Who do you need in your career network?

Posted by Sarah Hobbs

Many people who advance their careers hear about opportunities through their network. So with the New Year already over a month old, take time to consider whether your network is helping you with your career. If not, do you need to invest the time developing it.

Based on our experience, there are at least three types of people you must have in your network. Grab a piece of paper and make a note of the people in your network who fall into each of these three categories:

Job Scouts. These are people who know the kinds of job opportunities that would that would interest you and would suit your strengths. They would drop everything to let you know about any opportunities they’ve heard about which would be right for you.
Connectors. These are the people in your network who know everyone. They have lots of connections and if they know what you’re looking for, they will likely know lots of people who can help you. Best of all, connectors love introducing and connecting people, so don’t feel bad about using them – they’ll be glad you’re enabling them to help.
Mentors. Make sure you have mentors in place for each of the areas you’re trying to develop in and push your work forward. Don’t assume that one mentor fits all issues. In order to get the best possible advice in each area of work, you are likely to need different people. Prioritise your career mentor first as they often will act as your conscience making sure you are building your mentor network around you.

When we use this list in our training, some people are writing non-stop: they have lots of people already filling these three areas. If you are one of those people, then your task is to make sure you are fully utilising each person. However, if you are struggling to think of anyone in one (or more) area, you have decided what this week’s urgent career action needs to be!

TAKE AWAY
Map out your career network and ask yourself if it’s good enough. If it isn’t, do something about it.