Personal Branding and Networking Tips

Having a clear understanding of your personal value proposition (also referred to as your professional brand) and developing strategies to connect and network with industry, is vital when carving out your career pathway. This worksheet has been created to walk you through the process of developing and/or refining your professional branding and networking strategy to set you up for success. Understanding and communicating your professional values and developing a unique value proposition is all part of the preparation.

Do you google people? You can bet prospective employers will google you - some have quite sophisticated tools for this as part of their due diligence processes. Time to review your online activity and brand. Consider a Social Media Audit.

An Elevator Pitch is a brief, persuasive speech that you may utilise to introduce yourself and articulate your value to a prospective employer or organisation. They may be useful for engaging with industry and peers at networking events, at job interviews or even in a workplace at the water cooler. Your elevator pitch will depend on the person or organisation that you are meeting, and it may be useful to develop a range of pitches depending upon the context and person. It is recommended for an effective Elevator Pitch to not exceed 1 minute.

BEL networking events connect students planning a WIL internship course with industry professionals seeking interns.

Additionally, Queensland Law Society holds a number of networking events targeted at students, graduates and other young professionals in the Queensland legal profession. Two major ones we'd like to highlight are:

• Better Call Sarah
• Legal Expo - the premier careers fair for law students in Queensland

Keep an eye out on social media for different panels and networking events held by JATL, along with other Brisbane student law societies (i.e. UQLS, QUT Law, Innovation & Technology, etc.).

Being nervous and anxious when attending a networking event, especially when you're young and/or new to networking with professionals, is completely normal. Networking has quite a bad reputation for being just an opportunity to make transactional relationships and promote your ego. But we disagree. Networking gives you the chance just to talk to people and actually learn more about them and their job. Park your "law student overthinking" instincts and try to relax and take an approach of just learning about people and their job: you don't need to prove yourself to anyone. If someone does act rude or facetious, it probably comes from the same fear around networking and needing to prove you're good enough. It sounds basic, but just asking the questions you want to ask and actively listening and responding to someone's answers will likely be enough to continue the flow of conversation and make a good impact on someone.

Don't let imposter syndrome get in the way. Try to just be genuine, interested and respectful and you will be good enough at networking. If you feel uncomfortable, take a minute to grab some water or food and do some controlled breathing. If you can, invite along a buddy (or find someone you know at the event, even if they're just an acquaintance) and tackle networking together as a team. This can really help with boosting your confidence when you're starting out at networking events and can help to make some of the initially awkward bits (joining a conversation, asking for someone's LinkedIn, keeping the conversation flowing, etc.) a lot easier. Sometimes, even assigning roles to each other (i.e. I'll ask these questions, you're remembering to ask for LinkedIn details at the end, etc.) can help you out. Whatever method works best for you and makes you feel comfortable will work. Remember: if you just demonstrate genuine interest in the other person, you're a lot better at networking than you think.

Also, if you see someone who looks like they want to join the conversation but they aren't prepared to interrupt, we recommend being polite and inviting them to join the conversation. Not only is it worth it just based on the act of kindness alone, but this can also demonstrate to the professional you're talking to key qualities of teamwork and compassion which many employers value.

Some general themes that a networking conversation usually follows are:

1. Introduction and joining conversation. Look out for professionals who are talking to a group and just ask if you can have a chat or ask a few questions.

2. Discuss work insights and career options. This is where you really hone in on questions about the person's job and their career progression. Lots of professionals will have prepared things to highlight to you in answering your questions. Take the chance to learn these, then build on them through further, more specific questions which relate to your own career/personal interests.

3. Future work opportunities (if applicable) and culture. This is where you can evaluate your level of rapport with the other person in the conversation and just follow the flow. If you're looking for more to ask, try asking questions about the legal industry, their workplace culture or (where appropriate) some of their personal interests, with a potential tie to work-life balance if you're curious.

4. The Wrap-Up. Finishing your conversation at a networking event can initially feel hard and awkward, but don't worry, you will be fine. Where you feel like the conversation has hit a natural end, or the person has covered most if not all of your questions, you're welcome to say a polite concluding statement (i.e. "Well thank you so much for your time and answering my questions; I really got a lot out of our conversation," etc.). Make sure you ask if you can connect with that person on LinkedIn (assuming they have one - common courtesy is that they would usually say yes) and say a final goodbye/call for a future discussion. Don't feel bad because you want to network with other professionals - that's the point of networking. As long as you aren't rude or obviously deceptive (i.e. you excuse yourself to the bathroom, say you'll be right back and go immediately join another conversation with a "more interesting" professional - a critique this writer is referencing from experience...) then your conversation ender is fine.