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The Manchester Link-up: networking your way to a successful career

Submitted by Simon Lewis on November 24, 2009 – 3:26 pm4 Comments

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How face-to-face interaction helped Manchester’s marketing community

On 18th November 2009 the UK’s largest marketing jobs advertising platform hosted its inaugural networking event in Manchester. More than 130 marketing, media and communications exponents descended on the Walrus Canteen and Lounge bar, intent on developing their career prospects.

Many of the attendees were looking for marketing jobs in the North West and saw the juncture as a chance to meet local recruiters and hiring companies. Others were there simply to mingle with industry peers and broaden their networks. Employers benefited at both ends.

Titled the ‘Manchester Link-up’ the event was the second of Only Marketing Jobs’ regional tour, which aims to connect marketing professionals with significant industry luminaries; matching jobseekers with recruiters, and networkers with other like-minded contact-makers and career-builders. The ‘Link-ups’ are aimed at all marketing disciplines, from graduate to senior level.

Tapping into business-oriented social networking sites, Only Marketing Jobs structured the event around its LinkedIn marketing community in the North West to produce an occasion that was educational, enlightening and fun.

Throughout the night two fabulously gregarious clairvoyants used tarot cards to provide a staggering number of accurate profiles, whilst confidently predicting intriguing insights into their futures. By day Suzie Sharpe and Olivia Stefanino are professional career coaches, encouraging individuals to look more deeply at their personal brands and consider the benefits of enhanced profiling. Their involvement helped define a distinctive experience for all.

Jeremy Bassett, SME Ambassador for CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing) Manchester, who co-sponsored the event, said:

“The networking evening represented a great opportunity for CIM to engage with a wide range of people involved in many diverse areas of marketing. It was an original style of event and attracted a wide cross section of the industry, which meant we were able to chat about the CIM on many different levels with the attendees. The Link-up is a great initiative and we hope to be a part of future activities.”

Invaluable interaction

For many a social event of this nature was a new experience. With online channels so readily available the desire for physical interaction has receded over the years, especially within Generation X. But for many, the chance to interact with other marketing people, both newcomers and established professionals, proved invaluable.

Ghida Basma, a marketing and advertising professional from Manchester said: “As someone attending her first networking event, I felt at ease with everything and enjoyed socialising with other marketers, who were kind enough to offer exceptional advice and insight from their own experience.”

Networking events are, of course, what you make them. Sitting in the corner observing the room will get you nowhere. You have to get involved because the more effort you put in, the more you get out. Justin Moore, recruitment manager of specialist Creative & Marketing staffing agency, MacPeople, was certainly no wall-flower:

“I made sure I got amongst it and used the time to get to know as many relevant people as possible. This event represented a perfect opportunity to make new contacts that will convert into new business! This is certainly an event to highlight in your diary for the future!”

Speed networking

A key component of the event was the speed networking session, where attendees were invited to converse with as many new contacts as possible in an hour. This broke the ice and provided an electric atmosphere that set the tone for the rest of evening.

Each chat lasted five minutes before the chinking of a glass signalled it was time to move onto the next person. The decision of whom best to engage with was made easier by the use of a traffic light name-badge system, where a green label indicated a jobseeker; orange suggested a networker; and red denounced a recruiter/hirer.

Hayes Client Services, one of the event’s sponsors, made the most of the experience by using each five-minute slot as a preliminary interview for prospective hires into their expansive hiring programme. In total they identified 10 prospects, all of whom were invited in for formal meetings the following week. James Goodrich, HR director of the Manchester-based direct marketing agency, said: “The outcome was beyond our imagination. To attend an event like this and be able to simultaneously meet so many relevant marketers suited to our business was extraordinary.”

Relationship development

The enforced engagement provided some excellent platforms from which to build and the remainder of the evening was spent developing initial conversations. With preliminary drinks coming courtesy of the sponsors, the mood amongst attendees was certainly relaxed, accentuating the benefits of offline social interaction, opposed to digital processes or, indeed, more formally structured affairs.

Richard Gahagan, Co-founder of Sales & Marketing specialist recruiter, Adam Recruitment, said: “We attended the event wearing three hats: firstly, to help the jobseekers; secondly to promote ourselves to prospective clients; and thirdly, to network amongst other business leaders. We were delighted our sponsorship paid dividends in all regards.”

Predicting the future

With the UK preparing to exit recession 2010 hopes to herald the dawn of better times for marketing professionals. Whilst the jobs landscape remains uncertain there are positive signs. As marketers begin to see the welcome again mat appearing at company doors, those associated with the industry should be doing all they can to stand out from their competitors.

So getting out there, meeting people and showing them you are serious about your career, your business, your future, is one proactive element of a successful personal and commercial branding campaign. Hiding in the shadows serves no purpose.

“This was a well-attended and organised event and a real good turnout. Met loads of people and made useful contacts,” concluded Naheem Bhatti, a senior marketing manager.

And that, of course, is what it was all about.

Simon Lewis | Editor | Only Marketing Jobs