Networking for Nerds: Find, Access and Land Hidden Game-Changing Career Opportunities Everywhere

5 Developing Your Networking Strategy

We have explored various ways in which we can accentuate our brand to diverse publics, who could potentially be decision-makers and offer us access to the Hidden Platter of Opportunities. In this chapter we develop a comprehensive networking strategy and plan to connect with these professionals, engage them in collaboration, and ensure an exchange of value between parties.

Identifying your Goals for Networking

As is the case with anything in your career, it is always critical to begin by establishing goals. An all-inclusive networking strategy is also dependent on goals, which can be organized into three categories:

• Opportunity-centered goals: What you want to achieve from participating in a particular opportunity (such as attending a conference, publishing a paper, serving on a committee, or having coffee with someone).
• Short-term goals: What you want to achieve, at any time from the next few months to a few years.
• Long-term goals: What you want to achieve in the next five or ten years or more.

These objectives will shift in terms of their priority through time, depending on where you are in your career path and what you need to achieve at any given moment. For example, your networking activities may be influenced by any of the following:

• Need a job.
• Need/want advice—about an opportunity, job, organization, industry, region, culture.
• Want to know about the industry, company, community.
• Want to increase your skills.
• Want/need a collaboration. ...