This is Networking: Break Through the Fear.
If you’re here, you might be scared of networking or confused on where to start. We’re going to work through that fear today.
So first, what IS networking?
At its core, networking is just interacting with people.
You can network with ANYONE: family members, neighbors, coworkers, friends and classmates, your internship supervisor, or alumni of IC.
You can also network ANYWHERE: chatting with your boss on your lunch break, working on a group project for class, or at a formal networking night or conference event.
It’s important to keep in mind the goal of these interactions: forming genuine, mutually beneficial relationships. Through these relationships, you can learn about a career or industry, find collaborators and project partners, or obtain a job or internship. So how do we do that? That question is harder to answer, so we’ll come back to it. But first, an activity.
Stand up a partner who you haven’t interacted much with this weekend.
Choose who’s going first. Person 1 will tell Person 2 an involvement they have or something they’re interested in, and Person two will respond with a way they can help or collaborate, or if they can’t, a resource or a person they know who could get involved. Then switch. (1-2 mins for each rotation)
Find a new partner. We’re doing the same thing, except this time you’re telling your partner a goal you have for the semester and they’ll suggest a way they can help or a resource or person to direct you to. Then switch (1-2 mins for each rotation).
Return to your seats.
Now, what is your career goal/field? (raise hands, ask for examples)—who knows someone in that field? (1-2 mins)
You might not have realized it, but you were just networking.
Nothing to be afraid of—it’s just a conversation with the goal of creating a mutually beneficial relationship.
I’ll admit, though, that in less casual settings, networking can be intimidating. So let’s go over some of the ways to initiate a connection.
One way to connect with people is to engage online.
Who went to Sabrina’s session about personal branding online?
On LinkedIn, you can filter search results to only include alumni of Ithaca College. From there, you can narrow your search by job title, location and more, and begin browsing alums’ profiles to see what they do. You can also join the IC Mentoring Network group on LinkedIn to ask questions and meet alums. Once you’ve found someone you might want to talk to, you can invite them to connect and send a message that introduces yourself as a current IC student who wants to talk about the industry.
Twitter is also great way to interact with professionals in your field, regardless of what industry you want to go into. It’s more casual than LinkedIn, you can reply to some of their tweets and retweet them occasionally to begin forming a relationship.
Last summer I struck up a conversation with a freelance writer on Twitter, and when she noticed we were both from Portland, she asked to get coffee later that week. We met, and we talked about how she broke into the often-difficult writing career and some resources I could use to do the same, and then she looked at me and said:
“Do you want to get paid to write?”
“Of course,” I said, “That’s the dream,” and she offered me a job, right then and there, ghostwriting for her.
Your path from a networking connection to a job or internship might not be quite so direct, but it’s proof that pushing past the fear of networking reaps a lot of rewards.
One of the elements that scares people the most about networking is breaking into conversations at networking events, but it’s important to keep in mind that every person at those events is looking for someone to talk to, and they’ll be grateful if you’re the one to initiate because it means they don’t have to! My strategy is to wander around the room until I find someone who’s also wandering, then go up and introduce myself. After a simple handshake and introduction, I often ask why they’re at the event or what they do. Soon the conversation is flowing.
If there’s someone at the event who you really want to talk to, but they’re engaged in a conversation, there’s two strategies. The first is to wait, keeping an eye on them until they end their conversation, then approach. That can be difficult, so know that it’s considered acceptable at a networking event to go up to two people conversing and stand at the fringes until there’s a slight break in the discussion so you can introduce yourself and ask a question or two. Again, it can help to remember that everyone, no matter how extroverted or experienced with networking, is slightly nervous at events, and people will appreciate you initiating.
After you’ve talked to someone for awhile, it’s a good idea to move around and mingle with others. Asking for their business card (or offering yours) is the universal sign of gently ending the conversation while continuing to show your interest in the person.
But once you have the business card or you’ve engaged online, it’s time for next steps. If you’re happy following up with questions and updates via email or LinkedIn, great! But if you want a more personal connection, consider informational interviews. They’re more casual than job interviews because they’re about learning and dialogue instead of scrutinizing and seeking a right answer. They’re as simple as asking someone to get coffee, then sitting down with them to ask questions about the culture of their current workplace, what they like and dislike about their job, how they got into the industry or that role specifically, their insights on changes in the field, and more. Keep in mind that this is a conversation, so feel free to contribute and share your experiences as well.
To get the most out of networking, it’s important to maintain the relationship. Send a thank-you note after an informational interview, and make sure you keep up with your connections. Send along articles you read that relate to their field, followup questions you have, and even updates on your classes or involvements.
Write one thing you learned and one way you’re going to bring that back to IC THIS WEEK. What are you going to do THIS WEEK to listen better, expand your network, or further an existing relationship?
(Ask for them to share with a partner, then with whole group if time)
Printout of key facts
