The Gift of Networking
When I was an undergraduate student at the University of Texas, my understanding of networking was pretty basic. Get over your fears, hand out business cards, shake hands, share your resume, and people will like you and hire you. But over the last decade, as I’ve grown in my professional career, I’ve recognized networking is more about relationships than resumes.
Currently, I have an opportunity to manage 20 undergraduate student employees. And while my responsibility is to create an environment in which they learn and make decisions on their own, I do feel a responsibility to share with them this essential professional tenet I wish I had known when I was their age.
For me, I found the best way to network is to grab coffee with someone I admire or want to get to know better. Whether that be a potential colleague, current boss, or mentor. Most people have coffee on a daily basis, so why not make it more meaningful and valuable by asking someone to coffee to get to know them better.
When brainstorming gift ideas for ten seniors last year, I wanted to keep my costs low and do more for them than buy a coffee mug that would collect dust on a shelf. So I started a tradition where I buy each of them a $10 Starbucks gift card accompanied with simple instructions: find someone you want to learn from or learn about and take them to coffee.
My students who graduated last year have mentioned how regardless of whether their coffee meeting lead to a new job, it did inspire a desire to learn from possible professional mentors and helped them understand how to better build relationships. If you know or work closely with students or know someone graduating or making a life transition, you might consider gifting them with something that keeps on giving and encourages them to grow their network.
Xx,
Linds
