And so it begins. The job hunt for the next work term. Yet only 4 (or 8) months from now, you’ll be right back at it. If you’re lucky, you’ll find a job over your work term and be co-op stress free through your next study term but how? What about after you graduate? It only seems far away… That’s where networking comes in. We all hear the word thrown around, but what exactly is ‘networking’ and how can you as a co-op student get the most out of yours?
Your network consists of everyone you legitimately know and personally interact with on a regular basis. Not that random person on Facebook you haven’t talked to in the last eon. Your network is your friends, family, co-workers past and present, and by extension, everyone connected to the aforementioned groups. All of these people can help you on your career path if you use them wisely.
The first step to utilizing your network is identifying one or a few specific fields you’d like to get into. Once you’ve done this, ask everyone in your network if they know anyone who works in that particular field and get their contact information. Even if none of your contacts can give you anyone’s name, remember that they may know someone who knows someone, if you catch my drift. Over my work term I asked my manager if she knew anyone in the mineral/metal elemental analysis field. As it turns out, she did not know anyone but directed me to a full government directory listing employees in the Ministry of Mining and Northern Development, who do a fair amount of mineral testing. I got the contact info of the Senior Lab manager in the blink of an eye.
Congrats on your first network contact! Next, you need to request an informational interview: a time to meet or phone your contact. If you got the contact’s name from someone else you know, make sure you refer to the person’s name in the request. Keep these invites relatively short e-mails. In addition to indicating your interest in the field, make sure you assertively tell the contact that you will be calling them to arrange a time to chat within the next couple of weeks and follow through! I cannot stress this enough—working people, especially those in senior management and company leadership positions may not respond. Don’t let them get away with it! You only need 20-30 minutes of their time to ask your questions, and you’re not after them for a job (yet).
Now that you have booked a time to actually talk to your contact, come up with a list of questions to ask. Remember, your goal is to find out what working in the field is like, and NOT to get a job. That’s not to say you shouldn’t ask what kind of opportunities exist though. This is arguably one of the most important questions as it gives you an idea of how the industry is doing. It is important to do some background research on the your contact’s company as well—this will not only allow you to ask more useful questions (i.e.: you couldn’t have found the answer on Google) but it will also show genuine interest. I will discuss relevant questions in more detail next issue so stay tuned!
In the meantime, start thinking about your own fields of interest and ask around. You’d be surprised at who can help you—if you’ve read this far, you’re well on your way to a more effective job search.
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