Networking in college is probably the biggest advantage that you could possibly give yourself. In a nutshell, when you network with people you are creating opportunities for future business and academic relationships. There is a very prevalent saying “It’s not what you do in college, but who you know” and it means that there are many ways to enhance your college experience and enhance your network. What you should be doing is trying to expand your possibilities for a job offer after college. Many freshman, sophomores, and even juniors don’t want to think about life after college (because college is great!) but, they need to be working on their networking skills in order to be a better option for employers in the job world. Some ideas to begin your networking journey are listed below!
Career fairs– Career fairs are great because it allows you to meet a bunch of different companies looking for new graduates. Even if you are not going to graduate in the next year it is always good to be making these connections early on. If you go to the fall career fair your junior year then again your senior year, you’ll have stronger connections with the repeat companies than someone who only goes on their senior year of college.
Graduate school fairs– A graduate school fair is usually a fair that is for a lot of graduate schools to come together to present to the student body. These are set up like the career fairs but they will have representatives and admissions people from the prospective schools. Here you will be able to connect with these people and find out more about their graduate school. You can submit your resume or get their contact information to be able to expand your relationship with them further.
Meet your professors (the relationship)- When you meet with your professors, especially the ones in your major, you are creating a relationship with them that could carry on to your future. If you meet with a science professor multiple times throughout the time that you have them, then they know you personally and would be able to write you a letter of recommendation for graduate school, medical school, or even know someone that is currently hiring.
Going up to people– Breaking out of your shell for a couple of minutes to meet new people could be the highlight of your life! You never truly know who someone is until you go meet with them, and for people who are very introverted this can be quite a challenge. For starters, you should have a couple of questions in mind to pique their interest in you and see that you are actually interested in them. Trying to relate to them or their lives is also a good idea when networking. One key tip to remember is that you should not try to be something that you aren’t, be yourself and you’ll do great!
All in all, these networking experiences are able to solidify your time at college and really able to help you to become your best self and create the best future for you. Yes, it is possible to land a great job without networking at all, but when you do network, you are opening up so many doors for yourself. Oftentimes, the doors you are opening for yourself are not even in front of you yet.
