Getting a little outside help can do wonders for your
career prospects. Sally Flood investigates the benefit of
professional networking, mentoring and coaching.
Alan was in his late thirties when he first joined a
career networking group. As a senior IT project manager in a major
banking group, he enjoyed meeting with colleagues from other
industries, and swapping tips over a few glasses of wine. Ten years
on and Alan is still networking, but in a rather different
capacity.
Today, he is a member of the Pudding Group, an informal network
set up when his employer laid off three-quarters of its IT
department as part of a global cost-cutting exercise. Pudding Group
members support each other when times are tough and share
information about potential job openings.
"Sometimes we might be approached by a recruiter with an
opportunity that is not quite right for us but would be perfect for
another member of the group," says Alan. "It has been a really good
way to keep up with what is going on in the industry."
Even in the worst of circumstances, having friends in the right
places can improve both your job performance and career prospects,
says Roger Ellis, chairman of the IT Directors' Network.
"Professional networking is no longer an option for IT
professionals - it is essential," he says
Given that the average tenure of an IT director is less than four
years, Ellis says most IT professionals will need to find a new job
at some point in their career, and having contacts in the industry
is the most effective way to do this.
"Unless you are someone headhunters will come running to as soon as
you are available, how do you find a new job?" he says. "You can
always answer advertisements, but there might be 300 applicants or
more. Most senior IT professionals get their jobs through
networks."
The key to successful career networking is knowing which friends to
cultivate, and where. "For some people, networking in a large group
is a disaster waiting to happen,"says Stuart Lindenfield, senior
managing consultant with human resources consulting group DBM. "If
you cannot talk to strangers confidently, or you get sweaty palms
in large groups, then networking could actually be the kiss of
death for your career."
In addition to the right social skills, networking requires a good
knowledge of the industry and current affairs. "The whole point of
networking is sharing ideas and experiences, and if you have no
idea what someone is talking about, they are going to get bored
with you and move on pretty quickly," says Ellis.
Although nobody expects you to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of
database administration, Ellis advises reading the trade press and
newspapers ahead of a networking event to get a feel for the big
issues of the day.
Choosing the right networking group is also vital. Some groups,
such as the IT Directors' Network or CIO Connect, are focused on
people working in a particular role across multiple industries.
These groups are ideal if you are looking for a place to share your
experiences and meet like-minded individuals, but they might not be
where you find a new job. Other groups, such as Eurim or the
Cambridge Network, are more tightly focused on single issues or
industries, and are a great source of advice and information.
To get the most out of a networking group, there are some basic
rules:
- Make sure you bring a stack of business cards
- Do not talk to any one person for too long
- Remember to offer advice and support as well as ask for
it
- Follow up any interesting contacts with an e-mail the next
day.
"When you leave an event, write a few notes on the back of each
card you were given to say what the person does and where they fit
in," says Ellis. "Then drop people an e-mail the next day, just to
say it was nice to meet them and you would like to keep in
touch."
Lindenfield recommends this type of networking for middle and
senior managers who are established in their careers and have value
to bring to the group. More junior staff (or the less socially
able) might benefit more from one-to-one mentoring. Coaching,
meanwhile, is a more intense form of mentoring that is ideally
suited for those going through a change in career or a transition
in their responsibilities.
"In reality, not everyone can hold their own in a networking
group," says Lindenfield. For example, if you have recently been
made redundant and have taken the news hard, it might be difficult
to project a confident, positive image at an industry gathering. In
this situation, you really need more personalised advice on your
career prospects and future.
Where networking is not quite right, IT professionals can still
enhance their career prospects through coaching or mentoring. This
basically means finding someone more experienced and senior inside
or outside the organisation to act as an adviser, for specific
issues or just general careers advice.
"Mentoring can often be helpful to someone at the beginning of
their career because they need specific information about issues
that many of us have already gone through," says Bob Jones, a
part-time mentor and managing director of telecoms company
Equinet.
Jones has set up four companies during his career, and now acts as
a mentor for local IT professionals in his spare time.
"When you are at the early stages of your career you can often get
so caught up in tactical stuff that dealing with the less
time-critical issues gets postponed time and time again," he says.
"A mentor can ask the awkward questions and, although they will not
make the decision for you, they can act as a sounding board for you
to test out your ideas."
James Cook, chief executive of ITprovider SpiderGroup, has worked
with a mentor for the last two years. As the founder and chief
executive of an internet start-up, Cook considers himself
technically very able, but admits there are business issues where
he needs more help.
"When it comes to bringing products to market or making recruitment
decisions, having someone more experienced to balance your thinking
really helps," he says.
Mentoring is ideal for Cook because he needs specific advice
quickly in order to keep his business going. Cook has tried other
networking opportunities, such as the Federation of Small Business,
but found them too general for his needs.
Cook's mentor is Nigel Derrett, a freelance consultant who has
worked at well-known technology companies including Psion and HP
Labs. This experience in developing and marketing new technologies
is particularly relevant to SpiderGroup's business, which is
important to the mentoring relationship, Cook believes.
"Derrett really knows what it is like to create new products, how
to bring them to market and what features are most important," he
says. "That means he can give us concrete advice, such as that if
you cannot take 40% of a market your product has to be more
niche."
Derrett visits SpiderGroup's offices in Bristol every couple of
months and runs workshops, in addition to providing on-call
telephone support for any specific issues the company has.
"He is great because he pushes you along in the right direction
without shoving advice down your throat," says Cook. "It is about
developing our own thinking so we will eventually get to the point
where we won't need him any more."
Who's who
IT Directors' Network
A purely social networking group for IT directors and equivalent
professionals working in the UK.
www.itdirectorsnetwork.com
Ecademy
An online networking group that introduces businesses nationally
and internationally.
www.ecademy.com
Prince's Trust Leadership Forum
The Prince's Trust's technology leadership group is a networking
forum for leaders of technology companies in the UK.
The £10,000 membership fee is used to help young entrepreneurs
and members benefit from membership events attended by high-profile
business and IT leaders.
www.princestrust.org.uk
NCC
Certus/Impact Recently merged, and now both owned by the
National Computing Centre, this group of 250 members focuses on
personal development and leadership skills for IT executives.
www.certus.co.uk
CIO Connect
Run by the National Computing Centre, CIO Connect is a
networking group for chief information officers and IT directors,
with regular events around the country, a magazine and membership
forums.
www.cio-connect.com
Cambridge Network
A private networking organisation for high-tech companies based
in the Cambridge area, with a focus on high-tech start-ups.
www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk
Case study: independent view makes for better decision
making
Ailsa Vaughan began her career as an aerobics instructor in
Oxfordshire before entering the IT industry as a trainer for
Gladstone MRM, which provides membership and customer service
applications for the leisure industry.
After working for the company for several years, Vaughan was
promoted to become head of operations, managing a team of database
engineers and dealing with complex customer enquiries. For someone
new to both technology and management, it was a daunting
move.
To help cope with the transition, Gladstone provided Vaughan
with an independent executive coach, who worked on her management
and communication skills. The coach initially provided a series of
one-to-one telephone consultations over a period of several months,
followed by a two-day residential course, which was attended by
eight other managers from the company.
The coaching provided Vaughan with an independent third party
who could provide confidential advice on specific workplace
issues. "If I had an issue with a member of staff, it was easier
to talk to someone who was not part of the business, and would not
be swayed by the politics," says Vaughan. "Also, because I was
speaking to someone who was not part of the IT industry, she made
me think about things from a completely different angle."
Vaughan believes the coaching vastly improved her communication
and management skills by providing an independent assessment.
"I thought I was always quick to make decisions, but my coach
helped me to see that I could be seen as not listening to other
people's opinions. I realised that I can sometimes be quite sharp,
and that was not helping some of my working relationships."
A year after completing the coaching, Vaughan believes her
career prospects are brighter and recommends similar courses to
anyone looking to move into a management role.