Diana Clement: Networks offer inside edge

For centuries, gentlemen's clubs, freemasons and other exclusive organisations have offered networking opportunities for those in business and the professions.

While these bodies continue to flourish, there's a new breed of exclusive groups allowing successful professionals who don't belong to the old boys' networks to mix with others.

These organisations' unique selling point is their exclusivity. Not just anyone can join. You need to be invited or hold specific qualifications that not everyone in your industry will have.

Instead of who you know, it's often personal success or ability that brings membership.

At Beta Gamma Sigma, for example, you need to be among the top 10 per cent of undergraduates or 20 per cent of postgraduate students at the University of Auckland Business school to receive an invitation, according to member Angela Cruz.

Beta Gamma Sigma, while only five years old in New Zealand, has chapters all over the world and has been running since 1913.

The idea of organisations such as Beta Gamma Sigma, and a similar one for accountants called Beta Alpha Psi, which has networking opportunities in Auckland, is that they allow high-level professionals to meet, share information and gain insights from each other.

When Cruz got a letter inviting her to join Beta Gamma Sigma, she'd never heard of the organisation and had to do some research. At the time she was an undergraduate in marketing at the University of Auckland.

Philippines-born Cruz accepted her invitation to join and as a result landed her first postgraduate job as marketing consultant at The Business Store thanks to membership of Beta Gamma Sigma.

"Two-thirds of my company are Beta Gamma Sigma members," she says. "My managing director is American and knows the society quite well. He is not a member, but recognised the brand."

Being a member of Beta Gamma Sigma has also helped with landing clients for the consultancy business. "It helps with building the brand and cultivating networks," says Cruz. "It gives me access to a network of top achievers who are the current and future leaders in business - not only great for professional development, but also The Business Store's core target market.

"Along with my colleague David Richmond, one of the key projects I am currently spearheading is around building the Beta Gamma Sigma network and brand within New Zealand."

She says the benefits of networking organisations are widely documented and provide:

*Support.

*A venue to compare and discuss issues of common interest.

*A source of project opportunities.

*Potential sources for mentor/s.

*Inspiration.

*Opportunities to raise your profile in the industry.

*A forum to meet new people.

*Opportunities to build mutually beneficial relationships.

*A source for potential partnerships for your business/employer.

*A venue to head hunt or be head hunted.

Belonging to exclusive organisations and networking regularly can pay dividends for job-hunters.

Another such group is the CFA Society, populated with graduates of the notoriously difficult Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams.

KPMG mergers and acquisitions specialist Charles Widdicombe gained the CFA qualification after realising it would broaden his capabilities and complement his chartered accountancy qualifications.

The qualification and the ongoing educational opportunities from the US-based CFA Institute have helped to expand his knowledge and enabled him to progress at KPMG from transactional services due diligence to valuations, mergers and acquisitions.

Ongoing membership of the CFA Society and attendance at regular events has put him in touch with some Networks offer of the best brains in New Zealand's investment sector.

Widdicombe says if he needs a second opinion he can simply pick up the phone and call some of the best investment analysts in the country - thanks to their shared membership of the CFA Society.

The options for exclusive networking are varied. Many organisations have alumni groups and members often feel a common purpose or affiliation. They include the Fulbright programme, which provides scholarships to top American universities. Others include AIESEC, an organisation that provides undergraduate members with leadership opportunities and international internships.

There are also smaller, job-specific opportunities. Nathalie Hall, executive assistant to TVNZ chief executive Rick Ellis, helped to found Conoscenti, a networking group for the country's top personal assistants. To be invited you need to be an executive assistant to a chief executive.

Hall says regular meetings help members check out venues and members will often hear of job vacancies before they hit the recruitment agents. Her current role came when a fellow member of Conoscenti resigned and recommended Hall for the job.

Mensa is another exclusive organisation. Membership is for people who can prove they are in the top 2 per cent of the population for intelligence.

Many Mensa members keep their membership secret, says Sue Greatbanks, chairman of Mensa New Zealand. In fact it can sometimes be a negative factor in job hunting - because it may be considered by an employer that certain roles are beneath Mensa members. But members get to know each other through regular meetings and they also network online, says Greatbanks.

Fellow Mensa member Todd Foster, acting principal legal adviser at the Tertiary Education Commission in Wellington, adds: "Regularly meeting with and talking to other Mensa members keeps my mind active, which has a direct influence on the fairly demanding intellectual work that I do.

"I also believe the level of understanding of each other there is among Mensa members to be very validating and a valuable support mechanism that helps all aspects of my life."

At Zonta International, says Area 1 director Maureen Heine, professional women are invited to join with the intention of keeping a balance of professions in each club. Although Zonta members are not allowed to solicit for business, they are loyal to each other, says Heine. Zonta attracts high-profile names such as former Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright, Banking Ombudsman Liz Brown and Margaret Sparrow, a pioneer in sexual and reproductive health.

Members grow their professional abilities through leadership opportunities and some seek out mentors from within the ranks of the organisation.

The benefits of exclusive bodies are that not just any Tom, Dick or Harriet looking to further their career by mixing and mingling can join.

Melita Sharp, director of Career Coach Consulting, says the advantage of networking through exclusive industry organisations is that you're more likely to mix with like-minded people. At the CFA Society, for example, relatively young or new members of the industry who have chosen to sit the qualification can rub shoulders with leading figures in the investment field, including managing directors of more than one company.

Industry leaders who are CFA Society members include Philip Houghton-Brown, chief investment officer for ING NZ, John McMahon, managing director for ASB Securities, and Neil Paviour-Smith, managing director of Forsyth Barr. Ideally, says Sharp, you can mix with people at a higher level than you. "It is about how to proactively progress your career.

"People you aspire to be like or people who can help you get into roles or people who can act as a mentor, but are outside of your company.

"Professional organisations are a good way to do that. They can help you reach your goals and help you directly or indirectly to step up to a new role."

But it's important to understand that networking is more than handing out a bunch of business cards. It's a reciprocal relationship that involves giving as well as getting - although the person you are helping may not be the same person who is helping you.

If you don't know of cross-industry or other exclusive organisations that might be suitable for you, says Sharp, it's worth talking with the people you aspire to emulate and find out what organisations they belong to. That can be a good starting point.