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Networking is something that our American friends seem to be such experts in, but something we seem to undervalue here in the UK.

Handled properly it can play a vital role in developing your career, finding new business or adding to your team.

Six degrees of separation 

The ‘six degrees of separation’ theory, invented by the social psychologist Stanley Milgram in the 1960s, demonstrated that any two people in the world could be connected with an average of six steps, through the wide range of people that they already knew.

A more recent version aimed to prove this by connecting everyone in the Internet Movie Database with Hollywood star Kevin Bacon.

This just goes to show that you may be more closely connected to the person you want to do business with, work for or recruit, than you think.

Using your network to the best of your ability means looking at not just family and friends but old friends, colleagues, employers, team mates – the list is literally endless.

Start talking now, as that person you used to work or sit in lectures with might know someone, who knows someone, who has your ideal job, candidate or business opportunity.

Common ground 

Networking effectively doesn’t involve saturating every person you meet with all your great achievements – although you obviously want to reap any benefits this relationship may generate, networking is at heart a two way process.

Communicate quickly and clearly what you are about – who are you, what you do and how can you help this person.

Show interest, listen and figure out how you can fit in with each others’ aims and interests by finding some common ground.

If you build a rapport, follow the meeting up – send an email, make a phone call or organise a meeting.

You never know when this contact may prove useful, as the creators of ‘Innocent’ smoothies found – they were able to start their company by emailing all of their contacts asking the simple question, “Do you know anybody very rich?”

Online networking tools 

At one time all networking had to be done face to face or by phone. Now there is a growing range of networking tools available online as an alternative.

Networking platforms let you browse a world of contacts, allowing you to develop new connections at the touch of a button.

Choosing the right networking site, however, and using it in the correct way is vital.

Social networking sites such as MySpace and Bebo are great if you are still in your teens, but not exactly the right venue for a serious professional.

There are specific business networking sites such as Ecademy or LinkedIn which allow you to set up or join groups based on who you know already.

Attracting attention from headhunters 

Recommendations from other members are excellent not only for making new contacts, but also for tracking down old friends or work colleagues with the potential to create further business leads.

These sites are also ideal for attracting attention from headhunters if you want to progress your career.

Somewhere in the middle there is the ever-growing Facebook, which has expanded rapidly from a networking site for university students, to a worldwide social networking platform with a much broader range of members.

Its recent growth and development, as well as the release of its source code, has lead many companies to create their own areas and use it to their advantage.

Ernst & Young has a group boasting over 9000 members for example, so it looks as though the business use of Facebook will continue to grow in the future.

War for talent 

A popular and rapidly growing alternative to standard networking platforms is Second Life, a web-based virtual world where you can create your own character or ‘avatar’.

You can then interact with an estimated 10 million other users, discuss philosophy, visit a virtual shopping mall or create your own virtual business.

Various high profile organisations have decided that Second Life could be the ideal location for winning the ‘war for talent’.

Examples include Accenture and GE who have both attended job fairs in this online world, and the virtual graphics consultancy, Electric Sheep Company, which was actually created from scratch through Second Life.

Conversing with a potential employer, employee or business partner whose avatar resembles a warrior, superhero or mermaid, however, may just prove too puzzling for some.

With a growing number of candidates enticed into the networking world it may one day be very useful to some sectors.

As it stands now, however, there is a long way to go before Second Life will be a widely used business tool in the finance community.

Tim Hedger is a director at finance recruiter at WH Marks Sattin.

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• Do you know who you are employing?
• Half of employers now ban Facebook
• TUC: don't ban Facebook use outright

Related links 

• WH Marks Sattin
• Facebook
• Bebo
• LinkedIn
• Ecademy
• Second Life