Multiply Your Contacts

The Hospitalist. 2009 April;2009(04):

April 1, 2009|The Hospitalist

Networking is crucial to career advancement, no matter what your long-term goals are. Connecting with others in hospital medicine, general healthcare, and business can build your knowledge base, your support system, and your reputation. But how—and why—should hospitalists present themselves to the influential people they need to know?

The Need to Network

You may think it’s not necessary to expand your list of contacts within hospital medicine. Put another way, why bother to network? Vineet Arora, MD, MA, assistant professor of medicine at the Pritzker School of Medicine at University of Chicago, points to a paper, “Strength of Weak Ties,” published in the May 1973 American Journal of Sociology by sociologist Mark Granovetter. In the paper, he presents a social science theory that says “the people who are most helpful to you are those who you don’t know well,” Dr. Arora says. Granovetter’s theory suggests that in marketing or politics, the weak ties enable individuals to reach populations and audiences that are not accessible via strong ties.

“It’s not your friends or the people you know the best who are most likely to help you get a job,” Dr. Arora says. “Those people have already helped you as much as they can.” The main lesson here, she says, is to “think carefully about reaching outside your comfort zone. Introduce yourself to a stranger; it’s to your advantage to cultivate these weak ties.”

To increase your number of “weak ties” in hospital medicine, follow these simple steps:

In-House Networking

Don’t forget the valuable networking opportunities that exist in your own workplace, “particularly if you’re in a larger institution,” Dr. Holman says. “It’s well worth a hospitalist’s time to begin to develop relationships with other physician leaders in their facility, such as department heads or a chief medical officer [CMO].”

The key to in-house networking is to make your interests known. “If you’re looking for career advancement, unless you make this known to others, your interest may go unrecognized,” Dr. Holman says. “The flip side is that you may be seen as someone who is not invested in the group, so how you ‘message’ becomes vitally important.” Practice an elevator speech that makes it clear you’re looking for opportunities within your organization.

If you’re approaching a company leader who is a bit intimidating, Dr. Holman says, you can be “fairly forward, but go through the proper channels. If you want to approach the CMO, schedule 30 minutes of time through their assistant and clearly state the purpose of the meeting.”

Networking within your organization can lead to introductions outside the HM world, thus adding to your weak ties.

Virtual Reality

In today’s business climate, a lot of networking connections are made online. Dr. Holman cites the social networking Web site Facebook, which “allows you to reach out and to receive messages from those with frequent trigger words or keywords, such as ‘hospitalist.’ ” A more business-oriented networking site is LinkedIn. “It’s great to have a LinkedIn profile to let people know your interests,” Dr. Arora says. “It’s a professional way to use the Internet to showcase who you are and build your contact list.”

To help you connect through these sites—or broaden your Web-based professional networks—SHM has established groups on Facebook and LinkedIn, and recently added an SHMLive component at Twitter.com. Visit www.hospitalmedicine.org and follow the “Get Involved” links to connect to the social networking revolution.—JJ

Step 1: Establish Goals

Consider why you’re networking in order to focus your efforts and target your contacts. Are you looking for a new position? Do you want to transform yourself into the go-to hospitalist in a specific clinical area? Are you looking to learn leadership skills?