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Let’s start by understanding why networking is important to begin with. Try and think about the key differences between working in an office and working remotely. The first things that probably come to mind are how much you miss casually grabbing a coffee with colleagues, or how much you really ��Dz�’t miss commuting. Those are good things to consider, but there’s something really important you probably didn’t consider – your peripheral network.

Your peripheral network are the people you interact with outside of your immediate professional circle. In a real-life office setting, you’re constantly exposed to new people on the peripheries in the day-to-day flow of working life. Toby reminded us that meeting these new people, and increasing your ‘social capital’, is ultimately key to your later career progression. It’s these connections that might land you a job in the future, or be an inside connection for a company you eventually apply for, or even just offer you good career advice. Toby gave us the helpful diagram you can see above to explain this.

When working remotely, you obviously won’t get exposed to this peripheral network as easily as you normally would. In the last year, professional networks have gotten smaller as people now only really interact with the people they immediately work with. Smaller, tighter networks have become the new norm. If you want to maintain the career benefits of expanding your peripheral network, then you’re going to have to be proactive, and make remote networking a habit.

Start small

The best way to form any habit is to start small and work your way up. Networking and expanding your peripheral network is no different. As  once said “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. He probably wasn’t referring to professional networking over the internet during a global pandemic, but it’s still a handy phrase.

Toby encouraged everyone to think of someone you want to keep in touch with. This could be old employer, colleague, lecturer, or anyone else who has helped you in the past. Start with that person, and reach out to them. Send them an email or LinkedIn message letting them know how you’re doing or how they helped you on your journey. The aim here is solely to reach out and establish a dialogue, nothing more.

The key to successful networking, Toby noted, was to ‘pay it forward’. In other words – make contact when you ��Dz�’t need anything. Establish a good relationship with someone that has helped you in the past, and could potentially help you again. You should of course be realistic about whether you can keep semi-regular contact with this person, but if you can reasonably do so then you are investing in this relationship for the future. You’re paying it forward, meaning that when you do need something, they’re more likely to pass opportunities your way.

So there we have it, a good starting guide to networking in the age of remote working. Just to recap, here’s the main points you should take away from this:

• Pay it forward. Reach out when you ��Dz�’t need something.
  

• Networking is just conversation, forming a connection over time.
  

• Make a habit of reaching out and networking regularly.