Networking

Recently I went to my first event as part of my work experience. It was a "business after hours" function" being hosted by my company. The events are an initiative of the Peel Chamber of Commerce and Industry; as the name suggests it basically involves local business owners, council members and various other influential people within the community getting together after work for some informal networking opportunities. Since we were the hosting organisation we had to organise the food, drinks, venue etc and set it all up. We also had a representative come down and give a brief talk about the challenges facing the business community (in this case alternative energy sources) in the near future.
Anyway, it was the first time I have ever been to such an event and to be honest it was reasonably daunting. Mostly I was just worried about being introduced to people of some repute as the "work experience kid". To my surprise though, it didn’t seem to worry anyone that I wasn’t there in a professional capacity. Everyone I spoke to was more than happy to give me the time of day and seemed generally interested in hearing about uni and my plans for the future etc. It made me realise that I need if I’m going to be successful in this industry I need to be more confident and avoid being self-conscious about where I’m at and how my position may be perceived by others.

The event also gave me a good insight into the way a Community Relations Officer might build relationships with the local “movers and shakers”. I noticed that my boss didn’t constantly rattle-on about the organisation like some kind of broken record, but instead was happy to just listen to others talk about their businesses, the community, challenges etc. She also spent some time “match-making”; putting people together who could benefit each other. I figure that this approach lends credibility to the organisations position as it doesn’t always appear to be pushing its own agenda.