PRESENT Residency Rap

Guest Contributor
Kenneth Sieter, DPM
Discusses Networking

by Jarrod Shapiro, DPM
PRESENT Resident Editor
Botsford General Hospital
Farmington Hills, MI

As part of our attempt to bring you continually interesting and useful content through the Residency Rap, we’ll be having “guest appearances” by residents around the country who’ll contribute an editorial about a topic of interest to them, and I’m sure, to you as well. Every resident has unique experiences and outlooks, and their contributions to the Rap have the potential to enhance all of residency experiences. Our first contributor is Kenneth Seiter, DPM, a second year resident at my program, Botsford General Hospital. Ken and I have had many discussions and debates on various podiatric and personal issues, and I think you’ll find his commentary on networking highly enlightening. I encourage everyone to respond to Ken’s informative editorial.

-Jarrod

Along the course of our podiatric education and post-graduate training, we come in contact with countless individuals who have a finger on the pulse of our profession. Many of these individuals are untapped resources for opportunities that may exist.

Often, I have encountered graduating residents stating that it was by “chance” that they became aware of an opportunity. Few recognize that it was a result good old-fashioned networking, rather than pure dumb luck.

While it is possible that you will someday encounter a person who hands you a golden career opportunity, you certainly should not count on it- and you definitely would be ill advised to wait around for it. Networking is not about meeting people randomly and waiting for opportunities to happen. It is all about strategy.

Scattered, disorganized attempts to network are rarely successful, wasting your time and effort. To discover and attain the podiatric career that you have been trained for, you should create and systematically follow a proactive networking strategy based on the following steps:

1. Clarify what you want and from whom. To create your networking strategy, you must first have a clear picture of what you want to achieve through your networking efforts. Clarify your goal and identify the people who can help you reach that goal. Attendings? Co-residents? Recruiter Agents? Hospital Publications? Pharmaceutical Reps? Hospital Administrators? Colleagues at Conferences? Members of the AAPPM? State and National Associations? Established Practitioners? A combination of some or all of these?

2. Find the people who can lead you to what you want. Think about how many people you know. From close friends and relatives to mere acquaintances, from current co-workers to former classmates you probably know hundreds of people-maybe more! The people you already know are potential leads for your network, and some of your acquaintances may be people you want to move into the inner circle.

3. Decide what you can offer them. Networking is a two-way street. It involves some exchange of value. You should not expect people to help you while you do as little as possible to help them. This attitude is not only unfair, but it is also doomed to fail as people discover they are being used.

4. Make contact. Making contact is the first step of networking. It is the phase when you present yourself to the person with whom you hope to establish a professional relationship and endeavor to create a positive and lasting impression. It involves advance preparation, making courteous and memorable introductions, and conducting interesting conversations. This can be done face-to-face, over the phone, or via e-mail. It can be planned, or it may happen by “chance.”

5. Follow up and build the relationship. After the initial meeting, the goal is to build a relationship. It is not an interview, but a more informal meeting of the minds. A face-to-face encounter gives you the opportunity to build trust and solidify the networking connection, but you may decide, for a host of reason, that your best approach is to contact the person by phone, e-mail, or “snail mail.”

In other words, keep in touch! Send a thank-you note, promise to send your contact something (then do it) and focus on building relationships. This will move you from contact to connection.

You cannot take a break from networking with people after you have established contact. Networking is a process, not an event. You cannot expect people to help you if you have not developed a relationship with them. You have to create chemistry and trust in order to build a relationship that goes beyond a transaction. Always look for ways to help the other person and keep them up-to-date with what you are doing.

It is when you move from contact to connection that things really start to happen. Look for ways to build trust and connect on a personal level. Ultimately, this type of interactive support system can result in huge rewards of career success and longevity.

I invite those graduating residents to give any insight and express any thoughts, experiences, successes or failures in how networking has brought you to where you are today. In addition, I welcome any comments from those individuals in the infancy of their residency, which have begun to take the initial steps in building a foundation for their networking connections.