Incubator

This past spring, I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Wagner College’s Business Program.  This innovative program offers an exciting class under Professor Frank DeSimone, which gives students the opportunity to work with businesses to develop marketing and advertising goals.  As part of the course, students work to develop these goals into actual products.  At the end of the semester, the company has received a product or several products that they can implement immediately and students receive opportunities to build their skills, create a portfolio of work, and network.  

The Graduate’s Guide to Networking was chosen to be a part of this incubator project.  The students I worked with, Symphonie, Kayla, Samantha, Kathrine and Lauren, designed a new logo, prepared advertising copy and revamped our social media.

I was expecting great things from these Wagner students.

I was blown away by their creativity, technical skills, and problem solving.  The commitment and dedication that was shown by the students I was lucky to work with was truly admirable.  Ultimately for these students, this was a class project, however, I never felt that I was working with anyone less than a professional.

Thank you so much Symphonie, Kayla, Samantha, Kathrine and Lauren.  With your work ethic, positivity and creativity, I know you will accomplish all that you pursue.

Congratulations, What's Next?

Congratulations New Graduates!

Whether you have graduated from high school, college, graduate school or professional school, you deserve to take time to appreciate and celebrate your accomplishments.

Maybe you will have a small intimate dinner party to celebrate.  Maybe you have the party of the century planned to celebrate FINALLY getting your degree.

Whatever your celebration plans, be prepared for the party.

“Congratulations!” Your neighbor will greet you.  “What are you going to do now?” He’ll ask.

And your stomach drops.  The balloons deflate.  The room grows silent.

What are you going to do now?

Maybe you have a fantastic job lined up with a Fortune 500 company that offered to pay off your student loans as a sign on bonus.  

Right.

Most likely, you are like the majority of the Class of 2012 and you aren’t quite sure what your next step will be.  You are casting a wide net in your job search, but continue to come up empty.

Breathe easier.  You have a tremendous networking opportunity before you--your own graduation party.

Mingle, talk to the people who support and love you.  

Dream, let people know what you’d like to accomplish.

And most of all, celebrate your accomplishments today.  You’ve earned it.  

DIY Student & Alumni Networking Event

Alumni are fabulous networking resources.  They have been where you are and have the experience and drive to help you.

Where do you meet alumni?

Contact career services at your college or alma mater.  They often organize events each semester to bring alumni back to campus.  Often, the career services director reaches out to a wide pool of alumni and extends an invitation.  Alumni from a variety of academic backgrounds will attend.  It is a great opportunity that you should take full advantage of when available. 

Would you like to take your networking up a notch?

Organize a student-alumni get together for alumni of your department, organization or team.  Utilize your organization’s contacts as well as the college’s alumni development office.  Arrange for food and drinks, because everyone is more social when they are well-fed.  Be prepared to talk about the accomplishments that have occurred in your time with the group.  Did your team qualify for a tournament?  Did your department present at a national conference?  Don’t forget to bring a sign-up sheet so alumni can be placed on your mailing list for future events.

You now have successfully organized an event where students can network with alumni with whom they have strong ties. 

Encourage this student-alumni relationship by hosting a yearly event to bring alumni back to campus.  Create a newsletter detailing events and accomplishments and email it to the alumni on your mailing list.

The more alumni know about your organization, the more they will be willing and able to help. 

Choosing How to Spend Your Networking Time

To be successful, networking takes time and commitment.

If you are unemployed, you have to search for jobs, send resumes, draft cover letters and prepare for interviews.

If you are employed, you have to commute to work, put in a full day of work and commute home.  You may even be taking work home with you.

In addition to spending time with your family and friends, making time for hobbies, sleeping and eating, it seems that you may not have a lot of spare time for networking.

Make a networking plan that fits your lifestyle.  I suggest the following:

Join a local organization or association within your industry.  This is a great place to meet potential employers and colleagues while staying up-to-date on the latest developments in your field.  The frequency of these meetings varies, but most will meet once a month and have committees that meet a bit more often.

Join an organization or group outside of your industry.  Whether you join a soccer team or a book club, choose something that speaks to you.  You may wish to pursue a hobby or a talent.  Why not do so and network at the same time?

Finally, make time for volunteer work.  Whether you do volunteer work within one of the above groups or you volunteer with another organization, take the opportunity to give back. 

Great Advice from GlassDoor.com

In my book, blog and workshops, I encourage people to prepare a networking profile, a snapshot of who they are and what they are looking for at a networking event.  This networking profile is so you always have a stock speech to draw from as you are speaking with someone.  However, if you are introducing yourself and blurt out your whole networking profile, your conversation may seem canned and rehearsed.

Liz Ryan at Glassdoor.com has a great term for this abbreviated elevator speech.  Ryan calls it a "bumper sticker."  I love it!

Read more about Ryan's bumper sticker networking technique here.

Transitioning Your Career

Usually, when we hear someone explain that they are transitioning careers, we think of someone who has worked for a few years in one specialty and is now pursuing a different career path. Even if you have not established your career yet, it may be time for a transition.

You may be transitioning from what you thought you would do.

Perhaps, you have graduated with a degree in English Literature.  You once thought that you would go on to graduate school and eventually earn a PhD.  Now, a combination of student loans, an uncertain job market and an uncertain passion are making you rethink your once concrete plans.

That’s okay.

There comes a time when we need to evaluate if we are pushing ourselves to achieve something we really want, or just something we think we should want.

It can be difficult to transition our mindset. It can be more difficult to work tirelessly towards a goal that no longer fits who we are and what we want.

You may have already transitioned your mindset once in college. 

When you first filled out your college applications and you marked a major, did you have a career in mind at the time? Like many college graduates, you may have changed your major.  You may have changed it more than once.

Some people even change their major twice in a semester. Ahem.

Changing your major in college is expected.  It is fairly common.  Now, changing your career path after graduation is becoming just as common.

Transitioning your ideas about your career does not mean giving up on your dreams.

What it means is finding a way to make your dreams work in reality. You need to get creative. We’ve answered the question, what do you want to do.  Now it’s time to ask how.

You may want to be a fiction author.  Have you considered searching for a position that will utilize your research, writing, and proofreading skills and will give you spare time to write your novel?  Perhaps you could look into a position that will put you in touch with contacts at a publishing house or agency.  You are no longer looking for a job as a fiction author, but a job that will support you as you pursue your writing career.

You may want to be an accountant.  Just because you have not received an offer from a big 4 accounting firm does not mean that your career is over before it starts.  If you want to be an accountant, reach out to everyone you know and ask them to reach out to their accountants.  Set up lunch meetings (not during tax season).  Ask them to keep you in mind for any per diem, part-time or full-time positions in accounting.  You may not have the opportunity to work for a big 4 firm, but you still have the opportunity to be an accountant. 

You may have wanted to work with a marketing firm designing high profile advertising campaigns for Fortune 500 companies.  You may need to start smaller and look to local marketing firms to grow your portfolio.  You may need to actively solicit and engage clients for the firm in your first few months.  It may be a much different experience than you expected, but that does not automatically mean it will be worse.

To transition your career mindset, be honest with yourself and your passions.  Just as you have had to make networking work for you, you can make your career work for you.  Be open to creative opportunities.  Be open to experiences that do not play out as you expected.  Build and maintain strong networking relationships.

Most of all, remember that your first job will not be your last job.  You will learn from it, grow from it and eventually move on from it.  But to move on, you will need to rely on the skills, experiences, and the networking connections that you have built along the way.

I wish you the very best of luck as you forge your road to success!

USA Today: Using Your Greek Ties to Network

Are you a member of a fraternity or sorority skeptical about how your Greek ties can make networking work for you? 

Check out this fantastic article by Nancy Oben, a senior journalism major at the University of Miami and fellow sister of Alpha Delta Pi!