Growing your network will bring you career growth opportunities. Plain and simple. The larger your network becomes and the more connections you make, your connections to job opportunities will grow and support your career transition. In this blog post, I explore how to find your next networking event in Berlin.
Why are networking events important?
Networking is essential to your career. Many individuals who have succeeded in their career credit the successful outcome to networking. By creating strong network channels, career seekers build personal relationships with humans, and humans hire people, not names on a CV.
Networking gets you noticed. To be hired into a job you love, people first need to know you?re looking to transition into a new role. Job seekers usually place a strong focus on a lengthy CV and online job application. It arguably works, but only 2% of job applications submitted online get called for interviews. This means you need a new strategy to get to your ideal job.
Networking builds relationships. Relationships become personal when you meet the recruiter, HR manager, or hiring team in person at an event. Your future team now has a sense of who you are and has connected with you. And where skill-sets and talent are important to job success, people want to work with people who they have connected with to a certain degree. Networking is important because it supports personal connections. It sets you apart from other job seekers and helps you frame your own story within your network.
Quick Tip: Encourage yourself to connect with at least one person at your next event.
Who you know and who knows you, matters, and becomes important in your job search journey. Current studies show that as much as 80 percent of job opportunities aren?t advertised publicly. Most job opportunities are instead filled by word of mouth, personal connections, and referrals. Expanding your network brings you more opportunities.
How is your Berlin network?
Current relationships are a great starting point. However, think bigger and expand your professional network with secondary connections in your industry?s community.
As you reside in the city of Berlin, you?re in luck. Because Berlin hosts a vast collection of unique companies and organizations across various industries hosting informative networking events weekly. It?s only a matter of time before you find the right event for you.
Where do you find your next Berlin networking event? Network building begins with finding the right event to attend. When searching for an event, a piece of personal advice is to attend events that are worth your time. In a city like Berlin, you have upwards to ten to twenty networking events to choose from a day. But are they all worth your time?
Granted, they may be interesting, but to honor your time, you must be strategic about the events you attend. What event will bring you the most opportunities? Will people from your career field and industry be at that chosen event?
Last but not least, think about how you can become an asset to the events you?re attending. Many job seekers complain that they?re tired of going to events, roam the room and never go home with a meaningful outcome. I encourage you to brainstorm how you can add value to your next event. Many Berlin events look for co-organisers, volunteers to welcome attendees, speakers, hosting management and event organization. Lastly, think about speaking at an event. Do you have an idea? I personally like 12min.me Berlin. It provides me with an opportunity to share my knowledge. Berlin is waiting to hear from you.
Where to Find Your Next Networking Event
It?s time to find a networking event in Berlin. Lucky for you, Berlin has a lot of events to offer. The number of events is overwhelming. But I?ve done the hard work for you and compiled a list of networking online resources to help the process.
Quick Tip: Before you begin your event search, make a list of ten keywords related to your industry. Use these keywords to search the event platforms as it filters the events better towards your interests.
Meetup.com: From social to business events, meetup.com is a great resource to start your network event search. I use this platform every week to keep updated with My Career Path and technology-related events.
Eventbrite: The next Berlin event website, Eventbrite is valuable for business networking events. The platform is searchable from the homepage, and to begin, use one of your listed ten keywords to narrow the event search.
Facebook events: Facebook was my primary platform for finding networking events when I first arrived in Berlin. Several Berlin networks like My Career Path, CoWomen, and CIEE Entrepreneur Lab are just a few local startups that feature notable networking events on Facebook.
Social Media: Are you following career thought-leaders in Berlin? Event organizers, founders, and HR directors are constantly sharing networking events they?re attending. Social media platforms like Instagram are common places to find your next event.
Our e-newsletter: My Career Path sends out a monthly e-newsletter with Berlin career advice, notable networking events and insight from local HR managers. Are you on the list? [LINK]
Conclusion
Networking in Berlin is a career-driving strategy to land your next job. Networking is a great way to make yourself known to the community, connect with like-minded individuals, and build your network. Next time you search for networking events in Berlin, use common event platforms like Meetup.com, Eventbrite, Facebook, and our newsletter to explore events and build connections.
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Author: Kave Bulambo
Kave Bulambo is the founder of MyCareerPath. She?s worked in the Berlin technology industry with some of the largest and best startups like N26, Zalando and CareerFoundry. In every pursuit, she?s stayed firmly rooted to her purpose; to influence equal job opportunities for all and to guide diversity and inclusion in the workplace. As an active member of the Berlin community, she is often at various networking events — make sure to say ?hello?!