3a: Current Networks

Networking huh?

'Networking' is a very important part of my profession. Whether it be relationships with company members, self promotion via social media or keeping everything together and organised in a crazy work environment. So what actually is 'networking'? In my line of work, I personally believe that networking with individuals or companies is more about how you approach a situation, rather than what the specific situation is. After reading through a few other peoples blogs there is a common consensus of "it's not what you know, it's who you know" and mildly cliche quotes like these, and I couldn't agree more. A lot of opportunities and a lot of situations boil down to either who you know or "being in the right place at the right time". I have friends who work in extremely prestigious ballet companies all around the world just because of having "the right friends" or "being in the right place at the right time".

The only thing you start off your working life with is your reputation from school and your CV. As you develop as a dancer and as you work more, your CV will adapt with you. I posted about my CV before but I think it is important to notice the comparisons of both my school CV and my professional CV. When you are in school you want companies to notice everything you have done. Coming from school, you don't really posses any real experience as a dancer, so as time progresses and you start to perform more with a professional company, you notice that a lot of smaller things you have done at school will start to be replaced with more prestigious roles that you have performed. This sort of development is key as in our line of work, the more you have done, the more employable you become.

I believe I have two different networks in my life and this creates some what of a hierarchy in my professional life. I have my social network and my professional network. As I spend most of my waking hours at work, these two tend to intertwine a bit. When it comes to a ballet company, all dancers are on the same level. It doesn't matter if you are fresh into the cour de ballet or whether you are prestigious principal dancer, we are all in the same studio and all working towards the same goal; to get the job done that is given to us. One step up the ladder from us is our bosses and people on a management scale like Ballet Director, Choir and Orchestra Director and Repateurs. These will be the people who will decide just what roles you get, how the rehearsal day will pan out and your general weekly structure. Finally at the top of the ladder are senior management or the "big wigs" if you will. These are people like board members, Head of Theater and Culture Ministers. These are the people who decide how much you get paid, the direction of the entire theater and everything in-between. Using Networking, it is important to maintain some form of relationship with every step of the ladder. I find that if you are liked by everyone and respectful, you're going to have a much easier ride than if you are a diva.

Networking yourself successfully to people outside of your own professional company is key in growth as a dancer. I was lucky enough to have an American choreographer come to our company to create a ballet on us with myself dancing the lead male role. Establishing that good relationship with the choreographer has definitely allowed me to explore more options in the future with him, inside and outside of my current workplace. Even creating good relationships with people who don't have much to do with the dance world can be beneficial to your own networking expansion. We have a lot of very prestigious political members who attend the Theater in Estonia such as the prime minister, President and other important delegates. From various meet and greets and Premiere party gatherings, just by performing well and being polite and courteous, it has allowed me to perform in other Theaters in Estonia just through connections made whilst networking on and off stage.

I think in an ideal world, every members of every step of the network ladder could have at least some say on how things are done. Obviously some form of hierarchy has to be in place, but a lot of the time the people further down the food chain end up getting the brunt end of the deal.  Of course the only real way to grow in any work environment is to expand your personal network as much as you can. Being punctual, being reliable, being polite, putting in the extra work.. These are all ways to get yourself noticed and to network yourself through the means of other people. You are far more likely to successfully network yourself by other people noticing how good of a job you are doing, than approaching someone further up the ladder and having to tell them yourself. I think that people underestimate just how important it is to be considered reliable, especially in the professional dance world.

The physical communication through networking differs depending on who I need to approach. If I need to get in contact with a fellow worker then any form of communication is acceptable, be it phone call, text message, Facebook etc. Speed and efficiency is very important in our company so even on step up the ladder I take the same approach, perhaps minus the Facebook as I don't think my direct boss even uses social media. It becomes a little trickier when you need to network or stay in contact with the top of the ladder. Usually a formal email will suffice, but the great thing about my personal work space is that if I have a real problem that needs to be addressed quickly then my Theater Manager is just down a few flights of stairs for me with a "my door is always open" mentality.

Networking outside of my professional company is slightly different. Now I feel that a much more formal approach is necessary. When I was 18/19 and auditioning I would only make contact with potential companies to work in via email, usually very carefully thought out emails and only sending them after proof reading it about 100 times. I think I only truly understood how important networking really was once I was thrown into the situation of auditioning. You literally have to sell yourself and hope that they like what they see. I think that certain forms of social media can be quite dangerous to your own image and your own network reputation if you are not careful. For example friends who part of their job is to find people to work for their company. Whats the first thing they do when considering someone for a job? They type their name into Facebook or Twitter or even Google. Now if you live a lifestyle of debauchery and drunkenness then this could reflect badly on you when someone is considering you for a job. I think that a company would much rather hire someone who portrays a calm and sensible image than one who posts more along the lines of partying. Obviously everyone is free to do what they like in their free time but this goes back to networking, having companies see evidence of unprofessional or taboo behavior could be considered poor networking

I have learnt a lot since I have left school on networking myself and even from this course. Having to write things down has raised a lot of questions on how I approach my professional and social networking which hadn't occurred to me, I kind of just did my thing but apparently there is a whole cycle of things that I subconsciously do so writing it in blog form and understanding it for myself has been a really useful tool and something I have definitely learnt from.

Thoughts? I know that this is a long post and I addressed more of a broad concept of networking but Id be really interested to hear some thought from others.