Five Things You Didn't Know About Networking

After the umpteenth iteration, being advised to make friends on airplanes isn’t that helpful. Here, we present five tips that aren’t mentioned as frequently

1. Cast your net a little wider.

You might think your best networking contacts would be the people you’re closest to—the ones with an interest in your well-being. According to Carson Mencken, a sociology professor at Baylor University, you’d be wrong. In a 2000 paper on the influence of gender in job searching, he wrote that “the literature on job search shows that there are distinct advantages to learning about jobs from colleagues or acquaintances (weak ties) rather than from close family or friends (strong ties).” People with strong ties to one another have overlapping social circles. They may tell you everything they know, but it’s likely to be something you already know.

2. The middle-school dance never ends.

Women in business have long struggled against a glass ceiling, believing that male executives consistently, if not consciously, deny them access to top jobs. Research supports this contention—but some research indicates that women are not the only victims of gender discrimination. In 1997, Kevin Leicht and Jonathan Marx, both sociologists at Indiana University, found that “cross-gender referrals are associated with hierarchically lower jobs than same-gender referrals.” In other words, a man who networks with a woman is more likely to end up lower on the corporate totem pole than a woman who does the same thing. (On the other hand, with men still occupying the lion’s share of top corporate jobs, it’s hard to feel too sorry for them.)

3. Exhibit "ingratiatory behavior."

According to McCombs management professor James Westphal, ingratiating yourself with your boss might help you get on the fast track to your company’s board. Or, as a January 2005 article in Fast Company about Westphal’s research put it, “Aching to get yourself named to a board of directors but don’t know how to break into that elite crowd? Don’t waste your time proving how smart you are or flaunting your listing in the social register. Instead, try another classic corporate strategy: brown-nosing.” Of course, just because a strategy is effective doesn’t mean you have to use it.

4. What color is your power suit?

From the fashion files: You know that making a good first impression is important, but exactly what impression do you want to make? Color can have a surprisingly substantial effect on how you come across to clients and colleagues. “Navy blue conveys authority, responsibility and knowledge. Gray is success, and the darker the gray the more successful you are. Pink says approachability, friendliness and femininity,” says Lillian Bjorseth, a Chicago-based networking expert who has published widely and speaks frequently on the subject. “Red is an interesting one, because it’s excitement, it’s enthusiasm, but it’s also a sexually arousing color. It makes your heart beat faster and your pulse go up.” Men don’t have to be too concerned with this issue. Their clothing options (navy suit or gray suit?) are relatively straightforward. For women, Bjorseth advocates a relatively conservative approach to dressing, pointing out that it’s hard to go wrong with a navy blue or black blazer and gray slacks. And as far as style, she reiterates English poet and satirist Alexander Pope’s advice from 1711: “Be not the first by whom the new are tried, nor yet the last to lay the old aside.”

5. Networking by stealth: proceed with caution.

In career workshops across the country, up-and-comers are advised to be aggressive in their pursuit of informational interviews. This is, at heart, a cynical ploy. The idea is that even the busiest executives love to take a few minutes to relax and talk about themselves—and they often get so comfortable during an informational interview that they let you catch a glimpse of a coveted job opening. Well, the executives are catching on. You can still get an informational interview, but get your cover story straight. And you might want to avoid calling it “networking.” Try “talking” instead