Aspen (c91) News

Networking the West with Liz Ryan

Ellen’s Network Lesson

By Liz Ryan, 9-21-06

Since we post a lot of how-not-to-network stories here, it's nice to be able to recount a Best Practices networking lesson. Here is one straight out of New West territory. Back in the early summer, I wrote a blog post here on New West called Big Tent Networking. One of the New West readers called me after reading that article, and we ended up meeting for coffee, and turning into networking buddies and friends. Her name is Ellen.

Ellen invited me to speak about networking at her employer and got me involved in another networking group she's part of. We traded networking stories and ideas and jointly bemoaned the not-quite-ready-for-primetime state of Colorado business networking (already addressed in this blog post).

Not long after we met, Ellen mentioned that she was thinking of finding a new job. The boss she'd really wanted to work for, the woman who recruited her into the company, had left only two weeks after Ellen's start date. If that's not deflating enough, the company had changed direction a few times and also announced upcoming layoffs. That was enough to get Ellen thinking about greener pastures. We had lunch. I figured I might be helpful with Ellen's job search, but she said,

"Oh, thanks for your help, but I have three job offers I'm considering." Three job offers!?! Dang, girl, you work fast, I said. "It's the network," she replied. Ellen hadn't started her job search with the idea of activating her network in order to get job-search help. Her network was alive and well all along - when she wasn't job-hunting, and when she was. At the moment she concluded "I'm out of here," there were job offers on the table. That is world-class networking - you sustain the network, and the transactions (job changes, new clients) take care of themselves.

So almost instantly upon making her decision to change jobs, Ellen had concrete opportunities to choose from. That's pretty remarkable. But it's a great example of what Ellen had already said, lived, and believed about networking - that networking isn't situational, and it isn't something you begin to do when you need something. Your network is always there, if you cultivate it and respect it. People you've helped before and stayed in touch with will be there for you. You don't meet them one evening at a networking event and hope that your new acquaintance can help you get a new job. That's backwards.

Whatever your network is doing now, from lying dormant to communicating daily, you can energize it now. Networks are great that way - they will freeze-dry very well and thaw out when you decide to exert yourself a bit. Don't wait until you need the network! That's not effective. Who do you need to call, right now, and set up a lunch date with? And after that, who's next?

Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.