Building a Professional Network: Five Ways to Make Connections

Good relationships and vitamin B are more important than ever for professional advancement. And not only when looking for a new job - a large professional network is particularly advantageous for founders. In this blog post you can read about where professional contacts can be made and what is important for successful networking.

What is a professional network?

Professional networks are a kind of community of several people who are connected to each other in everyday work. This connection can arise through joint projects, being employed by the same employer or overlapping interests. Networks can be specific and exclusive (such as clubs that require certain conditions to be met in order to become a member) or more general, such as online networks.

What are professional networks for?

The establishment of a professional network is also referred to as networking. The aim of networking is to build up a sustainable social network of professional contacts that cooperate and help each other.

Many interesting jobs or assignments can now only be obtained through good connections. Good relationships are also essential when looking for suppliers, investors or business partners.

Founders can also benefit enormously from a good and broad network so that they do not have to go into this new world alone - especially in the initial phase.

This should be considered when networking

As in private life, there are rules and guidelines in professional networking that must be observed. Here you can find out how aggressive you can be and what you should leave out when building your professional network.

5 tips for your professional network

1. Know your goals

First, make yourself clear what you are looking for. Are you looking for a new professional challenge, are you looking for investors to help you realize your business idea, or are you interested in a specific area? You can only address the right contacts if you know exactly where you want to go.

2. Be polite and have patience

Don't fall in with the door. If you ask too much right from the start, you will quickly come across as pushy. That's why it's important to take it slow and start with small talk first. Sharing knowledge and experiences that you have already gained is always a good conversation starter.

3. Quality over quantity

You probably already guessed it: you don't need a lot of contacts, you need the right ones. And the right contacts are those who have the same goals as you or are already where you want to be. So look for the right contacts and network with them.

4. Build long-term relationships

The longer you know each other, the more trust you can build in each other. For this reason, professional relationships should also be cultivated on an ongoing basis. On the one hand, this can be done via digital exchange, but personal meetings - e.g. lunch - are even better to stay in touch and keep each other up to date.

5. Use opportunities and further expand the network

It is very important to maintain long-term relationships. However, under no circumstances should opportunities be missed to make new connections possible through the contacts already made. The algorithms of the major social platforms can also help here: Look at the suggestions that LinkedIn makes, for example, and get to know other exciting people.

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Findings

- Networks are very helpful for getting ahead in everyday work.

- In order to be able to actively use networks, one must first know one's own goals.

- Quality over quantity: Choose the right people for your network.

- Long-term relationships build trust and are more likely to have others help you advance professionally.

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