Networking. Such a vague, important idea.
When I was in college, I would always hear the word tossed around. “Network, network, network” professors would say. “When you’re job-hunting, you’ve got to network” one said. I understood networking. I knew what they meant. I knew I had to do it, and looked forward to it.
Then one day, I was nearing the end of my four-month internship with Southwest Airlines. And I heard the voices of my professors…”network, network, network.” And right there at my desk, it hit me. I was in the middle of the most important networking opportunity of my life. I asked myself if I had networked right, or at all. I thought I had, but I also knew it was more accidental than it was purposeful. I was thrown into situations in which I couldn’t help networking. I may have gotten more out of it if I had done it with a sense of purpose.
In the next weeks, I really paid attention to networking. I tried even harder to meet new people and forge lasting relationships with the ones I knew already. And I learned this: I had no idea howto network! So much emphasis was placed on networking while I was in school, but nobody had ever given me anything tangible to work with. So I started researching…
I’ve learned two things from reading the “Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way to Rich Relationships” by Jeffrey Gitomer.
1. Learn to network with EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE. Don’t limit your networking activities to aviation and aviation-related events. You may just meet a corporate pilot or a Boeing executive at a tupperware party. This means you always have to be ready. Make business cards. Don’t go anywhere in your pajamas. And have questions in the back of your memory to pick their brains with when you do meet them.
2. You have to give if you (eventually) want to receive. People are more likely to recommend you or hook you up if you have helped them in some way in the past. Whether it’s that you were there for them to watch their kids when they were sick, helped them navigate the skies in a new area, lent them your plane for a business trip, or invited them along to an airshow…do something to benefit them. This is one of those cardinal rules of life, and you may already use it on a daily basis. But being more aware of it will only help.
And the one thing I learned from my first few experiences trying to network: Have a list of questions ready to ask!!! I am not the most social person by nature, so whenever I would have the opportunity to network with important people, I wasn’t even sure what to ask, or how to start a good conversation. The questions I would think of at last minute all seemed to immature, or I would think “I should already know the answer to that. What if they think I’m stupid?” One way around that, I learned, is to keep the conversation forcused on them- How did they get where they are? What factors influenced them? What do they love/hate about where they are? etc. And before you know it, you’ll find other things that you have in common and the conversation teds to flow more easily.
Now imagine a scholarship board deciding which of their candidates will win their scholarship. Say it’s a scholarship for a 737 type rating, and upon completion, an interview with Southwest Airlines. The scholarship board looks over all of these names and essays, and really has a hard time. Then, they come across your application. “I remember this person from the WAI conference. Remember, she stopped and talked to us about how she’s been flight instructing for 3 years now and is ready to move on to a regional airline. She was really nice, wasn’t she? Really well-presented, smart, likable. If we choose her, we know the scholarship will be put to good use.” You don’t have to be an expert or have 3 million hours of flight time- sometimes, name recognition is all it takes.
How many times can you remember thinking “I’m going to be looking for a job in a certain area or with a certain company. Man, i wish I’d have stayed in touch with so-and-so. They could really help me out right now.”
And the opposite is true. By networking, you could help out others just the same. For instance, say the company you work for is looking for more pilots. If you’ve used your networking opportunities,chances are you can help out your new company by giving them a heads-up on some reliable pilots. As a bonus, your friend will forever be grateful that he ran into you at that airshow.
Network, Network, Network!
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