I won't go over the basics again, but I will cover one important topic today: networking.
Many students don't think they have an actual network, or at least not a big enough one to "really count". Networking is something for the "professionals".
I'm here to tell you that your network is a lot bigger than you think!
The Ripple Effect
Lets jump back into middle school English for a moment here and make a simile: your network is like a ripple effect. You, dear reader, are the tiny droplet in the middle. The first ring is your immediate contacts whom you know- friends, the manager at the restaurant where you might have waited tables one summer, a professor you took three classes from and really get along with, maybe even a second cousin or two. The second ring is everyone in their immediate network. The third ring would be the second ring's immediate network and so on.
So what's so great about having a connection that possibly reaches your neighbor's cousin's second son? If, hypothetically, you wrote in your personal summary (that was talked about in last week's post) that you would love to work for a big wig animation studio and your neighbor visited your profile and saw it, they might remember that one cousin who has a kid who works at that one studio. In general, people are usually pretty willing to help out. If that neighbor mentions their contact with you and you follow up in introducing yourself to that contact and establishing a friendly relationship...well, who knows? Maybe you'll be the next person putting the VT logo in a movie.
The First Contact
Continuing with this hypothetical neighbor and neighbor's cousin's second son, let's pretend your neighbor is willing to put you in contact with this animator. Sometimes they will send the initial message for you, introducing who you are and what you're interested in. This way, you get spoon fed your initial "in" and the pressure is taken off your shoulders. However, sometimes they will give you an email and you will have to make the first contact yourself.
First off, I like to email people before I send them a connect request on LinkedIn. You might not know if your neighbor has introduced or mentioned you beforehand, and getting a random LinkedIn request from a stranger can sometimes be a little off-putting. No need to scare them right off the bat.
In this email, make sure you introduce yourself and explain why you are reaching out to this person first and foremost before you ramble. You're probably overloaded with questions about what their job entails and what you can do to boost your resume and portfolio, but you don't want to drown the receiver in a sea of confusing and interweaving ideas and questions. Make your point heard, then branch off.
Lastly, make sure you reread and reread this email again! You want a friendly yet professional tone. This means you need to pay attention to not only proper grammar and spelling, but word choice. Make sure you are saying exactly what you want to say exactly the way you want to say it. Once you click the send button, it's out of your hands.
After you've made that initial contact and they have responded, you should send a connect request on LinkedIn. By this point, your profile should have all the information someone could find on your resume, so your new contact can browse it to see what you know and maybe even refer you to a few other contacts!
Many business have their information on LinkedIn. On their page might be the company website URL, a list of the employees who have LinkedIn profiles, and possibly even job listings.
Don't forget - you can network out of LinkedIn as well!
As I finish off this article, I want to remind people there is a world outside the internet!
Shocking, I know.
LinkedIn does not have to be your only means of networking. Career fairs, conferences, and university clubs are also great ways to get yourself out there, meet new people, and extend your network. So keep a look out for other opportunities!
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