There are professional organizations for just about every professional career field that exists. Before you can start networking through professional organizations, you must identify which professional organization(s) to join and be involved.
At a minimum, you should be able to find at least one or two professional organizations in your career field.
These organizations exist to provide their members with valuable services, such as professional support, lobbying, public-relation liaison, establishing and maintaining industry standards and ethics, as well as a forum for interaction and networking.
Some of the different types of business networking organization that you may consider to join, include:
- Business referral organizations. Business referral organizations bring together professionals and business owners in order to build relationships and refer new business to each other. This is the sole purpose of these organization – driving business for the participants.
- Service-based organizations. Some of business networking organization are more about helping and supporting the professional community and are less about advancing businesses. Examples are like Rotary International; Habitat for humanity etc.
- Education and Mentorship organizations. Some business networking groups specifically bring together new and experienced professionals and business owners for learning and mentorship opportunities.
- Large-scale business networking organizations. To sole focus of these organizations is building local connections. Sometimes these organization aim to provide more than just a local networking opportunities. Example for such type of organizations are Business Networking International (BNI), EON etc.
- Professional organizations. Many professional organizations also offer profession-specific networking opportunities for their members. Examples include Law Bar Associations; Law firm and accounting firms networks etc.
What are some of your criteria to which organization to join and to connect with relevant people?
If you’re ready to learn how to find, choose and prioritize the different organizations to join as a member and connect with the right people, check out this Practice How To within the SWITCH membership NOW!
