You have heard the word networking many times and quite often lately. Especially if you are at the beginning of your career or if you are working on your professional development.
This because connections represent the most fundamental tool for everyone’s career. The power of networking is the communication ability to lead to new job opportunities. People get jobs thanks to their own network.
When companies hire staff, before publishing the job online, they spread the word internally or in their network to find the right person for that role. This is why it is essential to know as many people as possible. However, connections at convenience do not lead to results. Therefore, rather than creating a network, you should create a kind of professional friendship. The networking benefits work only if there is a mutual exchange and support from both sides. Sending a message to your former colleague only when you need help is not the right way to build your network. If you’re lucky your former colleague will pass your CV to the recruiter if you ask, but surely you will not be the first to know if there is a new opportunity in his company: he will tell it first to his closest friends.
Therefore networking actually means building and cultivating profitable, useful and lasting relationships with the right people – not to be confused with false friends that do not last and are not effective because based on nothing.
Here are all the steps for networking in the fashion industry and create useful career connections.
Look around and attend events
Networking early in your career seems an impossible mission, but look around and start with the people next to you: your schoolmates, their friends, friends of friends of friends, your professors. Do volunteer experiences such as during fashion week (useful not only to meet people but to gain experience in the fashion industry), take part in events in the city such as panels or events open to the public such as press presentations, exhibitions, universities conferences or other.
During fashion week, there are several events open to the public that are published on the official websites of the fashion week of each city. Mark these events on your agenda and bring your business card. Try to talk to at least 2-3 people: start the conversation by commenting on the event or exhibition and continue asking what he/she thinks. Then introduce yourself. You’ll end up following each other on Instagram and from there, you’ll have to continue cultivating the relationship: comment on Instagram, send direct messages and invite the person for a coffee or maybe go together to the next event. It is almost certain to have something in common with these people because you have met them at events in which you personally participated.
If at an event you happen to see a person you admire and have wanted to know for some time (a journalist, a stylist, a photographer, a designer …), there is no better way than to approach her/him by explaining that you admire their work, that you have read articles, follow them on Instagram or LinkedIn and it is an honor for you to meet them. If you meet a person like an editor or someone you would like to work with, it is a good idea to ask for the email at the end of your conversation explaining that you would like to be able to send your resume, portfolio or other material to be evaluated for an eventual opportunity (also for future so you won’t be too pushy). If reaching out to an editor at your favorite magazine seems daunting, try asking a fellow intern.
Come out
Grab your laptop and go to work at a cafè or a coworking place rather than your home. Whether you are writing your thesis, working on a school assignment, an article or planning your business, come out. In these shared workspaces it is easy to exchange a word every so often and from there, an interesting connection can start.
Network Online
When you want to connect with a specific person, you need to start online. Instagram and LinkedIn have made networking accessible to everyone, as well as simple and fast (and much less intimidating than an in-person approach). Reaching out to your favorite editor or stylist has never been easier. Start by following the person you are interested in, comment on some posts and send a direct on IG or an email introducing yourself. In the end, to consolidate the relationship as much as possible, you need to take it offline, so it’s time to meet up for a coffee for an informal interview. If they’re really busy bring coffee to them.
Don’t lose everything
Once you’ve created your connections you don’t have to lose them. You can’t forget about your old school friends or your former colleagues. Don’t network thinking about the short term and forgetting a person when you don’t need it anymore, because the fashion industry is small in the end and you may need the same person again in the future or you might find it in another company. Cultivating a relationship is not simple and the initial phase is the most complex, so why throw it all away? Once you have overcome the obstacle of the first approach, it is not clever to lose contact with a person over time. Since we are talking about cultivating friendships rather than networking, this restricts the field because not all characters are similar, so it is normal that you will not be able to maintain relationships with everyone. Try to forge a long real relationship with the right people and with whom you feel there is a true connection. With all the others from time to time comment an IG story, congratulate on LinkedIn for a new job, send birthday and Christmas wishes.
