Last night, I went to an HRMA CAN Networking Roundtable, where I met the Director of HR for Rogers Communications Inc, Sam Sidhu.
One point he made that particularly resonated with me is the concept of being able to tell your story. When you`re networking for the purpose of exploring new employment opportunities, your strategy is to meet lots of new people who could potentially find someone to help you from within his or her pre-existing network.
Having said that, you need to excel at telling your story to everyone you meet so that if that new contact was to repeat your story to a colleague, it would be repeated in a manner that is reflective of you, in exactly the way that you intend to be viewed. Networking is your opportunity to make people aware of your personal brand. By meeting people and sharing your story, you are marketing your brand to others.
Consider how compelling your story is, and if you`re truly branding yourself strategically. Are the things you say to new contacts reflective of who you are as an individual? If networking is about building and maintaining business relationships, then you must ensure that the way you present yourself to new contacts truly represents who you are. It’s your personality, life experiences and style that differentiates you!
Now that I’ve dedicated significant portions of time to networking – not only at events, but also through informational interviews that I’ve personally initiated – I’ve been wondering how I can get my network to work better for me. I’m meeting new people daily, but I want to know how I can get my contacts to spread the word about me to their colleagues most effectively.
To that query, Sam makes a valuable point that if you make your story clear to yourself, and deliver your story clearly to those you meet, your new contacts will become more able to repeat your story to those in their network. Gain a better understanding of who you are and what you represent, then practice telling your story out loud so that you’re comfortable telling it.
What’s my story? I’m taking the day to really think about my personal brand, and I’ll tell you in my next post.
Posted by Geraldine Sangalang 
