Networking: The Benefits of Cultivating Relationships

Increasing your knowledge and generating job opportunities are just some of the positive aspects of having a good professional network. Discover the benefits of networking.

In search of professional growth and development, you may spend years dedicating yourself to developing your knowledge or ability to the fullest in any subject. While this is very important, reaping the rewards of all this effort without a network of relationships to support your evolution will be a great challenge.

The human being is a social animal who is always looking for ways to connect with his fellow people, something that is even reflected in the success of social networks and messaging apps.

In addition to helping with survival (like a group of cavemen hunting an animal to eat) and providing pleasure (like your group of friends who never miss a happy hour), cultivating relationships is essential for creating professional opportunities.

Networking is nothing more than that: building and maintaining good relationships. You may even be an exceptional professional and have the necessary training and skills to achieve great results in your work, but the truth is that without the help of other people, you may not have the chance to reach and show your full potential.

To reinforce the importance of investing in your professional relationships and encourage you to pay more attention to your day-to-day relationships, here are some of the main benefits of networking and cultivating good connections.

Networking: Generating job opportunities

It is common for companies to have referral programs for internal vacancies, where employees earn bonuses and financial incentives to indicate or recommend people when there are open positions in the organization.

This type of program helps companies to optimize their recruitment processes, as the people referred tend to be professionals who have already demonstrated their professional capabilities and earned the trust of current employees in their previous relationships.

The old joke about the importance of IQ (Who Indicates) in selection processes is actually quite relevant. Having close contact with different professionals can be very useful when you are looking for a new job opportunity, not only to discover vacancies in the market but also to be presented with that positive point of referral.

Access to varied knowledge

Thinking about referral programs, it is clear the potential for good relationships to open up new opportunities and facilitate the hiring of job seekers, but networking is not just for those who want to win a vacancy.

Relating to professionals from different areas and specialties allows you to have easy access to knowledge and skills that you have not necessarily mastered, and being able to count on specialized help can be very useful in times of need.

Having this network of contacts can be useful both when facing everyday problems and challenges and when generating new business opportunities. Even a casual conversation can be enough to discover new points of view or practices that can be useful in your current activity or start a whole new business.

Increased creative potential

Two-time Nobel laureate Linus Pauling says his creative success is highly related to his set of different relationships. For him, “ the best way to have good ideas is to have lots of ideas ”, and when you are in contact with people of different styles, backgrounds, and interests it is easier to use all that diversity to combine the information in unique ways and create new things.

Obtaining exclusive information

You must have gotten tired of hearing that information is power, and that power can be accessed through your relationships. There is a lot of information available everywhere, but it is clear that people are not always willing to openly share everything they know with anyone.

As relationships develop and trust between parties grows, you gain access to the information you probably wouldn't have otherwise, and this can help you make decisions with more confidence and mastery of different subjects.

Of course, this depends a lot on your level of trust with the other person, as you can't just take everything anyone says without question. That's why it's important to analyze and judge all information while also considering your experience and particular point of view.

Support and guidance

Obviously relating to younger or less experienced people can be beneficial, especially considering the points mentioned above, but maintaining relationships with people who already have professional careers longer than yours can also be very valuable.

In addition to having access to advice and guidance based on previous experiences, this type of relationship can also help you not to make the same mistakes or avoid difficulties already experienced by other people.