Confident networking

Dr Sara Shinton Dr Sara Shinton www.shintonconsulting.com

Welcome to Personal Impact & Confident

Networking!

PhD & Postdoc Physical ChemistryTeaching AssistantCareers Adviser

Founded Shinton Consulting in 2000

NETWORKING – IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT AND SCARY!

Actually, it’s just about talking to people. You do it every

day…

What are your personal barriers to networking?

Take a moment to note your own, then share with someone...

Common barriers

Cultural differences – not knowing rules of different societies and attitudes to small talk/direct questions/speaking to strangers!The awkwardness of starting conversationsKnowing what to sayFeeling intimidated by people who know more stuff than me (and them making sure I know they know more stuff than me…)Talking to people with more status than meSaying something stupidInsecurityFeeling I HAVE to network

Build your cultural awareness by talking to people from different cultures

You might also get some tips from cultural experts such as:

http://www.geert-hofstede.com/

“The awkwardness of starting conversations”Good habits from natural networkers – a supply of great questions to open conversations.

Situational questions (about the environment or shared experience) Let’s get comfortable talking to each other

Motivational questions (explore the values or attitudes this person has) Are you like me?

Functional questions (understand this person’s knowledge, skills, contribution) Let’s find out more about you.

These questions develop and emerge during the conversation so we can dig deeper more gradually. My preference is to see if we have a shared attitude to life before looking more deeply at common knowledge or skills…

Can I pour you a coffee? Isn’t this weather awful/fabulous? How was your journey? Do you know this city/venue well?Why are you here? Are you enjoying it so far? What did you think of that talk/session?Where do you work? What are you working on?

Sources of interesting facts to share – Twitter or Radio 4 !

What about me will attract & engage

people?

Write a quick summary of your

research

5 reasons you are interesting...

1. You work at the cutting edge

2. Your approach and knowledge are a unique combination

3. You are using the work of others and have opinions on this work

4. You are researchers at Dundee

5. You are immersed in research. (Not admin, teaching, politics, grant writing)

Make yourself even more interesting by...

1. Sounding interested in what you do

2. Reflecting your passion in your language – positive words, talk about the possibilities and importance

3. Relating your work to others and their interests or knowledge

4. Using hooks to get their interest

5. Constructing your story – i.e. we are here, we want to be there, this is what we’re doing to get there

Entertain me!

Why is your work

important?

Think of one person you

would like to connect with

Think of THREE things

that might interest them

Now identify one value you or your work will have for

them

Potential for new projects or collaborations

New methods for existing/old

questions

Opportunity to share facilities

Bridging “East” and “West”

Reducing risk of recruitment

Access to people or

resources in Dundee

To summarise

Think about the value, importance and relevance of your workStart with headlines, then add detail

React to your audience

Smile!

What's in your networking

toolkit?

What's in your networking

toolkit?

Questions

Think of three great questions in your group that will

stimulate conversations

Your ears!

Into pairs. One describes the last

really interesting paper you read, the other listens carefully. Let

the conversation flow...

Your enthusiasms

Into NEW pairs. If I gave you a day to do anything, how would

you spend it?

http://www.cio.com/article/164300/How_to_Network_12_Tips_for_Shy_People



Networking is worth it because...1. Facilitation of collaboration2. Knowledge Exchange, Public

Engagement and Impact3. Filter information and save time4. Feedback, inspiration and insight5. Evaluation of your work through a

3rd party

Thanks to Louisa Lawes, University of Edinburgh

for these ideas!

Using technology

The following slides come from

the session on social media, but

were worth recycling here!

Networking with social media?

www.shintonconsulting.com


Networking with social media?

Twitter - personal favourite because of the limitation on posts - just 140 characters to inform, educate, entertain and engage

Makes it efficient to follow a diverse range of people

Hashtags (#) enable you to follow trends & conferences without following all those posting on these topics

You can send private messages (DM) or restrict your profile to invited or accepted followers only

Many choose to “lurk” rather than post - a good start, but a waste of the potential of the site


The obvious careers related site - many people are explicitly looking for opportunities.

Think about who you are connecting to - your network is a reflection of your professional status. If you are seeking to

move on from academia, try to broaden your network.

You can engage in discussions on LinkedIn through the groups facility

This is also a way to connect with people with common interests without accepting them into your network

Academia is an academic version of LinkedIN which is set up for the academic career. You can post papers, presentations

and engage in discussion with an academic community


The principal SM site - has a “leisure” element but is beginning to meet LinkedIn “in the middle”

A useful facility is the “business” page which you can set up for your research group, community or any topic. This is a way

to connect with people you don’t want to see your full profile.

Remember you can manage your profile and only post certain material to certain users.


www.academicblogs.org

Blogging sites- choose the one that suits you best and market it through your other

SM channels!


A few of the many content sharing websites - useful depositories of papers, presentations and other media which

you can point to or embed in other places.


artic

ulat

e.co

m

JOINING - the right SM place for me (LinkedIn and Twitter)

Finding the right groups and people on the sites I choose

(follow tags for common interests, follow conference feeds, follow people through

connections)

Posting an appropriate photo (be consistent across profiles)

Defining a clear objective for my SM use.

Looking for feedback and input from my community

linking my various SM and find a way to manage them efficiently

contributing to relevant discussions

structuring my profile, using groups to help me

finding the right balance of personal information in my

professional feeds (enough to build relationships and establish my personality

writing some recommendations (hopefully some will

reciprocate)

integrating SM into my daily routine (apps)

Putting new information upSubscribing to RSS feeds or accumulators to manage this for

me


I COULD

START BY…

To summarise

Think about the value, importance and relevance of your workStart with headlines, then add detail

React to your audience

Find your online communityIdentify connectors & contributors

Comment, repost & contribute

Confident networking

Education

Transcript of Confident networking