English: Networking 101

I never saw myself as a networker. People who know me well know also that I am rather quiet and not an outstanding talker. Well, be surprised. This project has me talking a lot, meeting a lot of people and also networking.

The final result of my experience will be a report about the experiences of success and lessons to learn from cooperation between the Salvadoran diaspora and the country. For getting that information I have to interview organizations and people who have either experienced that kind of cooperation or who are doing developing projects that can be potential for a future cooperation. As you can imagine at this point, I have to meet a lot of people, get information from them, and at the end of the day, connect people with similar interest to make cooperation possible in the future.

From the networking tips I have received in the past, there are two that have been particularly handy during my stay in El Salvador. The first is to have a 30-second story about myself; it came naturally as I started meeting new people. I have to tell them in just few seconds who I am and what the reason of my visit is. People here are very open to strangers and that helps a lot. At the beginning I thought I would have to get used to a lot rejection, but reality has been very different. The second tip is that getting interested in what people do is the best way to network. In order to connect people, one has to know what they do and what their interests are (thank you Rick). People get connected by sharing interest either personal or professional.

By applying these two basic principles of networking, I expect the project to be successful. I will tell you at the end of June.