Why is networking important for consultancy?
One of the required skills for consultancy employees to
demonstrate, listed by many in firms, is communication and interpersonal
skills, as viewed in the National Careers Service Management Consultant job
profile page. It is therefore vital for students
keen in pursuing consultancy to be able to demonstrate an aptitude for
maintaining and expanding personal links, a great way of doing this being
through networking. Adam (Management
Consultancy Analyst) points out that, while the idea of this may seem vague and
impersonal, most people network without even thinking about it, simply through
their everyday interactions.
Furthermore, as the article on building a consulting network states, the
combination of traditional networking and social media has meant building a
consulting network has never been easier.
Who is my network?
Family, friends, ex-colleagues, current colleagues,
classmates, teachers, neighbours, friends or relatives of any of these
connections – these are all people that make up our networks, and most likely,
or networks are bigger than we imagine.
From doing this research project I have tested this out myself. After contacting a friend who studied at
Newcastle University Business School I was recommended a tutor to contact. She
was subsequently able to provide me with a relative of hers of whom I could
interview and before I knew it, my network had expanded significantly with a
little bit of initiative and not much effort!
As well as word of mouth and personal references, social media
has become a great tool. This research project
has given me the opportunity to utilise LinkedIn and I have contacted several
Newcastle University Alumni with regards to their job as a Management
Consultant. Despite never having met
them before, being part of the same group as them on LinkedIn provided me with
the connection I needed to contact them for professional reasons.
Networking well
The article on things to avoid when building a consulting
network provides some interesting points to bear in mind when networking:
-
Offering to help and support others without
necessarily knowing how they can help you are acts that are unlikely to be
forgotten quickly making a great impression of yourself and enabling a connection
that may be useful in future.
-
Look broader than your immediate needs for
consultancy. Building connections with
people outside consultancy could lead to more diverse opportunities.
-
Building a network doesn’t happen overnight and
more importantly building a relationship with an individual doesn’t happen
overnight; it needs to be a continual process.
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