Network Assessment

What are the strengths and weaknesses of your network, given your goals?

Goal: to find a career within the retail or consumer packaged goods industry in a strategic context (brand manager, strategy…) with a Fortune 100 company in Toronto

What can you do to improve your network, given your goals?

Weakness:

Network is indicative of an obsolete goal of mine

Contacts within the professional development category are underrepresented

I have to get out of my comfort zone; i’m close to/ most comfortable with personal friends/family members—> therefore this area is over represented

I need more people who are of the mindset to provide me raw feedback; family members/friends will sugar coat. Must approach more relationships with a clear mentor/mentee role

Strength:

Appealed to contacts on a broader level; much to learn about the life trajectory and experiences of the people in my circle —> lends itself to transferable skills

As an introvert, I picked one person in each category who is an extrovert —> but this, I meet one person to expand my network ten-fold

“He or she who has most ties is most important”.

Being able to be introduced to lots of people is equally beneficial outcome of networking

With such a bridged network:

"When people hit a wall in their thinking, in general they start thinking harder. What the neuroscience research tells us is that it's more important to think differently." – A. Pillay

To improve my network, I can:

Create