Fostering External Relationships
You'll also want to develop your network outside of your company.
- Volunteer! It's good for the world and you meet fun, caring people. I currently volunteer for Reading Empowers because I love to work with young children and think education is critical to any advances made in the community. I found this opportunity through volunteermatch.org which pre-vets opportunities based on your interests and skills.
- Join affinity groups in the community. I was fortunate to have brilliant, passionate friends who have started their own affinity groups. I am currently learning more about a Women of Color network because diversity in the workplace is so important to me. I'll be returning back to this effort in a later article so more to come on this!
- Find a mentor. Your mentor can be an internal employee but mentors really give you an external perspective so I recommend trying to find a mentor from another industry. I recently joined The Fairy Godsister which is a nonprofit organization that matches young women to experienced female professionals. I love my mentorship experience so far because the advice has been objective, I have exposure to a strong yet approachable female role model, and the pressure of a managerial relationship is non-existent.