Welcome career investors to a new career secret This time I want to talk about networking and why

networking is a career booster So let me start with sharing the first part of this free

part video There's free secrets in it In my ranking This is the second most important

career secret and you need to use it in your career plan If you want to be successful believe

me there is very limited success without it So why do I rank it so high Why is it my

second most important one Because it works and it helped me and hundreds of people I coached in

their career development Let me be bold saying that nearly every career is somehow built

on that secret without it There is no career So you could end Now the video

here as you got the most important information that networking is key and it will create results for you

But if you want to know more more about how to network and what it means what the second

part of the secret where I explain why networking is a career booster and stay till the end

of the video where I lift the third part of the secret And I show you how you build your

career network circle in easy five step a free step by step process I decide to share with my

followers at the end of this video which means you not only learn why networking is a career booster

you also will be able to transform what you learned into action So your personal

career network circle is something which helps you really to identify the right steps So

still stay till the end follow the channel as networking And that's an important learning is about give and take

So let's get into part two Why is networking a career booster The reason for

that is obvious the decision for a promotion or for a next career step is not

in our hands or at least let's say it's taken by other people based on the situation It is either

a hiring manager it's your boss it is his boss It's a VP or a CEO

of a company or the company owner sometimes a board of management for especially for executive management

decisions and the supervisory board for sea levels Uh in in a lot of situation it's a

combination of these people in a kind of committee which holds the power to decide about a candidate's future

So let's sum it up the decision power for a promotion or a job offer is out of your control

But this does not mean that you can't do anything here You can as the

secret is to influence these decisions and really get the best out of it Now you ask yourself

how can I do this And let me share in details how this works Promotion and job offers are based

on the facts to find the best candidate We all know that and they are But often

people wonder why candidates or a candidate got selected which obviously was not the strongest

or the best So what happened It is very hard and often not practice to be 100% unbiased and decide

on pure facts of data That's not how we as humans operate as emotions and relationships

playing an important role in our decisions Knowing this you need to use this to

your advantage Now think about a hiring or a promotion committee Would it be beneficial if you

had a positive relationship with these decision makers or if you know one of them very well The answer is

absolutely yes Believe me I was in hundreds of these decisions and relationship matters People want

to add their input to a decision they want to voice their opinion And what they do is to vote

for the one they know one with a positive relationship take a moment and put yourself in such a

situation Think about you are part of a hiring committee and there are three candidates one candidate you

know from a seminar you both joined and connected for some days the others are unknown to you Guess

what the likelihood that your vote goes to the candidate you know is very high also you don't

know his skills and his work results and details you will likely vote for him Now why

is it that way Because we all reflect on relationships and build on them If you think these

important decisions should be unbiased and the best qualified candidate should get a job you are absolutely right

But hey reality is different Let's dive deeper Why is a network so crucial for a successful career Now people

in our network can open doors they build valuable relationships they help us to move up or create new opportunities

Now whether you're a newbie or an experienced professional you need to know the importance of networking active

networking can be intimidating at first because you need to put effort in to reach and connect to

people But at the end it is so beneficial that it will pay off in the

long run and that in various situations networking is crucial It's an important part of building a successful

career This is why I named it a career booster Having a network can lead to

new opportunities valuable insights and long lasting friendship So it is important not only for your career Now you you

will open up a whole new world of possibilities when you have a wide network

of professional contacts and you never know who knows Someone who could help you in your

situation or in your career Now you can broaden your perspective and enhance your skill set by networking

and learn from others and get exposure to different industries companies and also other leaders So networking helps in building

credibility and it established trust with potential other with clients with other kind of leaders or

also with future employers So when someone recommends you based on their positive experience working with

you it can go a long way in securing also future employment Think about that a

professional network recommendation is the best business card you can have Now the most important first step is that you

need to define and understand your networking goals and your objective This step is crucial because

it allows you to focus on your efforts and on the right connections and activities

could be events could be opportunities But at the end focus your energy on the right activity

in the next step define your purpose So define what you want to achieve through networking This could include

expanding your knowledge finding new kind of opportunities building a professional system around you or climbing a

corporate ladder It could also be discovering potential kind of mentors Very important The next part brings me to know

your target audience determine the types of people you want to connect with such as

professionals in a specific industry You are looking for an expert to connect or people with a special

skills or individual who share the same interest like you in a similar value system Now here comes

the value based network circle in play and I will keep I will update you about that

in the next kind of minute Now mentoring is also very important secret So important that I created

another secret video it's called the power of a career mentor You will find the link

in the description and it will show up at the end of the video around the screen So

another question I got from a lot of of my clients is is social networking essential for my career

Now I come to the answer But the definition let us first look into the definition of

a social network says it is a structure made up of individuals or organizations that are interconnected by one

or more specific types of interdependency It could be friendship common interests likes relationships of

beliefs or knowledge or it could be prestige or other things Now that is a definition But for me it

is an opportunity to connect with people and to share and learn from their experience and building

respect and trust is something which helps with a lot of things And not only

in your career Now people knowing how to use networks or influence others create an advantage for themselves and

for others The interesting part here is that this is available to everybody and we

can decide if we use it or not believe me you need to use it But before

you use it you need to invest into it So you need to build connections follow people

and reach out to build that network and then people will follow you back and it will grow

some influencers with millions of followers Use this trust in a way to motivate their followers

and then also to to sell affiliated products to them or show them which generates millions of

ran news to them So you see networking is extremely powerful Back to the questions are social

network important A social network is important and is a place to share information ideas and experience

And while doing so you can build relationships also in social networks not only in person So it is yes

it is important Now networking is often seen as a place for small talk but it is what

you make of it It can be small talk it can be sharing your your family story

it can be sharing your vacation But for me it's all about sharing and learning and expanding

and helping each other on a professional way Now I can say I'm proud of my networks of friends

and followers and advisor And I use I use it often and for me it's more giving than taking which

means I love to support others in my network So do you need to sign up for all

these social networks No you don't and don't do So as you need also to invest

time to keep it growing rather focus on the important ones and the right ones Now there's

a lot of social networks but the most important one for a career development is

linkedin and it is a must to be professionally presented on linkedin Sure there are others like Facebook

Instagram tiktok you name it linkedin has over 950 million users from over 200 countries with an increase

of 50 millions only in one year from 2023 to this year Think about that

now linkedin launched in May 20 May 5th 22,003 And the platform is clearly focused on

professional networking and career development and it allows job seekers to post their CVS and employers to post jobs And

still today it is the number one professional network and it grows more This is

why you need to be on it and you need to be presented with your personal brand So why not

starting to grow your linkedin today Follow me send me a PM and with the message network

is a career booster I will follow you back and you started to grow your linkedin and have a

connection to me So you find me on linkedin The handle is in the description and

I I see you there still not convinced Let me share two stories that happened to me not

long ago as the global cio for time of financial services I decided in 219 to 20 to right size

our software development with stronger focus on apps and A PS and this on a global scale

So after a successful board presentation and decisions I was tasked to build digital solution centers in different

locations around the world Now doing so I needed skill talents more than we had in our

organization reaching out to head hunters for hundreds of skilled people would cost millions especially at that time

where the demanding market for it professional and talents was very difficult Now I decided

to use linkedin and together with HR and my leadership team we create a job profile

and market them on linkedin We created kick ass posts and on our linkedin profiles we reposted them in

our own connection The results were mind blowing We hired a lot of great talents in all the different

locations around the world and all while using linkedin connections and people in our network

Think about that So let me share another story which shows why relationships are very powerful Several

months ago Max connected to me on linkedin and asked me how I'm doing and

if I could help him as a coach with his career So Max and I agreed

to have an introduction career coaching session And while we were talking Max told me he wanted

to explore career possibilities and was looking for a new challenge I challenged Max around the

fact why not in your own company in your current company But Max was clearly open to look outside his

current company and he explained me why he told me that there are missing opportunities to grow in his

in his current role And he does not see that this will change in the near future

Max was convinced that it will get worse as the company is restructuring and will cut projects and

jobs He was promised a development for years took extra tasks and project but now he sees that

these promises and opportunities are fading away Mac saw the need and acted as he did not want

to wait for 10 more years and I fully agree because waiting will not make any difference and

it will create a risk that Max will get stuck and forgotten So I coached Max and

gave him some assignments to Polish first his linkedin profile and write a new resume based

on his profession on a professional template We worked together on it and we really tweaked it to the

way it should be very professional I helped him to set up a fitting job search and connected Max to

different people including executive search firms Now two months later an executive search partner approached me with

a great job on a global level and asked me if I knew somebody fitting

I looked at the job requirements in details and immediately Max came in my thoughts I sent Max a

message and minutes later he had the job posting with all the information at hand I connected Max to

the executive search partner And after some screening Max was invited to join an assessment

I helped him to prepare for that And Max did an awesome job And after that he had

several meetings with top top executives in the company Max finally got an exciting job

offer something which was really unbelievable because they offered him also extra benefits like stock options

bonus payments and paid for his relocation Uh And on top of that Max was

offered a salary which was much more than he expected and much more he could

dream of So I know this is a special case and I know that it

is something which is not every day there but it shows again why your network

is so important These are two cases and there are a lot more which shows a network

can be a career booster if used Well now your in person network is as important as your online

network It is important to invest in your network as soon as possible If you

want to move up the career ladder at your company your company network is critical But

how do I build my network This brings me to the value offering network approach From my point of

view the one of the best network practices I have experienced and more or less observed over the

years So what is value offering networking This approach focuses on offering values to others before

expecting anything in return Think about that This video is a great example as I share my experience with you

and I create value for you how you can improve networking for your career how how a network

can boost your career And this is from my point for free I don't want

anything for that I would love if you subscribe but it's for free In summary the best networking practice

is to focus on building a genial relationship by offering for somebody else some value something which helps him before

expecting anything in return this approach creates trust and finally leads to long lasting beneficial connections So this

brings me to the third part of our secret area here create your career network circle First of

all thank you for staying with me That's a longer video And as I promised here's the third part of

the secret How to create a career network circle This easy but very effective tool

helps you to check on your current network connections and to be concrete to identify where you have to focus

and where you put your energy on while building the right network to be successful

Now let's use an example of John he's a software developer and and Sean wants to progress forward

and his dream is to become a team lead leading a group of software developers like

like he is so John is flexible and as his company has several teams he want

to be open as possible to to increase his chances for getting that kind of

a first management level and leading a team of developers So after a coaching session

I introduced the career network circle to Sean and gave him the task to create

this network circle for his next career step Now we will use John's example together and create one in

this next couple of minutes So let's draw a small circle in the center of a

piece of paper or on the screen and put your name into it In our

example we put John Doe in our circle We add the headline with the network

goal on top of the screen or the paper in our example with John it's team

lead for software development Now we put three circles around Sean all in the same distance to

each other and it should look like this example here for orientation put labels on the circles The

first circle is called people with direct decision power The second circle is called people with indirect decision power And

the third circle is called people with influencing power So next John thinks about the

people in these circles starting with people who have powers to help him in his dream um dream job

Now in the space between him and the first circle he places names of people

with direct decision powers In John's example these are the hiring senior managers which are John's future bosses for

the role he applies for As he has targeted several position he will add all the

senior managers in the IT organization in this circle If this is only one position you target

then there at the end there's maybe one decision body in that circle which is OK So next John

asked himself who has indirect decision and he knows the VP of the IT department So the boss of

the senior managers will have an indirect decision power as he will influence or not influence but he

will be um also indirectly decide about that candidate the same as the hr it

business partner So he placed these names in the second circle Next John is analyzing who has influencing power

and can influence the decision Now first in his mind the first person in his mind is his

mentor He has a mentor worked with him already couple of months in the company and his mentor knows him

very well And John thought about it would be great if he can influence that decision

So he put his name in the circle for the influencing decision Next he names the

CIO as he maybe has an opinion on promotions and placed him in the circle And after that

some business partners who are working together with the it leads and the it team So

they are influencing these decisions as well And finally he placed the VP of hr there as the

VP has the influencing kind of power after having all names placed on the correct circle John looked at

it and asked himself what kind of relationship a network thus he has with each of

the people on the circle with each of the names Now John used Harvey Balls

which show the status of 0 to 100% and five steps 0 25 or a

quarter half 53 quarter 75 or 100% And these Harvey bars are filled based on their status Now

in the first iteration of the career network circle John uses a free quarter 75% filled circle for people knowing

him personally very well People with a relationship for some years which are built on trust the highest level

he can have these 75% circles will be used for these people Do not use a fulfilled circle

as we come to that in a second The next John uses a 50% Harvey ball half

field for people where he he knows them by name and he had a work relationship and that's already established

But um yeah it's not more than that So that's a 50% circle And then in

the next step John looks for all the people on the on the circle where he may talk

to not really have a relationship established but they know him and he knows them

and he gave them a 25% Now for all the others where John has no

connection and not talk to them He uses a 0% unfilled Harvey Ball Now John's career network circle

is finished and the real work will start as everything till now was preparation Now for all people

with a 75 fill Harvey ball John will reach out to them and he will transform them

into a supporter How does he do that Now He knows them So he sends an email ask for a

lunch or whatever makes sense to get a personal meeting Important is the meeting has to be personal John

will share his career plan and he will ask them to um he he he more or less tells them

that he want to become a team lead in software development and ask them for feedback and what they would

recommend And based on that if it's not negative he will use them to support

his journey in a way that he asked them directly please support me on my journey on my personal development

Now this creates a strong bond from a relationship you already have Now this person

knows you want a job you are really demanding on it You work hard you're

a strong candidate and who knows you maybe got your first vote from one of the

decision bodies Hopefully Now after doing so you fill the Harvey balls for that person to

to 100 It's more effort You first need to build a connection rebuild it And here you can use

value offering networking approach I explained before Think about what is there You can you

can share or give away with anybody where you can create value Sometimes this doesn't work Then you

reach out to them and build a so called cold connection Yeah Reach out to

them and then introduce yourself and starting to connect Same for people You don't have a network reach

out introduce yourself get more or less Um um all the information um ready which makes value to them and

think about topics you wanna share where the interest is maybe similar work relationship work processes projects often

cross talk is the first step of building a relationship which you can grow then with the circles

up to 100% Now if you want to learn more how to build relationships please visit

un 1010 dot com either our online course catalog or our blog section Now I

see you in the next lesson or on linkedin where we now connected and I

wish you happy neck networking Take care Thank you