Corrections or additions?
This article by Kathleen McGinn Spring was prepared for the November 6, 2002 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Making the Most Of Networking
Everyone knows networking is essential to success in,
well, you name it. A job hunt, building a business, making friends
in a new town, all require networking. Yet, says Della
Menechella,
principal in Personal Peak Performance Unlimited, “when it comes
to networking, people have false ideas.”
Menechella lays out a plan for mastering this important process when
she speaks on “Keys to Effective Networking” on Tuesday,
November
12, at 11:30 a.m. at a meeting of NJ CAMA at the Doral Forrestal.
Call 609-799-4900. Cost: $45.
A Brooklyn native and Rutgers graduate (Class of 1986), Menechella
worked in human resources for Viacom in Manhattan for 10 years,
commuting
from her home in Edison “through two pregnancies.” She then
joined her husband, Michael Menechella, in his contract maintenance
business before devoting all of her time to Personal Peak Performance
(www.dellamenechella.com). She consults to companies and gives
seminars
on developing a “winner’s mentality.”
Vivacious and engaging, Menechella uses every bit of her training
— formal and not so — in her presentations. Now suffering
the aftermaths of painful shoulder surgery, she says, “I know
I’ll use this in future programs. They’re about change, about what
you do with what life hands you.”
What life hands just about every human is the task of making
connections
with other humans, in short, networking. “Most people hate
networking,”
says Menechella, but the animosity is due to the fact that they do
not understand how to do it. Here’s her guide:
Practice at the grocery store. Stepping into a room filledwith 400 strangers, all of whom seem to know one another, surely isthe stuff of nightmares. How to break in? How to walk up and starta conversation?Consider networking a sport and practice your technique on cashiersand on the folks in line with you. Menechella makes a game of it.She picks the grumpiest cashier, the one growling at little oldladies,and makes a friend of her. It’s easy, she says. The key is askinghow she is doing. A sympathetic “looks like a tough day, whendo you get off?” will elicit a smile every time.It also gives the wanna-be networker confidence, and practice atmakingsmall talk, something that does not come naturally to many people.Be realistic. Networking is not an event, declaresMenechella.It is a process. Going into a chamber event and expecting, what….tocome out with six new accounts, five job offers? That is unrealistic.The first meeting with anyone is just a start, just the beginningof a relationship. If you meet two or three people, and enjoy speakingwith them, you are doing a fine job of networking.Set goals. Research an event. Find out who will be there,and decide who you want to meet. Menechella recalls an event at whichthe head of a 19,000-person company was going to be present. She hadheard of him and thought her services could be a good match for hiscompany. Her goal was to say hello to him. That done, she consideredher attendance at the networking event a success.Deciding to use a networking event to meet three potential employers,one potential business partner, or six co-workers you have passedcasually in the hall turns an amorphous challenge into a manageableevening.Ask about everyone’s favorite subject. CEO or water boy,CFO or runway model, it is easy to determine everyone’s favoritetopic.It is, of course, their own glorious self. Ask, and conversation willflow. Be genuinely interested, and you may have a friend for life.Offer to help. It is impossible to fake caring, andwithoutit, networking is a failure. Don’t even undertake the exercise ifyour goal is only personal gain. If the networking event centersaroundjob hunting, be prepared to share leads and helpful Internet jobcenterresources.See the event as a first step. Here is the bad news.Networkingcan take a long, long time. It is the process of building arelationship.Menechella relates account after account of relationships nurturedover five or more years. People met casually years ago became friends.She helped them out when she could, and then, often unpredictably,they called to offer her assignments.Think of every outing as a networking event. After all, it isentirely possible that the grumpy cashier’s sister’s mother-in-lawcould be looking for a person just like you to head up her company’sParis office.Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
