I was honoured to be interviewed on the fantastic (and highly recommended) podcast, NBN Radio, a.k.a. New Business Networking Radio. Hosted by my friend, Dave Delaney, the show offers insight into what it takes to be a job hunter or entrepreneur in the social media era that we live in.
Networking has grown to be a very important – perhaps THE most important – life skill when it comes to forging your career. Sending in a resume and a cover letter to job postings (most of which I have my doubts to being real) are no longer an effective way to finding the work you are qualified to do. It is indeed who you know but most specifically, who knows what you can do for them. That’s why meeting new people and getting to know them is very important. Get involved by volunteering, attend networking events and use websites like LinkedIn effectively (it’s not an online resume – great tips here).
Networking when you stutter
Regardless of speech fluency, not many people enjoy striking up conversation with strangers. Add a speech impediment, and it can be quite daunting and embarrassing. But you can’t let your stuttering hold you back. You have skills, talents and experience that are useful to others employers. “Sorry, Bertie, you can’t be king of the commonwealth because you stammer” said nobody. Yet Bertie persevered and became King George VI and the voice of the British resistance.
No one becomes a networking rockstar overnight. It takes baby steps. Attend an event with a friend or two. Try venturing out on your own at one point. Ask if you can volunteer to help out at events in your industry. And most of all, tell them you stutter. It’s nothing to be ashamed of and you’ll soon notice people will be seeing you in a positive light. You’ll appear confident to them. It’s what happened to me. I used to be so embarrassed and self-conscious until women started telling me “You are an awesome! So brave!”. Tell me how that doesn’t boost anyone up?
Nobody ran screaming away. And if anyone were to do so, it’s a reflection on them and not someone you’d have an easy time hanging around with in the first place.
If you’d like to give networking a try, I can highly recommend Dave’s book, New Business Networking. And I am not just saying that because Dave is a friend of mine. I bought a copy of his book a few month ago and I gleaned so many new ideas from it and still refer back to it today! I’ve only described a very high level steps towards networking with confidence, but Dave’s book will give you everything you need to know and in baby steps.
The episode
On Dave’s show, we talk about job hunting, our mutual history in podcasting, how I built a community with Stuttering is Cool and how it helped me write my book and of course, stuttering. You can listen to us at daveadelaney.com/daniele-rossi.