The Ixl Company Gives Their Top Tips to Successful Networking

London, United Kingdom, July 24, 2014 --(PR.com)-- The concept of networking itself is simple, but extremely important when it comes to development. It allows an individual to gather information and vital experiences from various sources and people at different levels to use it for their own personal development and career. “Many people avoid networking out of fear of the unknown and rejection, but networking is not about what you know, it’s who you know. Say for example you're looking to get promoted in the work place, the first thing to do is to gather a list of people in your workplace including those that you have not yet said hello to, categorize them into groups of information that each individual knows and get started,” says Sam Mouden, Managing Director of The Ixl Company.

One of the largest failures when it comes to networking, according to those at The Ixl Company, is timing. “We find that so many people wait for the ‘right time’ to network, or a time when they are in need. The most important part of networking is to keep it consistent, out of the list that you make initially you need to keep in constant contact with at least 3 different people per week, a simple phone call to them for a chat, or even better a sit down over breakfast is ideal as it builds that constant relationship that is so vital to networking. Nobody answers the phone to ‘that guy’ that only calls because he wants something, so make sure you are building a long lasting relationship,” says Courtneay, Administrator at The Ixl Company, London.

Be prepared. The second tip to having networking success. “Don’t just call someone and hope a conversation pops up that provides you with career building information. Get prepared, get questions ready, and find out a bit about who you’re talking to, what they know and importantly in networking, who they know. Know what you want to achieve from this conversation otherwise you will walk away feeling unaccomplished and end up never networking again, which is a huge loss for your growth!” says Emma, The Ixl Company Receptionist. “Also don’t be scared to grow your network, during your conversation if a name of someone is mentioned, ask for their number too, get in touch, not only will you grow professionally but along the road you’ll be surprised how many friends you can make too.”

Networking is of course, about yourself, your development and your career. But the trick to successful networking is not to make it about you, it is about gathering information. “You have to make the person you ‘re talking to understand you are hanging onto every word because you are genuinely interested in learning what they have to say, not just to take notes and disappear. Talking about yourself too much defeats the object of networking and to actually gain valuable information you need to use your knowledge and prepared questions and then just sit back and listen,” says Michael, Manager at The Ixl Company.

Social media in recent years has become so popular, that it is no longer used to just share your pictures with your friends; it is a vital tool to your professional growth, from Facebook, Twitter and the more obvious LinkedIn. The final piece of advice from The Ixl Company is to not forget this. “Make sure your profiles are up to date and professional especially LinkedIn and Facebook, the last thing you want is to spend months networking to finally get the email address of the managing director who could provide you with the most informative career building information... to end up with him/her viewing your unprofessional partying profile and losing the reputation you spent so long building,” says Emma, Receptionist at The Ixl Company.

With The Ixl Company’s top tips taken on board, networking seems relatively easy, as The Ixl Company said, it is not what you know, it’s who you get to know.