Visibility, credibility, and then profit
Standing reception at a conference. While I kept my eyes open for people to talk to, I watched a doctoral student confidently walk up to a professor standing alone at the bar. “May I introduce myself?” were her first words as she held out her hand. During the handshake, she gave her name and her institute. The professor responded with a smile and listened attentively. Her supervisor’s name seemed to leave only question marks on the professor’s forehead, and she didn’t mention her research area. “I have already read many of your publications, and I am very interested in your work,” the doctoral student continued, without saying what fascinated her so much. The professor was still smiling, not knowing in which direction the conversation would go. “I will be completing my doctorate in the next few months and would like to know if a postdoc position is available in your laboratory?” The listener’s forehead wrinkled. His curiosity immediately gave way to a flight reflex. “Unfortunately, not at the moment, but you are welcome to look for jobs on my homepage,” he said, excusing himself with a nod. The doctoral student seemed to understand what that meant.
If we focus too quickly on our profit, we become annoying.
The conversation was instructive for me. Good networking usually occurs in three phases: 1. Visibility, 2. Credibility and 3. Profit. First, you have to be seen and stand out from a crowd somehow. There are many ways to do this, for example, with a presentation or, as the doctoral student did, by introducing yourself. In the second phase, you should work on your credibility: your conversation partner should perceive you as professional and engaging. Depending on the background of the conversation partners and the situation, this phase lasts for different lengths – sometimes years. Only after this phase can you move on to the last phase and set your sights on the goal of your conversation. Now, you can inquire about vacancies or suggest a collaboration.
If we focus too quickly on our profit, we become annoying. If, on the other hand, we skip phase 3 and hope that we will be discovered, we are stuck in the Sleeping Beauty trap. The doctoral student’s success might have been greater if she had considered phase 2.
This article was first published in Nachrichten aus der Chemie (issue 11-2018). See here the German original.
If you´re interested in how you can network effectively, you might be interested in our workshop Self-presentation and networking.