More than small talk networking to reach your career goals.

• Author: Bauke, Julie
• Position: Professional issues

Networking. This 10-letter word is enough to elicit an alarming array of reactions and emotions-not all of them positive--from otherwise reasonable professionals.

Few would deny that an ability and willingness to actively and strategically network is essential to reaching one's career goals. But fewer still are the number of people comfortable enough with networking to do it effectively and strategically.

Understand Networking

To better embrace networking, let's start by changing some of its misconceptions. Often dismissed as insignificant small talk or something only leveraged by job seekers and salespeople, networking is a critical skill to be used in your professional and personal life.

Think about it. We accomplish most things in our personal lives through other people. How do you find a good doctor, a reliable electrician or a restaurant for a special occasion?.If you're like most of us, you contact people who you trust and who you believe will steer you in the right direction.

Networking is the building of mutually beneficial relationships in support of personal, professional and business goals. Read that again. In fact, read it until the vision of the insincere, backslapping "networker" is scrubbed from your mind. That's not networking. That's the "throw it all against the wall and hope something sticks" startegy of professional and business development.

What is likely more common are those who agree that networking is a valuable part of getting the job done, but mistakenly believe that aren't any good at it because they are introverts. Well, that's nonsense. Introverts have a natural gift when it comes to networking: they are generally good listeners. Unlike many extroverts (who listen just untill they get an opportunity to talk again), introverts take information in and process it.

Go with a Goal, Wherever You Go

Effective networking must be part of a goal or a strategy. For example, when you attend a professional association event, is there someone you want to meet or something specific you want to learn? If there's no goal, all your networking will just be small talk.

When I spoke at the CalCPA Celebrating Women CPAs event in October, I heard several variations of, "When I got here this morning, I sat in the car and had to talk myself into coming in." Or my favorite: "As I was walking in, I was calculating how long I had to stay."

But it begs the question, why did these professional women sign up for event? Why do you sign up for...