How can teachers build a network?

By now the word is out. Networking matters and a network is not just connections on LinkedIn.

For teachers, this can pose an especially difficult challenge. Many times teachers only know other teachers.  Sure they may have family or a spouse who is not a teacher, but who they interact with daily?  All teacher related.

In the corporate world on any given day, during most weeks, you’ll interact with other employees from various departments, meet with outside vendors, hear stories about or meet clients. Its easy to talk to people who know your role and meet people who are not in your role.

So how does a teacher go about building a network?

First, feel reassured that the more you frontload, the more success you’ll find.  Unfocused outreach will most likely lead to dismal results and poor quality connections.

To keep that from happening, ensure you know:

• The few industries that interest you
• 10-15 companies that you’d like to work with/for
• The job title you want (note: some jobs can have multiple but similar names. It’s okay to use all of these. An example is “Customer Success Manager” is also called a “Client Success Manager” can also be called a Client Engagement Manager”)
• WHY you care about this industry and the solutions/products sold by the company
• WHY you’re a good fit for this role and solution (your transferable skills)

Once you know the above, set yourself up for success by determining the STORIES you can tell.

How can you succinctly describe your successes and why you’re a good fit?  If you don’t know, think on it and start putting pen to paper.  Create an outline of ideas, keep the good ones, then fill in the gaps.  Refine until you have a story.

The final step to build a helpful, supportive network? Join professional communities.

Many are free.  Start there.  No need to spend money until you know more about what communities offer and where you could use help building a new skill set and if the role is really right for you.

Paid membership can help. I’ve paid for memberships in the past.  But not until I was sure.

I’ll create a follow up post about professional groups to help you figure out how to find them and how they work.