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Managing Your Career
Networking 101 for New Nurses
How to make connections that will help your career.


Like every other professional, nurses need networks because they are an invaluable source of information and opportunities. A network is like a treasure chest. And you can put wonderful things in it that you never know when you’re going to need to pull out. For example, you might dig into your chest when looking for a new job, when looking for advice on the job you have, or when you need a recommendation. Your personal network plays an important role in your career track. Here are two key ways to develop your network:

Develop Relationships
Even if you’re just beginning your career, you already have a bit of a network: classmates, teachers, former employers, co-workers, people from your service group, or the co-coach from your son’s soccer team. If you have relationships and are in a loop with a set of people, you have a network you can access for useful information and opportunities.

The key is to expand this network, even if it means getting out of your comfort zone. Sit with a different person or talk to one new person every day. In a hospital, this is easy. It’s also easy if you take the bus or the train in the morning or park in a bustling parking lot. People are everywhere.

If you talk to one new person a day, over the course of the year, the odds are you’ll meet people and develop relationships in which you’ll have a connection. As you develop your relationships, your connections will add you to their treasure chest of information and opportunity--and you can add them to yours.

Present Yourself Professionally
On my first day of work at a hospital in New York City, I remember seeing another nurse coming to work. She looked fabulous. Her hair was neat; her uniform was neat; she looked like she’d popped out of a commercial.

I saw this woman a lot because she and I took the same paths throughout the day. Even late in the day, she always looked put together and professional. So one day I stopped her. “I’m the new chief nurse; I’ve been noticing how you always look so professional,” I said.

“Well I’m a Saint Vincent’s grad,” she answered.

I didn’t quite know what that meant, because Saint Vincent’s was a New York Hospital, and I was new to New York. So I asked her. She showed me her distinctive pin and explained that the nuns had taught them to always, always, always look cool, calm, and collected. “Saint Vincent’s Grads don’t sweat,” she said. “And the wonderful thing about that is people really do believe you’re in control.”

And she was right! In building your network, you have to realize that it’s not just what you intentionally do, but also what comes out unintentionally. Whether you want to do it or not, what you do, how you look, and how you behave builds your network. And since you’re going to build it regardless, you might as well do it with deliberateness and create a powerful and positive network.

Connie Curran, RN, Ed,D, FAAN, is president of Curran Associates, a healthcare consulting firm. She was also the founder, president, and chief executive officer of CurranCare, LLC, a national management and consulting services organization that delivered dynamic leadership to the healthcare industry. She is a former editor of Nursing Economics and a prolific scholar with more than 200 publications and articles to her credit. She served as the director of two of the most comprehensive national studies on staff-recruitment, retention, and labor market participation.


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One Response to “Networking 101 for New Nurses”

  1. Myk Says:

    Love your blog post! Try to also visit http://NurseReview.org Excellent site!

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