Episode Transcript
Back in Episode 34 we talked about the 3 aspects of your engineering career that you should own. These are your vision, your workload, and your calendar. Owning these aspects starts to put you in control of your career.
Even so, every day your engineering job is a balancing act. Your challenge on a daily basis is balancing time and priorities. Deciding what to put at the top of your list is a difficult part of your career.
Take, for instance, our topic for today: networking.
Did you have a moment of panic there? I know you know networking is important. So how are you working it in? How are you including it in the balance of your everyday activities?
This is tricky. Because networking tends to get delayed. It tends to get relegated to that pile over there. The pile that’s labeled “I’ll get to that someday.”
But to be a better networker you have to bring it front and center. This is something I was never good at doing. To be a better networker, you can avoid some of the mistakes I made.
At the beginning of my career I didn’t understand the importance of networking. It seemed like something that marketing and sales people did. I wasn’t encouraged to build my network. And I put little effort into it.
And by the way I didn’t have the advantage of things like email and smart phones. Communication was much more work.
Connecting with people meant you cold-called them on a land line. Or you met them at a meeting, introduced yourself, and gave them your business card.
But having the right technology is only part of it. You also have to have the intention and the strategy.
Today I’m sharing with you 3 networking errors I made in my career. Avoiding these hiccups will make you a better networker.
Avoiding these will help you keep emphasis on career relationships, not just your technical skills. Avoiding these will allow you to experience a much more fulfilling engineering career.
3 Networking Mistakes You Should Avoid
Here are 3 networking mistakes that I made and that you should avoid:
- Assuming networking activities will happen on their own.
This is easy to do. And in fact some people are much more natural at networking. So it does happen “on its own” to an extent.
But most of us have to build it into our routines. We have to put it on our calendars and pair it with other activities. For me, networking didn’t just happen. If I didn’t plan for it, then my network suffered.
- Letting others decide who you should meet.
It would be nice if others shared your goals and priorities. But mostly they don’t. It’s important that you keep a list of contacts, a list of people that are important to you. People you want to meet and stay in contact with.
This allows you to focus your networking efforts on what is most important to you right now. What you’re working on. What you want to learn. What you aspire to.
And don’t forget your priorities will change as you go. So that list should be updated frequently.
- Waiting for others to reach out and network with you.
Not only should you be proactive about reaching out to others, but you should have a regular practice of doing so.
Today it’s easy to send off a few emails or texts a day to connect with people in your network. If you can maintain that simple practice your network will thrive.
Follow up on your most recent discussions. Share something that you’re excited about working on today. Ask what’s new. Arrange to meet up at an event or for coffee.
The thing about networking is the more you do it, the better results you see. And the more skilled you become. In other words, if you keep at it you’ll be motivated to keep at it.
Another thing about networking is you never know when a connection will come through for you. It may be right away. Or it may be decades later. I still have some professional connections that I made early in my career – more than 30 years ago.
To get help in improving your networking skills, you can book a strategy session with me. We can brainstorm how to build a network to help your career thrive.
I invite you to put more intention into your networking efforts. Build it into your routine. And avoid the mistakes that I’ve made over the years. Find and nurture those relationships that are gonna make a difference in your engineering career.
Next time on Her Engineering Career Podcast, as promised, we’re gonna do an episode on keeping up your resume. I hope you’ll join me next time for Episode 64.