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Business Fundamentals: Effective Networking

Learn how to network effectively and discover why it’s important to develop your career. Join this free online business course from the Open University.

Duration

4 weeks

Weekly study

3 hours

100% online

How it works

Unlimited subscription

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Accreditation

More info

Established

1969

Location

Milton Keynes, UK

World ranking

Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020

Build your network and personal brand online and in the real world

Networking is a fundamental business skill, which will help you take control of your career. Understanding the benefits of business networking, and how to overcome common networking barriers is a valuable skill.

This online course introduces the principles of effective networking, which will help develop your personal brand.

You’ll learn how to analyse the value of your existing connections, and find out how to create and manage your digital presence for networking on social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook.

You’ll also learn how to write an elevator pitch and get feedback on it from the course educators.

Week 1
What it is and why we do it
- Fundamentals of networking
  Explore the fundamentals of networking. Learn about the benefits that networking can bring and how to overcome some of the barriers.
- Looking at you
  Carry out self-assessments you can use in your elevator pitch that will help you recognise in which directions to develop your network.
- The elevator pitch
  Learn what makes an effective elevator pitch and begin to craft your own.
Week 2
How to get the most from face-to-face opportunities
- Recognising opportunities
  Explore the benefits of face-to-face networking.
- Interpersonal skills
  Learn about and practise the interpersonal skills needed for effective networking.
- Revisiting your elevator pitch
  Put your learning from this week into practice and revisit and revise your elevator pitch.
Week 3
Online networking opportunities
- Social networks
  Explore social networks and how to use them to their best advantage in networking.
- Successful examples of social media networking
  Investigate further how you can use LinkedIn to achieve your networking goals.
- Building your brand
  Learn how blogging and tweeting can help you engage with others and enhance your connections.
Week 4
Developing your networking plan
- Analysing your networks
  Analyse your network and learn how to identify which relationships to sustain.
- Your personal brand
  A brand conveys a promise that the product will deliver consistent and reliable standards of performance. For a networker, the promise is to honour commitments and fulfil expectations.
- The plan
  Start planning your next steps putting all you’ve learned about networking into practice.