by Shannon C. Kelly
“It’s all about networking.”
No matter what your summer plans were, whether you interned, volunteered abroad, or conducted research on a college campus, if you met new people, your network grew. Now that summer is wrapping up, it’s important to make sure you can take your summer network with you. The saying “It’s all about networking” is true because it’s not just who you know, but who knows you when it comes to looking for your next internship or full-time position.
1. Use LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the first tool that comes to mind to stay in touch with your new connections. If you’re not using LinkedIn yet, sign up right now, or at least when you have 5 minutes. Their Student Jobs 101 website is immensely helpful with tutorials and checklists to get you up and running on the platform.
2. Personalize Connection Requests. On LinkedIn, the power lies in your connections. When you reach out to your colleagues or peers you met this summer, make sure you personalize your note. Adding a simple line makes a big difference to show you took the time to remind them how you met and/or why you’d like to connect. This rule applies to other platforms, too.
3. Leverage Other Platforms. There are many other social networking sites that can help you stay in touch with your summer network. Facebook is a natural choice, but be mindful of who you’re adding and how you use Facebook already. Do you want to keep it personal or are you comfortable adding professional contacts? Twitter is also helpful, especially if you’re an active user already. Twitter can help you build your network beyond those you met this summer through by including popular hashtags related to your professional interests, participating in Twitter Chats, and following organizations and their employees.
If you’d like to learn more about using LinkedIn or social media to stay in touch with your summer network or build it up even more, utilize our resource, Build Your Brand. Remember, we also over LinkedIn Profile reviews – so come in to see us if you have questions!
Thanks for sharing the post. Though i am not a associated with your college, your tips on career building and improving social network is worth reading and very useful.As mentioned in your post, one can improve or increase their social network through Facebook, but they should make sure that their profile is clean and is of high standard before they start establishing connection. If otherwise, they might lose the opportunity as now a days employers are very keen to see what their prospect employee is doing on social sites.