Throughout my college life, all I have heard from my professors, public speakers, and many company presentations, is that in order to get ahead in life, you must be well connected. Now what do we mean by connected? Connected means that you know many people who can help you through jobs and many other employment opportunities. I strongly agree with this because the more people you know, the better off you are and the easier it will be to find a job in the future. I have been looking for jobs and internships since freshman year and let me tell you it has not been easy. Employers have told me that its good that I am starting off early and searching for jobs and internships, but they are looking for "older and more experienced" juniors or seniors. However, nothing is easy and in order to actually find a job, you must take advantage of all connections and opportunities available to you. An article posted on Boston.com, gives some very helpful steps to doing so. They are as follows:
Step 2 – Define your initial network
Step 3 – Start in your comfort zone
Step 4 – Expand your network beyond campus
Step 5 – Keep track and keep in touch
Utilizing all of your resources is essential to your success in finding a job. I just found out about a site called LinkedIn. This site provides everything you would need in the business world such as contacts, jobs, expert advice, and many other opportunities and this is all told to you on the front page of the site. Also below is a great video that tells you all about the site.
The basic message is to stay in touch with people who can help you and develop your own network. In order to succeed in life, you must take advantage of every resource available to you. In other words, "It's not what you know, but who you know."
1 comment:
Reading through the articles and reading other blogs, I have noticed that one of the most important things you should do is stay in contact with people. People from past jobs can be useful later on in getting new jobs or new contacts. So it isn't just making new contacts, but holding onto past ones.
I think it's interesting that they are more interested in who you know than what you know, because if something got a job over you because they had more contacts than you, is that fair if you are more qualified than that other person? Just a thought...
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