Building a professional network from scratch

Having a strong, supportive professional network can pay off in numerous ways. Your network can:

• Provide support along your career journey
• Help you learn new skills and point you towards learning resources
• Introduce you to people you want to meet
• Help you hone your message/brand
• Decrease the loneliness of working remotely
• Help you find a business mentor
• Open doors to new career opportunities
• Give you a chance to support other people

How do you start building this amazing resource for yourself? Two words: know thyself.

A valuable professional network isn’t based on how many people are in it. It’s not about your number of followers or LinkedIn connections. A network has value if it meets your needs and provides you an opportunity to give something back to the people you’ve met.

It starts with looking inward. Spend some time reflecting on these questions:

• What do you want to get out of networking?
• What do you have to offer to others in your network?
• How often do you want to interact with your network?
• What do you want to learn about—soft skills, technical skills, a certain industry?
• How are you most comfortable connecting with your network—in person, video calls, etc.?

When you know what you want from your network, you can leverage it in ways that are helpful to you.

Brittany, a manager with Fidelity’s internal career center, agrees. “In our networking conversations, if we can find succinct ways to contextualize what we’re looking to do, it helps folks understand very quickly how they can help and support us.”

In other words, the clearer we are about what we’re looking for, the easier it is for people in our network to provide the support we need.

One way to do that is to craft a personal value statement.

A personal value statement (basically a written version of an elevator pitch) can serve multiple purposes. It can be included in your resume, as part of your LinkedIn profile, and as a guide to your networking efforts.

There are several ways to go about creating your personal value statement.

Brittany suggests including these four elements:

• Who you are and your current role
• What you’re really good at or passionate about
• Something you’re working towards
• How you’re working towards that goal

A strong value statement shows people that you have a certain level of self awareness—that you know your strengths and what you want to accomplish. Brittany says a value statement lets people know, “you’re not just waiting for folks to hand that goal to you. You are taking the initiative to achieve it.”

Write out your value statement. Memorize it so when you meet someone at a networking event, you can bring it up naturally as you’re chatting.

You might think you’re starting your network from scratch, but that’s not entirely true. Your network is really just people you know. It doesn’t have to meet anyone else’s standards. Fill it with people you enjoy talking with. Building a network is simply about starting a conversation.

Start with people you already know or people who are closely connected to people you know. Try:

• Friends
• Family
• Classmates
• Professors

Once you get rolling, reach out to:

• Alumni associations
• Industry groups
• Affinity groups based on your role

If you’ve never had a networking conversation, approaching people can feel uncomfortable. Be yourself and keep it simple. Try saying: “I’m starting to grow my professional network. Do you have a few minutes for me to ask you some questions?” Most people will be happy to sit and chat with you.

Use this outline as a guide for your conversations:

1. When you meet, be curious about the other person. Ask about their career journeys. How did they land the job they have now? What other jobs have they had? What are the lessons they learned along the way? Where do they see themselves in a few years? You’ll learn a lot, and you’ll demonstrate your listening skills at the same time.
2. Now it’s your turn. Reiterate your value statement so they know how they can best help you. You want people to remember who you are, what you do, and where you want to go.
3. At the end, ask if they can recommend someone else you should speak with. They may even offer to make the introduction.

Keep the meeting to the agreed-upon time—less than a half hour is ideal.

Once you’re comfortable networking within your own circle, it won’t seem as hard to reach out to people outside of it.

You can find people in every industry in every type of professional role on LinkedIn. Search for people by role, by industry, or by company.

When you find someone you’d like to connect with, send them a connection request and include a personal message. Trying something like this:

“Hi! You and I are in the same industry and I’d love to add you to my network if you’re interested. Best regards.”

If they accept your connection request, share a brief version of your value statement. “I currently work as [your role]. I’m passionate about x and working towards y by doing z. I’d love to hear about your work! Care to jump on a call?”

If you get on a call, use the same structure as you would for a networking conversation.

1. Ask about them, their goals, and what kind of support they’d like from their network
2. Talk about you, your goals, and what support would be helpful to you
3. Ask about people they think you should speak with and offer the same to them

Building a professional network is all about relationships. In most cases, you’re not going to ask someone new if they know of any job openings. After you’ve established some relationships, you can let people know you’re looking.

If you’ve shared your value statement, people will know exactly what you have to offer and what position would suit you. “Oh, this person is really great at data analytics and wants to work in the healthcare field. Maybe they should talk to that other person.” Or someone might know of an event where you can meet other people in the field.

If you’ve built a network on LinkedIn, post there and let people know you’re looking for work. Go back to your value statement and remind people who you are and what you have to offer.

It’s not as scary to build your professional network as you might think. Be curious about other people, be genuine, and be ready to offer support as well as receive it. You’ll reap the benefits for years to come.