How to Be Helpful to Your Network

How to Be Helpful to Your NetworkNetworking requires give-and-take relationships. Find out how to help people in your network to reap the benefits.

Networking is essential when it comes to your career growth. Getting to know multiple people in your field is the best way to gain new knowledge, discover more opportunities, and stay updated with trends in your industry.

However, people often forget that it takes two to network. In order for a relationship to grow, both parties must be willing to share their insights and ideas whenever possible. Be a great resource person to your network if you want to find resources as well.

Don’t limit yourself to career assistance—You can still lend a helping hand with knowledge, for example, that will help you connect with others and keep in touch.

Here are some more tips on how you can be a real source of help to your network:

1. Create quality content. If you really want to be of genuine help to others, if you have good writing skills, you can provide quality content that creates interest in your work. Copying from other sources is not an effective strategy. Share something useful from your own experiences.

Share relevant information related to your industry. Don’t be afraid to voice your opinion. If you feel like sharing a great blog post, include your own insights about the article and why it needs to be shared.

Don’t feel pressured to create a constant stream of posts. As long as you can provide quality content that you and your network actually care about, you’re taking the right approach.

2. Know your strengths. Get to know yourself better and take the time to evaluate your talents and skills to be a good resource for others. Have you had special training? Have you worked on a special project others can benefit from? It doesn’t have to be something particularly special—All you have to do is find something worth sharing with others, especially in areas where you think you excel.

3. Learn to share. Don’t let yourself feel as though you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage if you’re contributing to your network. When it comes to networking, you must be willing to offer what you can, without expecting anything in return. This will eventually lead to a bigger network and more trust.

At the same time, make sure to practice discretion. Job opportunities that you’re interested in can be kept a secret if you think you’d be a good fit. And only share trade secrets and advice that have received the okay to be shared publicly.

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Alan Carniol

Alan is the creator of Interview Success Formula, a training program that has helped more than 80,000 job seekers to ace their interviews and land the jobs they deserve. Interviewers love asking curveball questions to weed out job seekers. But the truth is, most of these questions are asking about a few key areas. Learn more about how to outsmart tough interviewers by watching this video.