The Career Journal has a Q&A piece with Helene Cruz, the assistant director of M.B.A. programs and services at Pace University in New York City. She answered some questions about women and networking and how it should and should not be done. She says women should start networking early in their career:
Start building a network early on in your career. You can do this by joining professional organizations, but you have to keep building and maintaining your relationships. For women who are working, this is hard. You are spending long hours at work, so it's difficult to go to a networking event, workshop or seminar at night. But we recommend that women build those relationships by attending these conferences and workshops. It could be meetings of alumni of their college, in-house training offered at their company or a networking reception. You should get to know your colleagues in the industry.
Also, networking is relationship building, so when you meet someone, it is best to nurture that relationship, even if you believe that the person can't do anything for you in the here and now. You may be surprised by how they can impact your career down the road or vice-versa.
Cruz also said women need to learn the art of small talk or schmoozing like men do.
You should be connecting over outside activities. Women sometimes have a tendency to talk shop at business events. At Pace, we offer a workshop called "Schmoozing," which is about the art of small talk. You have to learn how to schmooze, since that's the beginning of networking. Schmooze first, and then the networking and professional activities will follow, whether you want them to or not.
The article also includes advice on when to stop pushing an idea or business card and why confidence is important. For more information on this topic, iVillage also has a large collection of articles about office politics aimed at women.
