MI-NOV22 – Blog #3

Photo by Evangeline Shaw on Unsplash

In my career, I am given the opportunity to meet and work with a variety of established professionals whose work I admire. This includes individuals from companies such as The National Post, Pattison, and a variety of radio stations that I frequently listen to. Getting to work with these individuals is exciting, and is also a great first step in developing my professional network.

My strategy for developing my professional network further is to connect with these individuals on LinkedIn after we have worked in collaboration. I also like to send a message along with my invitation to connect. In this note, I will typically include what project we worked on together and some pleasantries about how I enjoyed working with them. This gives them a nice second impression of me and allows us to keep up with each other’s professional lives.

In the next 6-12 months, I plan to attend a few webinars and conferences in my industry. One conference that I am already booked in for is the 2023 OBIAA conference, which is where staff from many BIAs (Business Improvement Areas/Associations) gather for an educational and informative few days. For this, and other in-person conferences, I will continue to develop my network by introducing myself to new people and beginning a chat about our respective careers. I find it interesting to learn about different careers, as well as learning about what the day-to-day work looks like for people in similar roles to me.