The Best Networking Opportunities You Must Not Miss

Featured article by Calvin Paige, Independent Technology Author

Success is the outcome of a process that involves a number of ingredients. Your skills and expertise, your experience, and the opportunities you have access to are the key ingredients of this process. It is worth noting that all of these ingredients are factors that you can control. You can choose to pursue skills and expand your experience. The same can be said for the opportunities you get.

The best way to influence the opportunities you have access to is through networking. Connecting with the right people and building a strong professional network can greatly influence your chances of success. There are several networking opportunities in life that you don’t want to miss.

Networking in School

Your network-building journey should start as early as possible. Some are born into a family with strong business ties, giving them the opportunities to connect with influential people very early. For most of us, networking began in school.

The people you connect with during university days are the people that will play important roles in various industries in the future. The same can be said for the lecturers that help you master important skills for your future. Don’t just stop at being schoolmates; take active steps towards building and maintaining strong relationships with the people you meet in school.

Today’s online programs present the same networking opportunities for you to explore. Top universities such as Maryville University now have programs like the online masters in health administration course for professionals. Just because these courses are conducted online, it doesn’t mean you can’t still connect with top lecturers and fellow students. By the time you acquire the online MHA degree – or any other degree you pursue online – you should have a bigger, stronger professional network under your belt too.

Networking at Work

Even during the early days of your career, there are plenty of opportunities to connect with other influential people. The clients you meet, coworkers, and of course competitors are all sources of future opportunities. Knowing how to expand your network in a work environment is essential.

When connecting with competitors, for instance, you have to know how to develop a personal relationship without bringing work-related issues to the table. When connecting with clients, you need to know how to put the company’s interests above yours.

Master these skills, however, and networking will be a breeze. It doesn’t take long to grow your contacts from a handful of people to several hundred.

Networking on Social Media

There is one platform that presents an endless array of networking opportunities today, and that platform is social media. LinkedIn, in particular, is a must-use for professionals, mainly because the social networking site connects you with millions of other professionals in various industries.

There are countless stories of people being offered their dream job because of their LinkedIn profile. It is not uncommon for headhunters and hiring managers to search for potential candidates on the platform. You too can take advantage of the constant networking opportunity the platform – and other social networking sites – presents and be that much closer to future success.