Month: March 2010

20/20 – Day 16: 20 networking nuggets

You need other people.  Nobody succeeds alone.

Engagement is crucial in everything we do.  On your own, in a dark room, it wouldn’t take long before you came to a stop because you needed skills that you didn’t have.  From learning how to do it yourself, to finding someone who will do it for you, other people need you and you need other people.

How do you make contact with these people and begin a relationship?  It’s not that difficult.  Below, I list 20 top tips toward mastering networking.

  1. Don’t judge, remain open.  Opinions only seek to close off opportunities.
  2. You won’t know unless you try.  Don’t be afraid to make the first move.  Waiting for people to come to you doesn’t work.
  3. What have you got to lose? You won’t lose anything if you reach a dead end, yet you’ll gain so much if you find an in.  Your choice.
  4. Do it all year round.  Quiet moments can yield huge gains.  Busy times bring everyone out.  There is no specific networking season unless you count ‘always’ as a period of time.
  5. If networking with a specific purpose, prepare beforehand.  General networking is pretty open once you have a basic set of openers and ideas.  For more specialised pitches or a focus on targetted individuals, you need to have a plan.
  6. Don’t think of your contacts as useful, see them as people.
  7. Introduce other people to the conversation.  Have you ever heard that you should act like the host at events, even if you’re not the host?  I’ve used this trick a couple times before.  Not only will you be memorable (for the right reasons), but you network by bringing others together to network too.  When this technique works, it works incredibly well.
  8. Focus on the person, don’t let your attention slip.  I think of it as paying ‘Bill Clinton attention’.  When Clinton communicates with people, it seems as if his entire attention has turned to that one person.  It’s like he switches off the world around him, but not to the point where he’s just staring in an uncomfortable manner.  While I haven’t spoken to Clinton personally, I’m pretty sure if I did he would come across this way.
  9. Help others. Be useful.  Just take Twitter as an example. One of the best things about Twitter is when people help others by offering recommended links, answering people’s questions, and putting in a good word for others.
  10. Keep tabs and remain on track even when an association naturally ends.  Unless you don’t like the person and you’ve totally moved on from that line of work/life, there’s no point in burning bridges.
  11. Don’t expect from others without trying to make an impact yourself.
  12. By all means find as many people to network with as you want, but focus on the quality of the contacts rather than the number you’ve collected.
  13. Don’t expect the world. It’s not like you’re owed a favour. Asking isn’t ordering.  If you’re turned down, accept it.
  14. Don’t expect instant results. Networking takes time.  That person you’ve known since you were 6…who’d have thought they would be the perfect contact now you’re 34?
  15. Be kind.  People like to be complimented and like to know you care.  Don’t be false, but do be appreciative and thankful when you can.
  16. Talk about the weather. We’re human.  We don’t talk shop all day.  Smalltalk is not just reasonable, it’s required.
  17. Show an interest in others.  An interest…not an obsession.
  18. Go gently.  A pushy attitude won’t get you far.  You’re building a network, not recruiting soldiers.
  19. Change with the times.  It’s easier than ever to network.  You have access to millions of wonderful minds via an Internet connection.  You don’t need to leave the house. But wherever you are and whatever platform you use, be prepared to go where the people are.  They don’t come to you, you go to them!
  20. You are the key…Not your tools, not your business card, not the money spent, not the gifts you lavish upon them, not anything else.  YOU are the key.
Title image: original by tiffa130 (cc)  /  Bottom image: Lumaxart (cc)

20/20 – Day 15: 20 considerations for the future before you leave university

It’s impossible to plan the future perfectly.  No matter. The more you do to provide for your future, the greater scope you’ll have with each new day.

Whether you’re still in your first year or you’re soon to graduate, start thinking about a life after your degree.  Nobody knows where you’re headed, no even yourself, but there’s plenty you can do to help the process.  Get the dice working in your favour.

  1. Why did you choose to study your subject? If you were asked this question, would you have a reasonable answer ready?
  2. Is your degree relevant to the field you want to go into? If not, pay attention to what you can bring to a job or career and what experience you have gained from your study.  Many core qualities and skills can be developed from a university education, so be prepared to explain and sell yourself over these transferable skills, no matter what your degree is.
  3. Work experience. Whether paid, voluntary or otherwise, any stints working are good to show off. Not so much a paper round when you were younger, but anything more substantial than that could play a part in strengthening your case.  Bar work, SU work, shop work, office work, placements, charity work, student work…jobs may not be directly relevant to those you apply for in the future, but many of the roles will have given you transferable skills.
  4. Societies/activities to mention, or join.  Playing a role within a club or society brings many transferable skills.  I don’t advise joining a vast number of clubs and societies for the sake of it.  Join one or two societies that you have most interest in so you develop contacts, experience, confidence, and much more.
  5. Professional associations.  Most associations have cheap membership options for students.  This is a great opportunity to find valuable information and join with people who already work in the areas of work you’re interested in.
  6. Create a great CV.  Don’t rush a document off a couple days before you need one, spend some quality time crafting something good now.  Check my series of posts on Employment Nirvanafor more information.

    You can't control the future, but it still depends on your help.

    You can’t control the future, but it does need your help.

  7. Tweak your CV and update it if you already have one.  Perhaps you made a pretty good CV in the past.  If so, keep going!  Make sure it’s kept relevant to your needs, as well as adding your experience and achievements as you go along.  Don’t leave it to chance.
  8. Look at jobs currently on offer for ideas. You may not be applying right now, but do you know what type of jobs are available?  If you don’t take a look, you won’t know how feasible your plans really are.
  9. Look at jobs currently on offer to see what they’re looking for.  Another benefit of browsing jobs you’re not about to apply for is so that you know what skills and qualities employers are looking for.  If you see a common trait that you haven’t yet mastered or experienced yet, you’ve got time to bring things up to speed.
  10. Check graduate schemes as soon as you can.  There’s no point in waiting.  The jobs won’t wait…
  11. If you know what your dream job/career is, pursue it NOW! Don’t wait, get involved.  Just because you’re not getting paid to learn about your chosen line of work doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bother putting the effort in.  The moment you start chasing for leads and opportunities is the moment you step closer to what you want.
  12. Go to careers office and use them.
  13. Check careers & graduate sites for information, help and leads.
  14. Consider transferable skills in everything you do.  A small feat for you may be just what an employer wants.  Don’t overlook your talents!
  15. Clean up your online profiles.  And if you don’t want to remove the gory details, at least protect yourself by updating your privacy settings so you’re…well, private.
  16. Clean up your offline profiles. You don’t live in an online-only world, unless you believe we’re all in the Matrix or something.  Real-world issues need just as much consideration as those online.
  17. What do you *want* to do when it’s all over? Ask yourself this question and give a genuine answer.  Don’t kid yourself with ideas of what you’ll probably end up doing and what would roughly satisfy you.  Be bold by deciding what you’d choose if you had every option freely available to you.
  18. How will you achieve this? You’ve been bold in your answer to the above question.  Now have a plan to make this happen, no matter how outlandish it seems.
  19. Personality. What would you change and what would you keep the same?
  20. What do you seek beyond career, money and fame? We all crave different things in life.  Those cravings change as we change.  Before you graduate, what matters to you beyond money and the usual ‘big dreams’?
Title image: original by tiffa130 (cc)  /  Bottom image: quinn.anya (cc)

Simplicity: One Notebook Per Project

Some ideas are so simple, but delightful.

Thanks to Ben Terrett over at Noisy Decent Graphics, I’m going to try out the ridiculously basic and wonderful One Notebook Per Project idea that he’s been successfully trialling since the start of this year.

I’ve used separate project folders, kept idea notebooks, and written study journals, but I’ve not tried a single notebook for each project I’m working on.

Given my liking for elaborate notebooks and gorgeous Moleskines, I can’t understand why I didn’t think to do this before.

I’m off to get some more notebooks!

20/20 – Day 14: 20 reasons why lists do/don’t work

Writing all these posts with lists of 20 are both a boon and a pain.  Should you write a list? Use the following two lists to find out.

10 reasons why lists are great

  1. They focus the mind.
  2. They’re easy on the eye.
  3. They challenge, inspire and satisfy.
  4. You can add or subtract from them with ease.
  5. It’s a less stressful way to start an essay.
  6. Comparison lists work well side by side.
  7. They’re as succinct or complex as you want them to be.
  8. They work well as blog posts!
  9. They aid collaboration and team work.
  10. They’re a quick test to see if you have enough points, or if you should rethink something.

10 reasons why lists aren’t so great

  1. They’re linear.
  2. It’s difficult to make points overlap effectively.
  3. Lists are often incomplete in themselves. Further explanation may be necessary.
  4. Can appear laboured, scraping the barrel.
  5. Can go off the mark, especially if facing Point 4…
  6. You risk repetition.
  7. A list is more a tool than a full answer.
  8. You risk repetition.
  9. If you commit to a particular number (like I am here) you may get stuck, spoiling everything.
  10. Er…better find someone to help me out…
    Okay, any list that claims to be definitive or appears as a set of rules is not necessarily as helpful as it first seems. I’ll give the final point over to Molly Young in Intelligent Life:

“Can anyone doubt…that an author’s rules are as specific (and exclusive) to her as her DNA? And yet, if we can’t learn anything new from such lists, why do we find them fascinating? Their value, I think, is mainly an affirmative one. At their best, writing rules remind us of the things we already know about ourselves. The advice that rings true, in other words, is the advice we already follow.”

As a bonus to the above lists, here’s Atul Gawande (author of The Checklist Manifesto) explaining why we need checklists:

“On the one hand they are memory aids. If you go shopping, a list doesn’t tell you about every single step you take to the grocery store, it reminds you of what you might forget. The second aspect of a checklist is that it can help you perform well when you are working with many people on a complex procedure.”

So there we have it. Are you an avid list writer?  What sort of lists do you like to use?