Head of Legal UK&I at SD Worx and founder of In-house Potter, Emma Lilley, Founder of PROPARTY Colin Horton, and Meg Kelly, Engagement Director at GROW Mentoring share their insights into building confidence and learning to navigate setbacks, what networking is and what it can do for you.
By Elsa Tatam. Published 26 July 2024.
When it comes to networking, Emma Lilley recommends that you make sure that you're in a position where you feel like you want to be there. Detailing the feeling of imposter syndrome she had when first learning to speak to people in a more professional environment, and how she wasn’t able to shift that feeling until she found her passion for working in-house. She believes strongly in the value of virtual networking, explaining:
“I built up that network online first of all because I was so shy and just didn't know how to speak to people, and I didn't know how to deal with these new situations. However, I had a hunger and really wanted to get to know these people. So started off online for in-house.”
Emma also suggests that you should be choosy about the events you attend and using your passions to bring you in front of the right people and make networking more natural. She said:
“The key is realising what you are looking for. First put yourself in those places where you feel a little bit more comfortable and find your direction by learning through others.”
Colin Horton stresses the importance of having self confidence. When entering the property industry, Colin didn't feel a sense of belonging, so he turned to social media where he felt he could take a ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ approach with his confidence. This then lead him building new connections, to hosting his own networking event and ultimately to finding a new professional role.
“I decided to come up with PROPARTY, and it was just a party for networking, because I know I've lacked that confidence sometimes in myself and that environment can be more welcoming”.
He explains the importance of putting yourself out there at the kind of events he hosts with PROPARTY, pushing the fact that practice makes perfect, saying:
“I think it's so important to put yourself out there and you might come across confident or you come across rubbish, but push yourself at it and just ask people for advice”.
He also highlights the power of LinkedIn, saying:
“LinkedIn is where [employers] are going to these days. When I hire staff, I'll go straight to LinkedIn to see if they're confident, if they're the type of people I want, if they've got something about them. One thing to take from this is just to really focus on trying to build your personal brand because sometimes if you are a bit nervous about networking it will carry you anyway - people just come and talk to you, and it's so important”.
Current Moorgate student Meg Kelly, who is a future Trainee Associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and the Engagement Director at GROW Mentoring, believes that networking need not be as intimidating as it can seem at first glance:
“The truth is that networking is quite simple I think you can think about it as just friendship or community or really just having a chat with someone”.
Meg usually likes to find one thing she has in common with who she is speaking with and build from that; once you’ve found common ground it’s not as scary. She also recommends that you don't take everything at face value. She cites her LinkedIn profile which shows a very straightforward, linear journey. However, her career path has already been full of zigzags, only choosing to take law originally as she had an interest in true crime and after working as a teaching assistant and volunteering at an archaeological dig site for a few weeks.
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