Online networks are ideal for maintaining professional contacts and can be a starting point for personal encounters. Of course, it's the personal exchange that counts the most. Job shadowing and professional mentoring programs offer a special opportunity to expand networks and learn from experienced people. But sometimes alternating appointments for coffee are also enough to effectively build up contacts and broaden one's own horizons. We would like to briefly introduce these different but complementary networking opportunities to you here.
Professionally oriented
digital networks and social media such as Xing and LinkedIn offer a useful
overview of your own network and many opportunities for interaction. You can
get in touch with potential employers, expand and maintain your contacts
online. The decisive factor here is a meaningful and well-maintained profile.
After all, your personal profile on Xing, LinkedIn and the like is your virtual business card that tells your network what drives you and what skills you bring to the table. It is important that it is meaningful and well maintained. If it is kept up to date, you can further expand your network here and be found better yourself when others search specifically for certain skills and interests, for example.
Practical tips to optimize your profile:
+ A professional-looking profile picture
+ Describe who you are, what you do and what you are passionate about
+ List
your skills and competencies and what interests you
+ Use
short concise descriptions
+ Be active: you can regularly comment on interesting posts or write articles yourself and get in touch with people you already know and new people you meet
Bumble is an app that offers a professional networking feature in addition to online dating and friendship search: Bumble Bizz. In this way, Bumble offers another way to get in touch for professional exchange via social media. For example, for strategic appointments for coffee drinking (see also the section "Strategic coffee drinking").
Utilize professional mentoring and job-shadowing programs
Some universities offer
mentoring programs or job shadowing with alumni who can either mentor you for a
while and support you in your career orientation or you can look over their
shoulder at work for a day as a "shadow". In this way, you will gain
an insight into specific fields of work and can benefit from the experience of
people who have already entered working life. In addition, the mentors may
grant you access to their own networks.
No program = no mentor? Not necessarily: you can also look for a mentor yourself. Here are some tips on how to do that:
"Never Eat Alone" or
The idea for this type of networking comes from the US-American Keith Ferrazzi, who explains in his book "Never eat alone!" how to build a large, resilient network. The basic principle: consciously meet new people every day. Whether over coffee or lunch, both are possible. But it's important to put some thought into it beforehand.
To learn more, have a look at the following contributions: