an introvert or just starting out in your career.

If you're a good networker, you'll come across as a friendly, savvy professional who knows what's going on in your sector and someone who's aware when opportunities and jobs are likely to pop up.

It helps if you can take an interest in others, know how to make people feel at ease, have one or two interesting things to say, and can build on the snippets that other people share with you.

If you haven't nailed your networking skills, you might be attending all the right events and meeting people – but you'll be missing out on the opportunities that follow.

Here are some tips to improve your networking skills.

To start with, here are the absolute basics that no one should ignore.

  • Develop a confident smile and greeting, a firm handshake and a conversational icebreaker. That is, an opening line that gives the other person a chance to join in the conversation. It can be as simple as 'What's your involvement in this event?' or 'What's happening in your sector?'.
  • Maintain eye contact and focus on the person you're talking to. It's the ultimate compliment. If you're talking to someone and you look away to check your watch, your phone or your shoes, it's not only bad communication, it's rude.
  • Likewise, you shouldn't look over a person's shoulder to see who else might be in the room that you can talk to.

Experienced networkers also know the following:

  • Networking isn't about relentlessly promoting yourself and your work. A better approach is to take an interest in what the other person does and how you might be able to assist them if possible.
  • Do your homework. If you know the major current issues in the profession, the status of the firm's current major projects, and have an awareness of key industry issues, you'll not only be informed but you'll come across as authoritative rather than just affable.
  • Smart networkers know how to sum up what they or their firm has been doing. If someone asks what's new, they don't say things like: 'Not much, same old, same old … ’. Instead, they'll briefly recap a snippet that the other person is likely to find interesting or impressive.
  • Some people say you should have an 'elevator pitch' ready at all times. But let's face it, most people prefer a conversation rather than a pitch.

A final thought. People often say that when they met a charismatic leader or celebrity they came away feeling important, that the person they were speaking to 'made me feel like I was the only person in the room'.

Or as the US psychologist Joyce Brothers once put it: "Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery."

Networking & Communication - Graduate Edge Event Adelaide

If you would like to improve your networking skills and hear from experienced engineers, join us for the first live and local Graduate Edge Event in Adelaide for 2016, a viewing session of our live webinar broadcast. Guest speakers include Nicole Waterman, Regional Principal Engineer at Laing O'Rourke Australia and Joel Willey, Graduate Civil Engineer at AECOM.

Graduate Edge events are part of the Graduate Roadmap program.

The Graduate Roadmap provides a range of professional development activities designed to connect graduate members of Engineers Australia with the people, projects and practices of the profession.

Article by: Tony Malkovic