Networking for the Occupational Therapist

Who do you call when you are looking for specialized advice to use with a challenging patient around a treatment technique? What do you do when you are interested in changing your niche or interested in going back to school? It is a given that people in business keep a list of others that they can call on to help them, and most importantly people who they want to help.

They call it business networking.

Do you think networking is only for the "business" population? Please think again! As you evolve through your career, who are the different peers, mentors and experts that have helped you along the way or you have been a help to them?

Do you ever get in touch with your college buddies?

Do you follow up with the other participants that you meet at continuing education conferences?

You can build a constantly growing list of interesting people. This can be so beneficial to you in many ways for your career and also your life outside of the career. You could have a group of others who share your professional enthusiasm around your work available to you just a phone call or email away. Keeping in touch can be helpful in order to seek specialized advice, join in collaboration, and to possibly work together in the future.

The reasons why it would benefit you to build a network are endless.

With an active network you will always be able to reach out and ask for what you need. Someone in your network will know the right person in the right place to help you with a project, or connect you to the perfect person who can connect you to the perfect person, and so on!

You list will include people related to the world of therapy, of course, but will also list other people you have built a relationship with or admire their work. For instance, if you meet a dentist you might refer him or her to your friend who is looking for a dentist. If you know of a great PT who specializes in vestibular work, you might refer to people to him or her. Do you see how this goes?

You can place a small amount of effort towards a plan to keep in touch with those people when you find you may have a common interest together, or those people that you meet and you really enjoyed spending time with.

There are important factors around developing your list of contacts, and it goes without saying that the essence behind it starts with the thought on your part, "How can I be of help?"

Good networking is not about getting referrals, or asking for favors. It is developing relationships that are based on a win-win premise, and the idea of thinking about how you can be of help. It is also based on the idea that the more you help someone else or serve others you get it back in return. It is also an attitude of that there is enough good to go around, so if you help others you will still succeed yourself.

Taking the time to cultivate your list of people you want to network with can only benefit your career over time. It is said that we are our own little mini business, regardless of whether we work for others or we are self-employed, and whether we plan to keep one position forever or make changes every so often. There are many ways to keep a connection, whether it is a hand written note, an email or a phone call.

Take the time to learn something about the other person or their work that will allow a true connection to develop, and remember three things:

1.   follow up,

2.   follow up,

3.   follow up!

Who can you contact today?

Until next time,

Lorraine