Ten Career Benefits of a Strong Network

Education empowers us but to make use of that empowerment and build a successful career, we need to establish a strong network. A career cannot be built in isolation. If you develop and maintain a large network, it will help you to come across more connections and lead to better job opportunities. In this article, we take a look at 10 main benefits of a strong network.Career Benefits of a Strong Network

Sharing Information

By participating in a strong professional network, you not only get access to insider information but you share information as well with other members. It’s a mutually beneficial information exchange network actually. In a rapidly changing industrial scenario, a lack of information is a death knell. To conclude, there are various career benefits of establishing a strong and active network of like-minded professionals. The sooner you start building this network, much better.

Higher Self Esteem

A strong professional network builds your self-esteem. You make friends, socialize and network, and all these help in building higher self-esteem. You feel good about yourself, raring to take the world on! You remain happy and experience more confidence to do things you always wanted.

Visibility

A main advantage of a strong network for your career is the creation of visibility and the gaining of new leads. Being an active community member means you are on the mind of many other professionals; this is a goal to have in mind. Therefore, whenever something new comes up and other members think you fit the role suitably, they will refer you. Thus, you gain new leads. How you use the lead is up to you.

Build Reputation

When you network with others actively, people come to know about you and slowly, you get to create your reputation. You could be the person whom everyone calls up when in need, you could be the helpful Joe, you could be the advisor in crisis and so on. Everyone will create an image about you from your contribution to the network, your body language and your communication skills.

Continued Learning

Your career is a journey and in this journey, you need to keep discovering new things and never stop learning. Developing a career-oriented strong support network helps towards this thought. Without this network, you might not discover things that you should know. This might come in terms of keener business insights, mixing around with the correct social circle, chance meeting with influential industry contacts and others.

Career Growth

A strong network of people is essential for both professional and personal growth. This network will motivate you and challenge you at the same time. It works as a support system and a guidance group at the same time. You might know some of the contacts personally and they can help you to attain to new career highs, whether it is by inspiring you to put in more hard work or pushing you towards applying for higher positions. Sometimes your network connections know your capability better than you, and it always helps to listen to them. If nothing else, their opinion will help to do a personal self-assessment.

Access to Resources

Believe it or not, a strong network of professionals gives you access to untapped resources. These resources, you don’t know, might fulfil certain career needs. Each and every connection in the network is unique. Every member has unique information or knowledge to convey. In other words, a strong network is your private resource of information, help, advice, and knowledge at any time of the day.

Career Opportunities

You maximize career opportunities when you have a strong network of professionals. You should start building this network right from your education days. If you maintain an active relationship with the network, you never know what kind of career opportunities are going to come your way and which college or university is good for you. It is a fact that the referral system still works in every industry, a fact proven by a study conducted by Jobvite, stating that employees who were hired through referrals worked 55% faster than those selected from regular job sites. This being said, it also depends on you to understand the opportunities coming your way and take the best pick.

Career Guidance

Whether you are an entry-level executive or a high-flier executive, you never know when guidance is necessary. When you maintain close contact with industry experts, guidance will be always at hand. It is up to you to use the network. To make this clear, support you are eyeing a promotion or want to change career paths, you need to seek proper guidance to make the transition smooth. Only a strong network will help here. You can also have a mentor–mentee relationships with selected professionals and/or attend regular industry–specific meetings to remain abreast of developments.

Support System

A career is not uneventful. It is full of ups and downs. You need a strong support system to ride you through the journey of your career. You will be able to overcome challenges and celebrate achievements. Calling upon professional contacts helps a lot in times of professional crisis. Of course, you cannot expect anything if you don’t give in return. It is always a two-way process. Therefore, make sure there is open communication between you and members of the professional support system. You should support them if you want to receive support in return.