Task 3a Professional Networking

TASK 3A

In this industry I find myself relying a lot on professional networks to find out about upcoming auditions and upcoming job opportunities. I belong to a lot of different professional networks at the moment, ranging from dance school networks to different entertainment companies.

Professional networking is very important as the success of your networking is evident in the success of your career. In this industry you hear, 'it's who you know' a lot and this is very true. So by networking with others in the industry and getting to know as many people as possible will really help your career. I always find that i get to know people through my friends and friends of friends so being professional and keeping in contact with people is key in professional networking. A simple coffee and a catch up could work in your favour in the long run! 

The current way that I engage in my professional network is mainly by Internet. Facebook sights for example, the dance school I am currently teaching at has their own Facebook page in which pictures from dance shows can be posted and information can be shared to those in the network. I know that this is the same for lots of different networks for example different clubs and organizations.

There are Facebook pages which share auditions, so many people want to join this network and their motives are to find out about new and upcoming auditions. It is a great place to share information with people who have the same interests and ambitions.

Twitter is very popular especially with celebrities and more established practitioners. I believe this is so popular because it’s a way on getting across information quickly and ‘to the point’ which is accessible for people to see all around the world. Recently twitter has become very popular but as well as its good points it has its bad, for example people sometimes tweet in the hear of the moment and say something that they wouldn’t say face to face. So although it is a good way to promote yourself and your business, if you are using it for your professional network I think the key is to stay professional at all times and think before you tweet!

I was told about ‘LinkedIn ‘ a couple of summers back by a friend of my parents and I had never heard of this before so I looked into it and I singed up for it, but I never really used it, I now feel that many more people are using LinkedIn to help create a professional profile and network. Do any of BAPP use it and if so how useful are you finding it? Would you recommend it?

Ethical considerations for networking in the workplace is very important to me as a dance teacher, I see it all the time people posting videos of dance classes on Facebook for everyone to see and I do have to question that why it is good advertisement for the class and the choreographer, whether the parents and people in those such videos have given permission for it to be shown publically. The scary thing about the internet is once something has been put on there it can be copied and saved so if it is deleted by the owner people would have had the opportunity to copy the video.

Another consideration I see is Personal details, I don’t feel that you should give away your personal details on professional networking sights unless it is the company’s address, work email and contact information for example and definitely not the people who are part of that network. It is just a means of safety as well as keeping your work and personal life separate.

Facebook teacher and pupil relationship is another point I’d like to discuss this is because at college we were not allowed to be friends with the teachers on Facebook, although we were training to be professionals and it was a more relaxed and friendly atmosphere between teacher and student than at school for example I believe that this was the correct rule for the college to apply as it helps to distinguish between teacher and friend. I also feel that it helps to protect both teacher and child from accusations. I feel that unless there is a professional network sight created for a dance school or group for example, personal Facebook accounts should not be shared with pupils. 

In terms of my own professional network, eventually I would like to have my own Facebook ‘group’ page. This could then be used as a page to share information to classes that I may teach or show information I have been in. However I think this is something that I should work on for the future as I am just developing my own teaching network and as I mentioned earlier the dance school which I am cover teaching at had its own Facebook page and webpage which I can communicate through if need be.

I used to have Spotlight and this would have been a great example of my professional network as here is where you are promoting yourself to agents and casting directors. For those on BAPP who have spotlight I think this task is a great opportunity to look over your spotlight looking at it as a professional network and seeing what improvements could be made.

At the moment I feel that my biggest professional network is my BAPP Blog so I think I can continue working on how I come across as a professional and discuss and share points of views with others on the course.

I feel that my professional network will be a working process and I will be interested to look back after the course and see how it has develop.