How about some creative tips for college people and young people who fear from getting into the big business development market ahead, after their studies? Are you also the one, who doesn’t want to enter into such job? Do you hate to network? If your answer for these questions is yes, don’t you worry there’s no problem in it. I know, generally all young people hate to network. You must be wondering how I would know all this. This is because I have been with young people for a long time. I have spoken on college campuses for few years now. When asked about “How about a career in business development”, would a job relating to business development be a preferred option for you? The response I got was mostly “No”. I know, the thought of meeting new people, doing networking is really an alien concept to such students. Or if not alien, students find networking with people, a difficult task to do, even more than their 3 hour exams.
Today, we are going to talk about this only, how students like you, can enhance their networking skills and thus choose any of their favourite career option even business development and need not be afraid with the hassles involved in networking.
Fear Of Networking And Business Development In Students – How To Deal With It?
When students think about networking or business development, they think “oh gosh! I would rather put a fork in my eye“. But nowadays, I have found that the attitude of students is changing. They are realizing the importance of networking in their life ahead. The students now, are able to foresee how hard it is to get a job and they also see the impact of the recession in their households and they know they need a lot of tactical tips and tools to successfully enter the job market. They realise that when they enter into job market, one good option is business development, in which they cannot do well without being good at networking.
Not just business development, if we talk about any job relating to management then networking skills lie at the heart of it. Companies look for individuals who can work in teams collaboratively, who are relationships oriented, so there is a dire need for students and young people of today to realise the importance of networking in their lives. Now we will discuss around powerful genuine networking tips for the college students who literally hate to network to overcome this mental block of networking and business development in their minds.
Tips and Tricks for Successful Career in Business Development
Now, since we have established that “networking” forms the crux for a dream career after college, be it a job in business development or any related job, say a consulting, marketing etc. We’ll now chalk out a plan to deal with this mental roadblock for networking in youngsters.
First and the foremost thing to be put in head is, ”Hope is not a plan”. When I was young I used to have a saying on my fridge that hope is not a plan. What I mean by this is, if I only hope that I would make it to the class, I hope that I would pass, I hope that I’ll be a graduate one day, then these things will definitely not work. As one needs aplan of action to achieve good academic results and it is same with networking. It is important to plan and start working towards your “Networking Skills” to see good results.
You need to set up marketing strategy and planning process for what you want to achieve and whom do you need to connect to reach your goals. You need to intentionally focus your activities on getting a job, that’s key today. You need to use all the tools that are available to you. You don’t have much of a choice. Some of the good platforms for networking in college are grand celebrations like fresher’s party, farewell day, alumni meet and many more similar occasions where there are lot of adults compared to relatively much smaller student networking groups. Please don’t get me wrong here but I really think being a part of student’s chapters is great but opportunities like jobs and internships can only be sought in mainstream adult groups. Makes sense, right? But none the less, even these small student communities help you build networking skills and at the same time give a boost to your network. If not doing it right now, then start following it from this very day.
This was pretty basic, but what you actually need to do is get your business cards ready, yes, business cards for you. There is no ifs and buts about this. If you don’t have a buddy who can do it for you, connect with somebody else who can help you in this, but remember the cards must be unique and distinctive.
The other thing that you need to do is register your domain name. You may move and get lot of jobs in your life but your personal URL will be your permanent address. It will help in your SEO, your personal online advertisement and help the background check that’s going to be done on you in future when you join any company or firm. It will also help you in starting your own online businesses if any of you intend to do it in future. To start with, you can ask your favourite geek to fill your one page landing site, a just one page site. If you can do 5 pages that will be great, it will help you will keep building it for rest of your life and that it would be a one stop shop where different people such as clients or job consultants can come and find out things about you.
Simultaneously, you should reach out to your parents for a budget to attend networking events and I am very sure your parents will be much more receptive giving you money for such events instead of attending late night parties.
Next step would be to master “Linkedin”, yes Linkedin not Facebook. You have no choice because that is what job appointers use, that’s what organizations and recruiters use, and you have to start by putting a business photo on your profile. By business I mean a professional one. It is a simple process. I can guarantee that you will look very impressive if you get a complete profile with lots of connections and recommendations. For you it’s very important to do this, so that you don’t miss out any of the opportunities in the job front. It’s likely that by doing all this you’ll become of the strong prospects in the list of recruiters. Get recommendations from your teachers, associates, part time jobs, your team members, working group partners etc. Post updates daily, not about your favourite movies but about the networking events you are going to attend and other thought leadership programmes.
There is another tip, don’t think that your parent’s friends are elderly people, rather just look at them as databases; yes I repeat “databases”. Link with them, if there are few you are interested in, ask them for a courtesy interview. Trust me they will be eager to help you when you’ll approach them. Most parents are instilled with unwritten cold and secret wiring that says you must help your friends’ and peers’ children. It’s an unwritten rule, leverage it to your advantage especially if you wish to make your career in business development and the related jobs we discussed in the start of today’s discussion.
Networking or Business Development Help You Re-Invent The World The Way You Want To See It
Here is my last advice in regards to business development and networking, “create the world you want to live in the future by forming it with your networking activity today”. For example, If you want to connect with experts who have lots of social currency then volunteer and attend lot of fund raising events which are also excellent networking events which would provide you with great opportunities to boost your network with top business professionals, industrialists and experts from one or the other domain. Lot of people prior to the recession lived in the world of “this is what I can do”; we saw a lot of that in the last decade. Now it’s the time to live in the world of “This is how I can help”. Let this new philosophy define your networking or business development strategy. Remember it’s all up to you. Try hard to re-invent the world with your vision and promise to create the change that all ages would embrace.
By Tarun Gupta
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