Building Professional Mentorships and Internal Networks for Career Growth

Whether you love networking or hate the idea of it, there’s no getting away from the fact that it can hugely influence your career success.

This is the first in a series of episodes about networking for the HR Coffee Time podcast. In it, host Fay Wallis talks through the three most important networks for your career; explaining what they are, how to assess the strength of your relationships with them and how to create a plan to improve them. 

Key Points From This Episode

[01:32] Networking will be covered over a series of episodes because it is such a large topic

[02:04] Networking makes some people feel uncomfortable. Research by Francesca Gino, Maryam Kouchaki & Tiziana Casciaro revealed it makes some people feel physically dirty

[02:34] Fay wants to convince you that networking is something to be embraced & enjoyed

[03:24] Networking is about building relationships

[03:45] The first of the three most important networks for your career is your personal network

[04:52] Your friends and family will probably have helped you with your career at some point

[06:30] Thinking about why networking is useful and what else ‘networking’ means

[07:22] Networking is a way of helping and supporting each other

[07:55] Career karma – what goes around comes around

[09:14] Adam Grant’s research into givers, takers and matchers

[13:16] Approaching networking with a giver’s mindset

[14:25] The second important network for your career – your external professional network

[16:01] Building your external professional network by going to events, joining memberships and groups

[21:00] Networking on LinkedIn will be covered in a future episode

[25:00] The second important network for your career – your internal network

[28:40] A DiSC team building workshop is one way Fay can help your team to build relationships and work effectively together

[29:48] A simple exercise to help you get started with assessing and building your three networks

Useful Links From This Episode

• Review the HR Coffee Time podcast on Apple Podcasts
• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• The Bright Sky Career Coaching website
• “Learn to love networking” by Francesca Gino, Maryam Kouchaki and Tiziana Casciaro
• Adam Grant’s TED talk about givers, takers and matchers
• The CIPD’s local branch finder (to find out about local events)
• Disruptive HR Club
• The HR Independents
• Daniel Barnett’s HR Inner Circle
• The HR Ninjas Facebook group
• The Chartered Management Institute
• HR Heads’ mentoring programme
• Let’s Talk Talent’s mentoring scheme

Rate and Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of HR Coffee Time helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do let Fay know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: fay@brightskycareercoaching.co.uk.

Enjoyed This Episode? Don't Miss the Next One!

Be notified each time a new episode of HR Coffee Time is released and get access to other free career tips, tools and resources by signing up to receive the free weekly HR Coffee Time email.

Mentioned in this episode:

Join 3R Strategy's free Pay & Reward Academy

Become a member of 3R Strategy's free Pay & Reward Academy, or access their free resources by visiting: https://bit.ly/3racademy.

Ready to learn more about Inspiring HR?

Learn more about the Inspiring HR Leadership Programme, and sign up to join the next cohort, that starts on 10th September 2025.

Inspiring HR