Careers: Help! What is networking and how can it help me?

Katie

Hello and welcome to The BBC Bitesize Careers Podcast. This is the podcast where we try and help you figure out what you want to do in the future. In each episode, we try and answer one of the hundreds of questions you guys have told us you want the answer to when it comes to your future careers. I'm Katie Thistleton, I'll be your host, and today, the big question we're going to try and answer is: what is networking and how can I use it to help me get a job? Joining me today to help me try and answer this question is our fantastic careers expert, Shoshanna Davis. Hello, Shoshanna.

Shoshanna

Hi, Katie. Great to be here.

Katie

It's great to have you here. And also the lovely Conall, who, like many of you listening and watching, is just starting to build his own network and start out on that next stage of his career. Hello, Conall.

Conall

Hiya. Thank you for having me.

Katie

It's great to have you here. So, before we get into that question of "how do I build a network?" and "what even is a network?" we're going to play a little warm-up game, OK?

Katie

So, I'm going to read out a list of people, and I want you to tell me whether you think they could be a part of your network and help you with your career or not, by saying yes or no. Does that make sense?

Conall

Yes.

Katie

Your teachers: Yes or no?

Conall

Oh, yeah. Definitely. Is that right, Shoshanna?

Shoshanna

Yes, agreed, teachers are absolutely there to provide you help, support and guidance.

Katie

Your parents?

Conall

Yes, I would say so.

Katie

Why do you think that?

Conall

I think it's because they're there for… they can support you for loads of different things. And I think that's an important part of the whole networking process – the support behind it, the support behind building it.

Shoshanna

Yes, agree. And parents can of course give you advice based on their own personal experiences, but they can also introduce you to other people who could be relevant to your career.

Katie

OK, amazing. Friends – are friends part of your network or not? Yes or no?

Conall

Yes.

Shoshanna

Yes. Agree. Friends are definitely part of your network. And, of course, when you are all grown up and are super successful, you're going to have a great network of all different people in different career areas and paths. So, basically, choose your friends wisely.

Katie

Yeah. What about this next one? Friends' parents? Could they be part of your network? Yes or no?

Conall

I don't know this one. Maybe?

Shoshanna

I would say, similarly to your own parents, if you know your friends' parents then, yes, they are absolutely part of your network. They can also give you advice, support and guidance, and also facilitate introductions.

Katie

People from clubs or out of school hobbies?

Conall

The clubs I'm unsure of, but the hobbies, yes, I'll go with that.

Shoshanna

Yeah, I would say those people are also part of your network. If they are practising the same hobbies as you, or members of the same clubs, you clearly have commonalities and, yeah, they're part of your network.

Katie

Well done, Conall. That was a bit of a bit of a silly trick game that because, actually, every single one, the answer was yes! All the people mentioned can be a part of your network, which is great.

Right, Shoshanna, there might be people watching this or listening to this right now thinking: "what do you even mean by networking? I've heard of it. I think it involves talking to people. I don't want to talk to people I don't know." So, can you explain what networking really involves and why it's so important?

Shoshanna

Yes, absolutely. So I don't know if anyone listening has ever heard of the phrase: “it's not what you know, it's who you know”? I feel like networking and the practice of networking pretty much summarises that. So, networking is the practice of building a network, which is essentially a group of individuals that you know and trust who you can tap into and ask for advice at different points throughout your career. Who can do things like introduce you to other people, provide advice and guidance, or just be like a general sounding board for career related questions.

Katie

Amazing. Great. Conall, have you had any experiences with networking so far?

Conall

Yeah, so I did a film course not long ago and I got to meet loads of different types of people… work as a team to create a short film. Everyone that I met had a different interest. I mean, we're talking scriptwriting, cinematography, directing – all of it. And I think that, in having that experience and meeting all these different people, I learned more about what I like. What about… maybe what career path I want to go into. I got to see all the different fields that I could go into, and meet people along the way that perhaps showed me their interests that I hadn't seen before, I hadn't explored before. So, it was a good opportunity in that sense of getting to learn more about myself, developing more skills, and expanding my network.

Katie

Great. It sounds like you learnt a lot from them, because I suppose you don't know about all different job roles either, do you? Until you meet someone who does a certain job and you're like, oh!

Conall

Exactly.

Katie

That's really interesting. Did you find it scary?

Conall

I did, I did find a scary at first, but I enjoyed it so much that it took away the fear.

Katie

Great. Amazing. Well, I think lots of other people are finding the prospect of networking a bit scary as well, because we've had loads of questions about it on the Career Question Wall. What are people asking, Conall?

Conall

The first question is: how do I build a network?

Shoshanna

So, I think a good first step is to really sit down and map out your existing network. As we've already covered, we all have people as part of our network who we may not have even realised, like friends, family members, friends' parents, teachers, etc. And then, of course, once you've mapped out that network, then doing some work to kind of proactively build that network.

Katie

Great advice. Anything else?

Conall

What kind of events are available to build your network in various careers?

Shoshanna

Good question. So, there are a wide range of events. And, for example, you can do things like attend college open days, you can introduce yourself to, maybe, different teachers at school that you haven’t spoken to yet. You can talk to companies when they come to your school deliver talks. You can also attend careers fairs, specific industry networking events and plenty more. I think a key part of networking is being proactive. You aren’t always going to have opportunities come to you, and you aren’t always going to be told about opportunities. But, if you really want something, you need to be proactive and search for those opportunities yourself.

Katie

I used to guess people’s email addresses at the BBC and email them and just be like…

Shoshanna

Yeah.

Katie

Do you want to get a coffee?

Shoshanna

Yeah. I used to go on to, like, Eventbrite every single day and just search for industry-related events which I wasn't invited to. Most of them are free. I would just register and go to them and I’d meet so many people. And I was like 18 at the time, so they were all really surprised that I was even there and they were impressed. So, it kind of made me stand out as well.

Katie

That's great. Any more questions, Conall?

Conall

What advice would you give to someone who's a bit shy or introverted about networking?

Katie

Could be a scary prospect talking to people you don't know.

Conall

Yeah.

Shoshanna

Yeah, I agree. I think definitely talking to people you don't know can be scary at first, which is why it's important to start with, kind of, small baby steps and set yourself some small goals. So, maybe a good first goal might be: within a few months, I'd like to attend one networking event, and at that event I'd like to speak to at least one person. And then, of course, once you've gone to that event and spoken to that one person, you now know that your next event, you're going to be able to speak to two people, because speaking to one wasn't actually that hard. Another top tip of mine is to bring a friend along with you. It can be really daunting going into an environment where you don't know anyone. So, bring a friend along who's in the same boat as you, and you can kind of support each other and help each other as part of that.

Katie

Conall, has that giving you some more ideas? I mean, I know you've already done this film course and done quite a bit of networking there, but has Shoshanna given you some more networking ideas and inspiration?

Conall

Yeah, I mean, I feel like I need to explore networking a bit more. I did a few courses before, but I think taking a look, maybe social media, maybe in-person events, anything that comes up, you know, and being proactive, always looking and searching for those opportunities, because you never know what could happen from them.

Katie

Great. Amazing. Well, hopefully you feel a little bit more prepared to start networking now as well. And, at this point in the podcast, we like to give you a little bit of a task to take away so you can really start this next part of your journey. So, I want you to grab a piece of paper – I want you to do this when you get home as well, Conall – or open a document on your computer or your phone, and start by writing down all the people you already know who could help you in your career. So, these are the people that we've been through already that Shoshanna told us about: teachers, family members, friends, mentors, anyone. Then think about one or two people that you could reach out to this week for advice or support – people that you could be proactive in getting that advice from. It's a simple but powerful way to start building your network, so give it a go.

Well, thank you so much, Shoshanna, and thank you, Conall.

Conall

Thank you!

Shoshanna

Thank you!

Katie

That was great. Thank you for all your advice and tips and tricks. That brings today's episode to a close. But don't forget you can get online to the BBC Bitesize Careers website for loads more advice, and hopefully we've inspired you to start networking. It's not as scary as it sounds. You can watch more episodes of this podcast on the Bitesize Careers website, and you can also listen on BBC Sounds. We'll see you again soon. Bye!

Shoshanna and Conall

Bye!