Building You and Your Network — A Real Skills Perspective
Setting up the expectations of yourself and others can assist in streamlining communication and goal achievement.
Goal-setting can provide career-minded individuals with paths to attain new skills along with the chance to practice building connections required for professional growth. In the workplace, goal-setting from managers can have a profound effect on employee engagement. Only 13% of employees can report they feel engaged at work so having clarity around expectations can raise employee motivation.
Forward planning can also help students with structuring their course around what they hope to achieve by the time they graduate and enter the workplace. The culture and goal-oriented mentality of Real Skills Education offers a chance to mingle with career driven individuals and work together to identify their own working style. One of these goal-oriented members of the Real Skills team has agreed to share how they approached opportunities to connect with industry professionals and rapidly learn new skills.
Self-Introduction
“Hi, I’m Richard Zhang and I am one of the Partnerships Coordinators at Real Skills Education. I’m currently in my penultimate year of Actuarial Studies/Commerce student majoring in Finance, and I aim to enter management or financial consulting after I graduate. Starting my own consulting firm has always been one of my dreams, and I am extremely eager to pursue this after I get some experience in the industry.”
About the STEM Leaders Program
“I was one of the participants for the 2019 Spring STEM Leaders Program (SLP). Participating in the SLP allowed me to interact with industry professionals and develop my networking skills which began bridging the gap between the classroom and workplace. Just like many of my fellow students, I initially saw industry representatives as untouchable and in a different class from myself.”
“However, the SLP gave me the opportunity to see professionals as normal people with the chance to offer numerous networking opportunities, such as the SLP expo night. This expo night is a networking event for students to share their projects with attendees which allowed me to practice presentation and interpersonal skills. Not only have my networking skills grown drastically, but so has my interest in meeting people and learning about their journeys.”
“Joining the STEM Leaders Program really helped me understand the difference between the classroom and the workplace. I participated in one of the teams working with Transport for New South Wales, and we were tasked with modelling population density in Sydney following a certain transport project. While I did come from a statistics background, I was initially very much in the dark about population trends and modelling which meant I had to dedicate myself to self-learning and exploration in the 2-week period. Through this experience, I gained a strong eagerness for learning and an ability to adapt, which has served me extremely well in the projects and roles I’ve taken on since where I was required to pick up skills on the job.”
How does Richard approach building a professional network?
“Here’s my experience with networking. Whether you communicate in person or online, networking does follow a standard but flexible flowchart, so building connections is definitely achievable if you are stuck indoors as many have experienced during the global pandemic.”
- “Connecting with your person of interest begins with making contact. Making contact can be seen as a difficult first step, though you ideally approach people, in-person or online, and aim for a balance between friendly and professional while introducing yourself to others. My first networking experience was just me reaching out to my subject tutor at the time and he is now my long-time mentor for networking.”
- “The next vital step after you’ve started a conversation is arranging your next meeting through an email or even through LinkedIn messaging. However, I’ve noticed most people who attend Careers Fairs will ask basic questions to recruiters and stop there. Ideally, you need to put in extra effort to build your relationship with those recruiters if you want them to remember you.”
- “Once someone has agreed to meet you, prepare a list of topics to discuss which will maximise your meeting while preventing awkward silences. In the past I set up a few meetings that ran into dead air, so I developed a rough list of topics and tailored it for my next meeting at the time with an EY associate. Prior planning helped me get the most of my interactions with this contact and built up our connection faster than my previous approach.”
- “At the meeting, a key mindset is to actively listen to whatever that person has to say and referring to your list if there is a lull in the conversation. When I met a senior associate from PwC, I consciously kept an even balance between casual and professional conversation based on the attitude of the person in front of me. I believe reflecting their attitude was conducive for a comfortable and long-term relationship with this contact.”
- “Building a connection does not end with the arranged meeting, and requires consistent contact such as a message or call every 2 months. Despite any lack in face-to-face contact, I still keep in frequent contact with my mentors even by way of checking in with each other.”
Joining the Real Skills Team
“My interest in meeting new people led to me becoming part of the Real Skills Education (RSE) team. Since then, networking has become almost second nature, allowing me to meet a myriad of incredible people, including numerous mentors that have solidified my sense of self and direction in life.”
“Joining the RSE team has also been an amazing opportunity to develop myself and try new things. The more freelance structure of RSE has meant that I can have my pick of which projects I want to contribute to, so I’ve been lucky enough to work in large roles such as Events Coordinator and Partnerships Coordinator which are far beyond what I initially signed up for. When combined with the welcoming and friendly nature of the group’s members, RSE has strongly aided my growth and transition to who I want to be.”
“Expectations management has been incredibly important in both my professional and extracurricular lives. I have often worked in team settings, and being able to constantly update your superior or teammates has been essential for alleviating possible future concerns. Both the RSE team and the STEM Leaders Program strongly developed this skill, as a tight time frame necessitated rapid team integration and cohesion. Even small delays quickly escalated into foregone pre-set deadlines, and greatly increased stress and pressure upon the entire team. Whilst forming the habit of updating your team on every progression or issue was difficult, it has paid incredible dividends, and has taken my teamwork abilities to the next level.”
What are the main takeaways from Richard?
He has observed the importance of focusing on both technical skills from his statistics background, and practicing his transferable skills such as networking and managing expectations. Choosing this balanced approach allows people to learn and adapt quickly to fast-paced work environments and diverse teams. Richard has benefited from this approach from being able to work seamlessly across Real Skills projects proving to his future employers that he can deliver, irrespective of the task and resources at hand. We provide opportunities through our programs and within our team to solidify a work approach that serves individuals towards achieving their career goals.
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