Strengthening your networking muscles can result in a healthier and happier career, providing connections that often lead to the hidden jobs that make up the majority of the opportunities. Just as your professional skills need to be updated throughout your career, so do your networking skills.
Networking is not an activity reserved for those you already know. It’s the art of building rapport with those you meet as you go about your daily routine.
Building and maintaining rapport is key to building relationships with anyone you meet, and during the hiring process, it’s crucial to making a positive impression on recruiters and hiring decision-makers. Making an effort to meet people as you go about your daily routine helps you strengthen your communication skills.
In his book “How to Start a Conversation and Make Friends,” Don Gabor says using hot buttons is a way to build chemistry.
One way to start connecting with people is to focus a start-up conversation on your immediate surroundings.
If you are at a conference or training class, start by discussing the event, then broaden your conversation to include the industry by asking open-ended questions, such as “What made you decide to attend this professional conference?” Gabor suggests as you continue the conversation, you broaden your discussions to include where you live, interesting sites in the city, recreational areas nearby or restaurants.
Once the conversation takes off, the hot buttons appear. Hot buttons are high-interest topics, including:
books
movies
travel
home
fitness
pets
sports
cooking
technology
music
Hot buttons are subjects that really interest people and serve as rich ground for sustaining conversations.
You discover networking hot buttons by asking what Gabor calls “ritual questions,” such as:
What do you like to do when you’re not working?
What kind of activities are you interested in?
Do you have any projects that you are involved in?
What kinds of hobbies do you enjoy?
Are you involved in any particular organizations?
While the questions may seem simplistic, they are a way to get a quality conversation going.
A good conversation involves an exchange of information, and one way to help people learn more about you is to share information about things you are involved in using statements such as:
I’m really excited about….
I just finished working on ….
I’m getting ready to begin a big project involving…..
Be sensitive to the balance in the conversation. If you find yourself talking more than 50% of the time, you’re running the risk of dominating the discussion.
Try looking for networking hot buttons, and see if using this technique helps strengthen your rapport with those you meet.
