“You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.”

Those were the wise words of one of my favorite motivational speakers, Zig Zigler. Zig was right as he recognized and expressed in his teachings that it is often difficult to go far alone. 

One of my favorite African proverbs underscores Zig’s quote as it proclaims, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Among the most important topics for young professionals to pay attention to early in their career is that of professional networking. Understanding the value of professional networking is vital for career success. Beyond knowing the importance of professional networking, young business professionals would be wise also to know how to network with intent. Networking with intention is important because it helps create and foster mutually beneficial relationships.

Let’s walk through three workplace tips for young professionals looking to take their networking game to the next level.

Networking Tip For Young Professionals #1: Expand Your Contacts

Early in your career, your professional network may consist of college classmates and the colleagues you work with today. While that portion of your professional network may be helpful to you out of the gate, as you grow into your career, you will need expanded and deeper connections. 

I recommend you spend some time with your boss and understand who the key stakeholders are. From there, you can build a stakeholder map and identify two or three business partners to begin expanding your professional network. 

Set up morning coffee or lunch with these stakeholders. Come prepared and ready to briefly explain what you do and how you think your two areas are connected. Most importantly, be prepared to ask questions and listen to responses on how you can be of more significant support. You may find there is nothing more you can do and build goodwill by offering. You may find you have quite a bit of opportunity to develop and strengthen the partnership. Or, you may find that the person you connect with isn’t able to answer your questions. However, they may know whom you should spend some time with – the networking continues! 

Networking Tip For Young Professionals #2: Make It About Them

Of all the workplace tips for young professionals that this blog post could offer, perhaps none is greater than reminding you that people like to do business with those they know, like, and trust. People also want to deal with punctual partners. While this may seem like common sense, it’s essential that you make it common practice to be polite and on time. 

I recommend you provide an advance copy of the agenda. You can do this in a few quick bullets in the e-mail requesting time or the formal invite that goes on the calendar. Keep your agenda concise and focused. Remember, you want to make good use of the time you have. You also want to ensure you and your business partner stay productive in what are likely two jam-packed calendars. 

People fear or question the unknown. If they don’t know you very well, they may be afraid you have a big ask behind your request for time. Or they may be trying to feel you out instead of focusing on the conversation. Help put them at ease by ensuring you start the conversation with a topic they know well – themselves! Start with a quick introduction. Then move to the intent of your time together. However, be sure to swiftly get back to allowing them to speak on the subjects of who they are and how you can help. You can always come back and give more detail on who you are and what you do later. 

Networking Tip For Young Professionals #3: Stay Connected

Building and expanding your professional network is the easy part. The hard work comes after the morning coffee or lunch ends. The challenging part of professional networking is staying connected in between conversations. You’ll also want to ensure you are doing this with the appropriate cadence where connection points are frequent enough to keep lines of communication open without meeting for the sake of meeting. Those types of check the box touch points add minimal value and do little to foster a more productive connection. 

Also, your current professional network may not always represent what you need to move forward in your career. As you grow and achieve more, you may need different active participants in your network. You may find that the role of current participants may change – some play an even more significant role, while others fall back. Yet still, you may find that others will fall out of your network altogether. 

You should periodically ask yourself what you aim to accomplish in your career, who can help you do it, and how you can help them in the process to ensure they care enough to help you to begin with. This forward-thinking about your professional networking will help you network with intent. 

When it comes to professional networking, the three tips we just covered represents some of the best career advice for a new young professional in search of career success.

When you network with intent, you will find it easier to determine where to expand your network logically. When you expand your network with intent and ensure you make your connection points focused on giving more than you take, you will also make more likely that your professional network will want to stay connected. The strength of connections your forge will give you the biggest assist of them all, which is a helping hand when you need one later.