Thriving in a solitary role with a supportive community
By Caroline Green,
Founder of The Talent Cycle and Creative Director of #CareersFest
As Christmas fast approaches, it is a time of year when we often focus on our personal networks, enjoying everything from mince pies in our Christmas jumpers to dancing the night away to Wham! with our friends and families. But what about our professional networks? Working in the careers sector can be a solitary role, whether you’re a self-employed sole trader or technically part of a team but spending much of your working life in a careers room alone. As careers practitioners it is important to develop a network for wellbeing, sharing the highs and lows of the job, and developing best practice. Building a community is worth it but takes intentional effort and a clear strategy. I recently spoke on a panel discussion on this topic for the Career Development Institute (CDI), and the panel shared these five essential tips which will help you lay the groundwork for building a thriving, supportive community around you.
1. What is your why?
You want to find the right people who will resonate with your values and meet your needs. First, consider if there are any particular reasons why you’re looking to connect with people. This will support you in making the most beneficial connections. Ask yourself why and who you are looking to connect with. Is it those with more experience, with knowledge of other parts of the careers sector, or are you looking for ideas on how to improve your practice? Are you simply looking to make things a little less lonely and have some fun? Your ‘why’ leads to your ‘who’ and, once you know this, you can think about your ‘where’.
2. Where does your tribe hang out?
The beauty of the modern world is that there is a plethora of ways to connect with others, both online and in person. Understanding who you want to connect with can lead you to where your ideal community members already spend time. This can help you target your efforts in the right places.
If you’re looking for others who understand the LMI challenges of where you are based, for example, then seeking out local networking may be useful. If you want to simply connect with like-minded careers professionals, then joining a CDI regional meeting, The Careers Circle or big events like #CareersFest are great places to start. You can find more about all these options on the community page of the Careers in Careers website.
There are also lots of groups online, across platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook, which are either open to all careers professionals or specific sub-sets such as Careers Leaders. The beauty of platforms like LinkedIn is the algorithms do some of the hard work for you, so once you start making connections, you’ll be suggested similar professionals or those within their networks. It’s a great way of connecting with people you previously knew nothing about. And remember that even if this connection starts online, you can always take it offline by meeting with people in person as well (following all sensible safety precautions).
3. Give as well as take
When you’re building a community around you, be sure to give as much as you take. Don’t just ask things of others; see how you can help them with everything from your advice and expertise, to sometimes just your time, being a sympathetic ear.
Start by identifying ways you can help or add value to your community. Can you share insights, tips or advice? Could you offer guidance based on your experience? Maybe you can facilitate introductions between others who would benefit from knowing each other.
4. Regular touchpoints
Remember that creating a community around you isn’t a one-time thing, whether you’re developing your own network or establishing one for others. This doesn’t need to be long and time-consuming, but it does need to be regular. I have supported a number of careers companies on planning a strategy around this with regular touchpoints to build psychological safety and a sense of team. Fellow panellist Jessica Pieri, a Careers Advisor and Founder of The Careers People, agrees. ‘When creating community amongst a remote team of freelance Careers Advisors, my top piece of advice would be to ensure there are multiple touchpoints available for advisors to feel the togetherness you're creating. In practice, this may look like having a group chat where Advisors can share and support one another, regular virtual meetings and several in-person events throughout the year. This gives everyone a chance to get the support they need in a format that works for them.’
5. Lean into the quiet times
If you’ve completed any psychometric profiling, you’ll know that some of us will get more energy from spending time in the company of other people, and others will thrive from time spent alone. Whichever camp you sit in, the reality is we probably all like a bit of both, and leaning into this at any given time could well provide the chance to achieve some balance and complete the work tasks that get in the way of all this networking fun.
You might like to consider scheduling your tasks around the times you know will make you more effective, such as taking those quiet alone moments to get through your ‘to do’ list. Or you might take a more reactive approach to whatever the day has in store for you. Either way, do ensure that you allow for both alone time and proactively planning to spend time with others. Because, although many of us spend a large portion of our day with clients, that is quite a different kind of relationship and there is nothing like the collaborative and supportive arms of the careers community around you.