Skip class. Go to an event!

At some point in every students career, that little alarm goes off in their head and they realize they need to start network. Approximately 80% of jobs are not advertised and are found through networking and personal referrals. This realization for students usually happens sometime in their third year.

Here’s my basic three-step approach to finding that job you’ve always wanted

(1) Make the effort! Skip a class or two…

Sure class is important, you do need to learn lots of hard skills to be successful out in the workplace. However, you should keep in mind that a large part of education is learning how to learn and think so you don’t need to learn EVERYTHING that’s written in your text book.

What is very important to your personal development and doesn’t really get taught in the class room are the soft skills in life. Things like communication with others face to face and being comfortable and confident with yourself in a room full of employers get pushed to low priority when students are so focused on purely there grades.

So take my advice and make the leap. Attend an event. Networking in Vancouver is a great website to find organization and association that regularly have events. It’s also sorts them by what industry you are interested in. Meetup is another great website to look for events and you can search for almost any industry or interest.

(2) Toss out the job pitch! Make a friend…

A common mistake for students getting into networking is when they treat it like a job or a game. That often results in the feeling of pressure and anxiety. Networking is really just about being social, “don’t push it, don’t force it”! An employer or professional is more likely to remember a student that shares their interest rather than one of the students that came up and talked to them about their job and said “What do you do?” Focus on building genuine relationships, not business contacts.

(3) Follow up! Go for coffee…

Once you’ve made that connection, do something! If you think you could benefits from that person soon by means of mentoring or advice, or just want to maintain a strong relationship, why not offer to take them out for coffee? Informal communication like social media is also great. It’s casual and shows personality. Twitter is a great tool to keep a connection and maintain contact without being as intrusive and formal as an email.

The important thing to note when following up and re-connecting with people you meet is to provide them with some kind of value. The last thing you want is for them to think you are that eager and annoying student that it looking for something from them. Providing can be done by paying for a coffee or sharing an article online that you think they would be interested in. Relationships of any kind need to be mutually beneficial!

Do you have any of your own networking advice? Please share them by commenting below!