Forget Facebook. Forget Bebo. Forget Linked in. Forget virtual networking all together. Shame on us Londoners for not recognizing the networking opportunity that literally stares us in the face every morning and evening– the tube. Many of us career minded individuals go out of our way to attend networking events, to be in the right place at the right time (careers fairs, book launches or what have you). It’s time we went back to basics.Yes –believe it or not the tube is more than a sweaty, germ-infested hot pot. Have you ever wondered what the man in front of you does for living? Or where that girl got those jeans from? Or have I not seen you before? Weren’t you the guy who….? How many of you have ever had the person sitting next to you peer over your shoulder to catch a glimpse of what you are reading only to “style it out” when you catch them?
Don’t get me wrong, a hard day’s work topped with sitting on the grotty Central Line does not prepare anyone for great conversation. Likewise, most of us just want to catch up on sleep or get out the mobile phone as soon as we get reception. The rat race doesn’t do us any favours. A combination of germs running riot, stenches exploding and lack of air are a recipe from social hell. Thus there is of course a time and place for tube networking. Being sandwiched between two random strangers liked a tin of stuff sardines is hardly appropriate for a friendly chat.
I take inspiration from a friend of mine who seems to produce a friend, career contact or random acquaintance on a regular basis from her tube journeys home. Her list of "choo choo contacts” include a job hunter looking to break into the media industry (to whom she gave a few tips), a life counsellor (who gave her a few tips) and a newly arrived Norwegian lady joyous to see her carrying a Norwegian duty free bag.
I decided to try it out for myself.
I first helped a lady carry her child’s push chair down a flight of station stairs and spoke to her about her new life in the UK having recently arrived from Pakistan. The other day, I eavesdropped into a conversation between a random Italian lorry driver and budding art auctioneer discussing the best areas to live around Greenwich. These two were like chalk and cheese, making their conversation ever lightening and my train journey that bit more entertaining than staring out of the window at derelict industrial sites.
I am getting better at this tube networking business. I have successfully shared my jelly babies with a baby who was avidly checking out my sweets, told a litter bug to pick up his junk, shared my views on international development with a guy who had the guts to inquire about my reading material, exchanged a smirk with a fellow lady passenger upon listening to the teenage rants of five barely sixteen year olds. I even assisted a hysterical young backpacker after she crumbled in frustration because she was totally lost in the underground tunnels. Ironic how you can travel the world and it is ultimately the London underground that resorts one to tears. I once chatted to a random Aussie on the Central Line about his perception of us Londoners. “You’re cold and never smile, " he said. "You’re the first Londoner that has randomly spoken to me on the train.” A compliment or not I don’t know.
Most of us get on the train at the same time each morning and unknowingly form a fascinating human relationship with people we see everyday, but with whom we exchange few words. I remember at the time of the July 7th bombings, a friend of mine had taken the day off and was overwhelmed with concern for the people she barely knew who had boarded her train that morning. These were the people she had traveled with for the past two years. These were her “travel family.”
The more I tend to see the same faces everyday, the more curious I become. The man in the swede jacket who doesn’t look Indian– where did you learn Hindi? The lady with the red hair – I hear you work for The Times? The angry old man – what makes you so angry every morning? The style queen who gets on the train at the stop after me – where do you shop?
The logic from a professional perspective is of course clear. If you work in the city and are heading towards Canary Wharf, you are traveling with the finance crew. There’s always room to move up the ladder. If you are heading to Westminster, you’re mingling with the civil service posse – there’s always a chance for a promotion. I once read that those who make it to the top do so because they are most social and positively interact with fellow professionals. So why stop on the train?
Networking on the train is more than mere banter. It’s an opportunity. Hat’s off to the London Lite and London Paper for their get it off your text section and even better the love struck column whereby people who haven’t had the courage to approach someone they have an eye for on the train do so through cheesy messages. What these papers have done is acknowledge and give a voice to the silenced relationships that are formed on the London underground every day. It’s ever so ironic the way us confident Londoners resort to placing an ad in the paper to hunt down someone we fall for on the tube.
However “confident” us Londoners think we are, it’s high time we unburied our face from our London papers, put a smile on our faces and started to network on the network. Love thy neighbour and all that. You just never know….
