Current networks (Task 3a)

To start this task I began with a spider diagram! I used colour coding to see how I used the networks I'm part of. Have uploaded the photo below, hopefully you can see the colours!

Blue = Both

Green = Social

Orange = Professional

Whist analysing how I used my networks, as you can see from my diagram, there are no greens. I don't consider any form on networking that I do to be totally social. Perhaps it's part of my profession and based on the fact that the majority of my friends are part of it, but I believe there could be professional opportunities from all of my networking. 

As well as shocking me, I was also slightly disconcerted, as I don't want it to be this way. This brings me back to an idea I considered in Task 1b, if we can keep networks totally social/ professional. 

For me Spotlight is the most useful professional network I'm part of. As a member of Spotlight, as a performer, there are a mass of opportunities to help start and sustain your career. You can set your profile to email you castings. I receive approx 5 plus a day, which they have tailored to my settings. They hold seminars to help performers launch themselves. Offer valuable discounts that help with the cost of being a performer. E.g.: Gym memberships, dancewear, theatre tickets, physiotherapy, singing lessons and subscriptions to other networks such as Dance UK and The Stage. As part of my professional practice I use Spotlight once a day at the very least to check for suitable auditions.

After looking at my first diagram I then made a chart of how often I use these networks. A main part of being a performer is being in the right place at the right time. Because of this I found that a lot of the networks I consider myself to be part of are not networks I can always be actively involved in.  

From looking at my chart I could also identify the networks which I don’t actively engage in as much as I should do. It’s mainly the face to face networking that I don’t push myself to work on. This shocked me as I am an outgoing, bubbly person, who loves meeting new people. I think I feel weakened by the fact that I need something from them; I don’t want to be seen as desperate. But in reality you need to meet people to give them the complete picture of who you are and how you’ll be as an employee. I think with the vast improvements to technology the element of meeting and talking has become slightly lost. Because of this I will try harder to involve myself with more face to face networking.