What are the current or different ways (tools) that you have or do engage your professional network?
I would say that my current professional network mostly consists of graduates from my college and teachers that are also working professionals. Of course as I go to more and more auditions and work with different people the network is growing as I realise somehow everyone knows eachother in this industry. The best tool that I have used throughout my time in professional practice so far is 'cooperation'. Axelrod (1984) identified the importance of cooperating with others fully until you have reached the maximum point of benefit. I have always cooperated with others because it is polite and because no one will want to work with some one who is not willing to cooperate and, within a network where, as I said before, everyone knows eachother, word travels fast. However Axelrod suggests that once the maximum benefit has been gathered, the party should then defect to gain the most possible. I hope to gain from my career, but I also want my career to be on going and always evolving, so I think to 'defect' would not necessarily be the right thing to do even at that point. Axelrod suggests cooperation as a strategy, but I am not in the business to use people and throw them away, I would rather keep them close, and work with them again. At the minute I rely on word of mouth, and tools such as Facebook, video clips, to engage with the network, keeping in touch with these people is important and to keep an eye on what everyone else is doing.
What are the established and different ways that others use their networks especially if they are more established or, experienced practitioners that you admire?
People have been using their networks to get work and jobs for ever. A fantastically well known example of a strong network is the Masons society.The Masons is huge network and hundreds of years ago their influence on wordly decisions was massive. There were masons all over the world and through government and the church and it was well known that they 'looked after' eachother.
On a much smaller scale, my sister got me the job working at the restaurant where I currently work. My sister was within the restaurant network and therefore they trusted her opinion, because I am in a close nework with my sister, they assumed to a certain extent that I would be fairly similar to her in personality and work ethic. They felt like they new me slightly better than they did someone else who had no link to their network. Within our industry I often saw teachers who work professionally at the same time using their network at the college to hire graduates or put names forward for new shows or to suggest themselves to other teachers who may have been producing something at the time. One teacher told us to follow twitter and keep an eye on all the teachers and casting professionals that had visted the college in order to stay within their network and on their radar. Of course the more well known you become within your network, the bigger you network becomes and the easier it is to use your network as a stepping stone.
Are there methods, approaches and technologies that you use socially that might apply and help you develop your professional networking?
Crisp, J. and Turner, R. (2007) suggets that affiliation is 'a network of support that will help us when we are in need' due to our formation of 'close relationships'. I am more inclined towards affiliation as a means of networking than cooperation. Of course one must cooperate with their affiliations, however you do not have to defect from them after you have benefitted from them. I think professionally speaking, of course it is not a good idea to get too close to anyone within your professional network because with closer relationships, comes more problems, however becoming 'friends' with the people in your network may make them more inclined to help you when you are in need. I use facebook to keep in contact with my old college network, and my friends and family, but I do however have two pages. To ensure that I am seen by professionals as a professional, one of my pages as my full name, head shot, links to videos and photos from previous jobs and I only accept people onto the page who are within the profession. I use technologies now such as this blog to display myself as a professional and keep up with the BAPP network and I keep my mobile up to date with numbers in order to make sure I can contact people within my network if necessary.
When you reflect upon current networks, can you think about the motives of others to be in the network and what values and purpose they have in mind?
When I think about my current networks, I make a list in my head. School, family, college, dancing, work, and other. The main networks of which are family, college, and work. I believe you a re born into family, but that's not to say you won't add to it by letting close friends or boyfriends/ girlfriends into it. With christmas coming up, family is on my mind. As I live away from home, christmas is the one time of year that I make sure I am available to be at home and with my family. Our house is fairly open, and friends and boyfriends have always been welcome and I think thats the nicest thing about this network. Though it comes with its stresses, the family network is kind, rather than brutal and welcoming rather than filled with rejection and I think that is what makes it appealing to people. People crave a friendly and loving atmosphere at times and that can push them to try and join a family network.
The college network that I am in is bigger thann it may first seem. Of course to me, the primary members are the people in my year and the teachers who taught me but because the college is so old and so famous the network is bigger than you would think. Italia conti has seen thousands of students through the years and of course people want to join and be part of the Italia Conti network, for the name and what it represents. As they would Laines, or Bird College, joining the network as a graduate brings with it a knowledge for employers that the student has been well trained and knows about how the industry works.
When I think of work, I think of 2 different strands, I have the network of people who cover and swap shifts with me at the place I earn my money, and I think of the industry professionals that I meet at auditions and the fellow graudates I see doing the same thing as me everyday.Unfortunately for me I have to have my rather disheartening and mundane job to pay my bills, and that is the only purpose for which I entered that network and I think that's the same for most others. We bring ourselves and our hardwork to the network in order to keep getting by until we can leave and join the network of professionals that we love. So in a way that is a lot like Axelrod's theory of cooperation, I guess, and I'm not proud to say, I am using my work network to get the maximum benefit , waiting until the job of my dreams comes along..Well, there's a learning curve for you.
What would your ideal network look like and why?
My ideal network would be filled with working professionals, music techies, managers and promoters who were willing to work with me and help me make them money by developing me into what they want to sell. I want them to respect me as a performer. Even knowing people won't help me get a job unless they respect me as a professional.
What realistic things could you to do towards developing your ideal network?
What tools and methods do you need to use?What do you know about your current and intended networks and, importantly, what do you not know?
Developing my ideal network I think is probably one of the hardest things i'll ever have to do. I need to meet people, but in order to meet the right people, I would need to be in the right place at the right time, and obviously not just by chance. I think realistically, the best way I can do that, go to as many auditions as possible and talk to the others who are auditioning, see who they know and what work they have in the pipeline. Also, using social networking sites such as twitter and facebook to see events that may be coming up and if they are open, make sure that I can be there to represent myself and start meeting the people linked with my ideal network. I woud also need to be keeping track of evertything thats going on at the time, so keeping current. I think meeting people and inviting them to other events where I may be working is going to be the best way to start getting into my ideal network. Gradually, I would hope that I learn more about the people and more about who are the main people I need to target to get a step on the ladder. I think at the moment my main weakness is not knowing who I need to be targetting, I know roughly what job they need to have, but not exactly, no names or companies. I need to do a lot more research to get a better idea of who needs to be within the network to make it work.
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