Networking is the process of communicating with other professionals in hopes of developing business relationships with them in the future. College is an amazing place to make these connections. This is because you are conveniently surrounded by fellow eager college students who are just as ready to network.
Before we get into the meat of this article, I’d like to impart a bit of wisdom to you. Networking is so much more than talking to business people and getting their contact information. It is the gateway to knowledge you may not have had before meeting them.
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Utilizing Campus Resources
Your college or university will most likely host events such as career fairs. Also, it is almost a guarantee that your fellow peers will have created or joined a club related to a certain business industry. If there aren’t any clubs that host events for your desired industry, don’t worry too much about it. Being able to create business opportunities where they are not usually located will give you a leg up after graduating and even during school!
Once you find the event you are most interested in, you have to make it there. I have often felt like not leaving the house or coming up with an excuse not to go to such events and severely regretted it afterward. Because the truth about it is that the event will continue whether you go or not. You would only have taken an opportunity out of your own hands.
It’s a hard truth to accept, I know, but the reality of the world is what we focus on here at EverybodyLovesLakyra.com. Truth serum is the best remedy for all that ails you. I’m simply here to help you embrace that fact a bit sooner.
Events are not the only places you can network. You can network almost anywhere! Your local coffee shop may attract a bunch of possible business contacts. All it takes is a short greeting and a question about their field of work.
Don’t be weird though, if they don’t seem receptive to your energy don’t press the issue. It’s almost like making a friend, only this friend may very well be able to help you thrive in your career later in life.
Other places you may be able to meet people are your recreation centers, libraries, and-- if you live on campus-- the designated study areas in your dorms. Your future business partner/knowledge resource may very well be your next gym partner. Or they could be your next-door neighbor.
I’m telling you, the possibilities are endless! All you need to network is your striking personality and a mutual interest with the other person. People are like onions… they have layers, so don’t go thinking that you’re the most unique person in the world. You are not the only one who enjoyed electronic dance music (AKA EDM) in middle school (and you even secretly listen to it a bit now, but I won’t tell anyone), I promise.
I know what you’re probably thinking: “Lakyra, I’ve heard this all before. This is getting pretty boring *yawn*". You’re absolutely right. It’s about time we get into the nitty-gritty of this topic.
Leveraging Your Social Media
The contacts you get from networking are only as good as what you do with them. Unfortunately, having hundreds of business contacts in your phone won’t bring in your desired monthly income. I know, right? Life is such a scam! But in all seriousness, let’s talk about making the most of the contacts you’ve got.
In my first year of college, I decided to make a group chat for my fellow peers who were taking College Algebra at the time. We talked about questions we were having trouble with in the class, and even got together for a Google Meet to get our questions answered in real time! It worked because we did it as a group (and no… I’m not talking about groups where only one person is doing all the work).
Creating a group chat on social media apps for your fellow peers is a great way to get the ball rolling for business discussions and plans. It works better because it’s not an awkward one-on-one conversation. It’s an opportunity for everyone to share their ideas for their respective majors or business industries.
A wise businessperson would use these different industries to their advantage and try to think of a business idea that’s a bit outside of the box. After all, we’ve pretty much covered all the basic inventions and ideas already. These are times for innovation, so get to it! Please note that group chats are better for your fellow college students. Most established business people don’t want to hear their phone pinging constantly.
Another good idea for leveraging your social media is to create a LinkedIn account and design an enticing yet professional profile. This includes a biography (written in first-person for goodness sake, because third-person is just weird… we know it was you who wrote it!) as well as basic information about yourself.
Make sure to include all of the experience you have. When you share this with your contacts, they’ll be able to see how much you’ve accomplished. I do, however, recommend fleshing out your LinkedIn profile a bit further than this. A background photo, for example, can easily make your profile seem more professional than the rest.
You can even include your social media handles in the background photo. Take a look at my LinkedIn profile by following the link here to get a better example of what I mean. It has all of the basics to help you get started on perfecting your professional image.
If you decide to include your other social media handles, make sure your mom would be able to proudly show that account to their friends. If you don’t think they’d be too receptive, maybe don’t give your future bosses a reason not to hire you. Although, you do put yourself at risk by having any unsavory content on your social media, regardless. Just because you don’t give your future bosses the link, doesn’t mean they won’t be able to find it.
Make sure that you describe your business (or desired industry) in detail. You should include a bit of your out-of-the-box thinking and a bit about why you even want to pursue the career. This helps to show your contacts what you can bring to the proverbial business table. And sharing a bit of your story helps them to better relate to you as a person. Since-- as we all know-- most people don’t buy the product itself, but the person who sold it.
It should go without saying, but I will say it anyway. Make sure your profile is legible and your message is clear. This will be one of the first impressions your potential future bosses and contacts get from you. So please, make sure it is a good one. If not, at least don’t tell people you read my article… that’s the least you could do.
Leveraging In-Person Connections
After meeting your new contacts and exchanging information, I’m sure you and your new contact screamed excitedly to each other that you would totally meet up again sometime to talk about business. Yeah… you just got called out.
The biggest problem most people have with networking usually isn’t the networking part. It’s the poor follow-up that burns a negative impression into the minds of the contacts they left hanging. And it even seeps into the souls of those who failed to plan that brunch like they said they would.
Nothing will ever get done if you don’t do it. That is why so many people fail while so few succeed. The safety provided by both corporate and entry-level jobs has long held families together, so why change up the strategy now? Well, the real question is: Why not?
If you really want to be the tenacious business person you’ve seen The Wolf of Wall Street be (however illegitimate and absolutely morally bankrupt he was about it… he got shit done), you’ve got to make those brunch dates and follow through with them.
Remember what I said about the world continuing without you? Yeah… you want to grab the world by the no-no parts and show it what you’ve got! I might have gotten a bit carried away but you know exactly the feeling I’m talking about.
It is extremely important to keep in contact with the people you are planning on having a long-term business relationship with. You may be able to remember that one person who texted you on a random Tuesday, but there is very little chance that they will remember you too.
Try to text or email your contact once a week. If that is too much for you then try twice a month. The goal is just to keep your name and your industry in their mind so that once you’ve gotten to a place where you need their advice, they can remember a lot more about who you are and what you do.
Download the Infographic (For FREE!)
I didn’t feel like writing a cliche conclusion to this article so I decided to include an infographic to put all this delicious information into a simple set of steps, enjoy! You can simply take a look at the infographic down below (phone users should rotate their phones to see it the best) or download it by clicking the download button below.
Oh and before I go… just remember that everybody may not like me, but they have no choice but to love me because I will always be there for them and accept them for who they are. Now get to networking!
