By Paul Rosario, Peers for Careers/SCDC Correspondent
(As originally published in the Ticker: http://ticker.baruchconnect.com/article/career-corner-building-your-professional-network/)
In the world of business, you’ll often hear the old adage: “It’s not what you know, but rather who you know.” However, with the slump in the current job market and general economic malaise, the saying should now be: “It’s not what you know, but who knows you.”
Having a network is immensely important to your career success. It can help you learn about opportunities, find a job or make a career change.
Before we delve into the topic of networking, we first need to establish its enormous value. A remarkable 65 to 85 percent of jobs are found through networking, according to the Harvard Business Review. This suggests the reality behind the “hidden job market.”
Many jobs are filled through insider referrals, unanticipated hiring, and often, these jobs are not advertised to the public. For the jobs that are publicized on websites such as Monster or Indeed, you can expect 300 other candidates, some more qualified than you, aiming for the same exact position. This demonstrates that you are much more likely to acquire a job through networking than applying online.
Networking is the act of interacting with other people to exchange information and develop contacts, especially to further one’s career. You may have a family network, a friend network, a colleague network or a sports team network.
People in these networks are often those with whom you have something in common, whether you’re in the same family, share a passion for basketball or attend the same college.
The aim of networking is to establish relationships with people who will aid you in achieving your short-term or long-term goals and fostering those relationships. You want to stay in touch whether through shooting monthly emails, grabbing a cup of coffee or even sending a holiday card.
It is important to understand how to leverage your connections and connect them to the career realm. As an underclassman, you can simply reach out to juniors and seniors to learn about their career goals and internship experiences.
As an upperclassman, you can do the same by speaking to recent graduates to get advice on acquiring that full-time offer. If you want deeper insight from an industry professional, you can go on informational interviews.
You can get introduced through someone in your own network or even use LinkedIn to reach out and obtain informational interviews. In the case of informational interviews, it is important to remember that you are not there to ask about a job but to learn from the professional.
Another way to connect your network with the career world is to obtain referrals from those in your existing networks. Those that you already know—a supervisor, coworker, friend or classmate—can refer you to someone else.
Baruch College creates many opportunities for you to network with professionals in your career of interest. I suggest joining a few clubs, maybe one for recreational purpose and another pertaining to your major.
There are several business fraternities and sororities, as well as professional student-club organizations in Baruch, which you have, access to. These clubs and organizations often host events where they invite professionals to lead or participate.
The Starr Career Development Center (SCDC) also invites companies to lead corporate presentations in which you can learn about the company and network with professionals. There are also career fairs in which over 40 companies are invited to meet with students and recruit them.
The SCDC also partners with Baruch’s on-campus mentoring program, Executives on Campus, for their mentoring events.
These opportunities include “Mentor for a Morning” and “Mentor for an Evening,” which are mini-mentoring sessions to speak to seasoned industry professionals in your field of interest, and the Executive Student Partnership program, which is their year-long mentoring opportunity.
If the idea of networking sounds a bit daunting to you, SCDC offers workshops to calm anxieties and provide you with the tools to network successfully.
Baruch creates many opportunities for students to network. Now all you have to do is go out there and do it. It’s the same principle you’ve been applying to your entire life: finding a relationship that works and working on it.