When you’re a new hire, everything is easier with support. Creating a networking plan for a new hire involves several key steps to effectively build and maintain a professional network.
Understand your network – identify the most important people in your current network, such as colleagues, mentors, leaders, and assess their quality and potential value to the goals of the new hire.
Assess the Network – evaluate your contacts to find gaps and identify individuals who can help the new hire achieve their job objectives.
Utilize onboarding opportunities – take advantage of onboarding events, meetings, and interactions to meet coworkers from various departments and learn about the unit/department culture.
Provide Information on Social Events – provide dates, times, and locations for opportunities for the new hire to mingle with existing faculty and staff. For instance, an appreciation event, an awards ceremony, or a department coffee time.
Arrange Coffee or Team Meetups – arrange times for the new hire to meet key colleagues over coffee or tea in the College. These arranged meetups with colleagues whose work is of interest to the new hire or who have similar roles to the new hire creates
Set goals – either before or after meeting colleagues, set goals for each relationship and how the networking opportunity may help in the success of the new hire.