Your professional network shouldn’t just be online, in places like LinkedIn, although the value of these types of networks isn’t to be underestimated. The value of real human interactions, made by attending networking events, training courses and other “real life” professional meetings, makes a huge difference in how we communicate, and also how we learn.

Who Should Be in My Network?

Having a good mixture of people in your network will provide you with a well-rounded community presence, both on and offline. When considering the types of people you want to connect with, have a look at what each person does and how their role affects you. Are they a potential sales opportunity, someone you can learn from, or someone you can share your frustrations with? 

It’s a great idea to include the following types of people in your network.

1. Industry Peers
2. Industry Experts
3. Other Business Owners
4. Prospective Clients
5. Existing Clients
6. Past and present Candidates

What is a Professional Community?

Being a part of a professional community allows you to see how others in your field are doing, and can even help with giving you inspiration when it comes to setting yourself goals and benchmarks you want to achieve. Knowledge sharing is often the key to success, as it allows you to discover what works, and even, what doesn’t work for other people who are aligned with you in industry terms.

Continued Personal Development Keeps you Relevant

Recruitment, no matter the sector, is constantly evolving and keeping up with these changes, whether they’re founded in technology or even new legal requirements, is essential to the day to day success of any recruitment business. To run a sound and credible business, you need to move and adapt within the industry, if you don’t know what's happening you’ll become out of touch and lose valuable opportunities and relationships. A lack of personal development is likely to stifle your business and your own personal growth.

Don’t Underestimate The Value of Sharing Your Frustrations

For many recruiters who are just starting out with their own business and vision, it's common to work from home as a first step. Whilst this provides freedom and flexibility, it can often feel a little isolationist. Coffee shops are a great place to meet candidates, as are flexible office spaces, but they serve a single purpose, to meet your candidates. Sharing your frustrations and experiences around these types of basic recruitment tasks with your peers and colleagues, who are trying to achieve the same thing, can provide reassurances. It can also help you understand if these frustrations are normal, or if you need to take a step back and review your current business strategies.

Understand your Industry Trends

New technology and the ever-increasing use of Artificial Intelligence are already impacting things like Job boards, Search Tools and other Social Media Platforms. Understanding how these tools are changing will help you to continue to utilise them in the best way possible and not miss out on new candidates or clients.

 What Type of Events Should I Be Attending?

There are lots of free networking events fro the recruitment industry available if budget is an issue, however, you should factor in a couple of the bigger Industry events for each year. Industry leaders, new technology and partnership opportunities can all be found no matter the type of event.

• Breakfast/Lunch Networking Events
• Industry Events
• Peer Group Events
• Training Courses
• Group Network Events

Building a strong and solid professional network both on and offline can only empower you when it comes to driving your vision and running a successful and respected business.