Building a professional network is the same thing as growing a tree from a seed.
I’ll cut to the chase. If you’re networking on something like LinkedIn, you’re probably making an active effort you advance your career.
Perhaps a new role. Or a promotion. Or your next raise.
However, if you’re like the majority of people out there, it’s also likely you’re only networking when the other person has something you need. Historically, that’s an uphill battle and actually the long way to getting to where you want to be.
Instead, you need to be networking before you need your network. I.e. if you’re looking for a job, you ideally should have been networking with recruiters and hiring managers (and even future coworkers) BEFORE they’re even hiring.
Pretend you’re a recruiter. You’ve been given a requisition and now you need to fill an opening for a software engineer. Within a few days (or even hours) of putting up the posting, you’ll get dozens of messages: “Hey you, I’m a SWE with X years of experience and Y achievements. I saw you’re looking to fill a SWE opening; are you free for a quick chat?”
Even the hiring manager will get similar messages.
Do you see the problem here? Let’s say the first time you meet someone, they ask you to chat about the role. You know in the back of your head they’re only reaching out because you have something they want. Chances are, you won’t be so ready to oblige and help.
But let’s say there was someone you met weeks before who happens to be a software engineer and then they happen to reach out about the role. You’d be more keen to help them since you have a pre-existing relationship with them, wouldn’t you?
That is the way you should be networking. Yes, it means you’ll need to invest more time up front making it feel like it’s the “long way.” But, I promise you, this way is actually the shortest way to the long-term career success.
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