Have you ever thought, ‘ I wish I knew someone who could help with X’. Well, you probably do know someone; or at least, you know someone who knows someone who does. That is the basis of networking. Armed with this knowledge, we can look at how good networking works in practice.

The first thing to appreciate is that everyone you meet through your profession is a useful prospective network contact. Clearly, there is a line to be drawn between talking to anyone and everyone and talking to no-one. So how do you start and when is the right opportunity? First, if you want to network more, and to do so successfully, there are many situations that could qualify as being the right opportunity.

It is a fundamental truth that we often know very little about our professional business contacts, and in turn they probably know very little about us. In order to start the process of successful networking you have to be prepared to:

• Become interested in a wider range of people than you have before
• Seek out opportunities to meet professional colleagues. Pharmacy can be a lonely profession and you can quickly feel isolated
• You have to share more about yourself than you have done in the past.

It is out of this mutual exchange of knowledge and the building of trust that network contacts start to emerge. People naturally will begin to offer support, help and advice and to share their own contacts on a regular basis.

Whether it is accidental or planned, the most effective networkers offer their knowledge and skills and resources freely, without caveats or expectation that repayment is due in any form. In fact the only immediate pleasure may be derived from assisting someone and knowing that your help was of value to a fellow professional. While the giver expects nothing in return, the receiver has a very positive experience and memory of you upon which they can act, if they so choose, in the future. If they do this then you may well receive some reciprocal benefit and the basis of a sustained long-term mutually beneficial relationship is formed.

There are two key steps that you need to give consideration to before getting under way: