# Building your personal social capital

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/11/18/building-your-personal-social-capital/
- Published: 2009-11-18T10:49:44+00:00
- Author: Bryan Miller

According to Wikipedia, social capital is:

“a sociological concept used in business, economics, organizational behaviour, political
science, public health and the social sciences in general to refer to connections
within and between social networks… variety of definitions share the core idea “
that social networks have value. Just as a screwdriver ([physical capital](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_capital))
or a college education ([human capital](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_capital))
can increase productivity (both individual and collective), so do social contacts
affect the productivity of individuals and groups”.

I found an interesting article on how to build one’s social capital and written 
by [Ecademy’s founder, Penny Power](http://www.recruiter.co.uk/how-to-create-social-capital-to-secure-the-next-job/1003454.article),
and wanted to share it with the UK Fundraising community and gather your thoughts.

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Forget the fact that as the founder of a social network for business she obviously
has a vested interest in getting people to use it. What she says makes sense and
I predict that we will see the importance of individual social capital growing in
the future.

For recruiters it’s definitely a buyer’s market which means individuals need to 
find ways to differentiate themselves beyond just their specific work experience.
Building our social capital gives us greater value to potential employers.

BUT, here’s the rub; how many charity recruiters actually pay attention to anything
that isn’t in the cut and paste ‘supporting statement’ and ‘skills profile’ paragraph
format?

Come on people! If we want to recruit the best talent, we need to think outside 
the standard-sized, process-drive box and look to factors like an individual’s social
capital.

Your thoughts welcome as ever.

See previous blogs on [recruiting fundraisers](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/blog/2009/08/05/why-can039t-we-recruit-best-fundraisers)
and [how to be an appealing candidate](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/blog/2009/08/12/what-charity-job-seekers-should-keep-mind)
for reference.

 * **[Tacit knowledge](https://fundraising.co.uk/2008/10/06/tacit-knowledge/) (6
   October 2008)**

 * **[Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy offers funding for groups and Fellowship programme](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/03/08/arts-fundraising-philanthropy-offers-funding-groups-fellowship-programme/)**(
   8 March 2017)
 * **[Facebook to grant up to $10 million to help people build and lead communities](https://fundraising.co.uk/2018/02/09/facebook-grant-10m-help-people-build-lead-communities/)**(
   9 February 2018)
 * **[How to get the most out of networking at Fundraising Convention and elsewhere](https://fundraising.co.uk/2019/06/16/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-networking-at-fundraising-convention-and-elsewhere/)**(
   16 June 2019)