By: Steven Murphy
AUPRSSA and American’s Social Media Club hosted an event Thursday evening called “The Hyper Network”. At 7:00 pm in the SIS Atrium, a panel of PR professionals, professors and students talked about the changing environment of networking. As a freshman coming from a small town in Maine and currently entering a city atmosphere with aspirations to join the field of PR and communication, this event seemed like something I couldn’t miss out on. Members of the panel were Amos Snead of Story Partners, blogger and AU professor Stef Woods, SOC Professor Pallavi Kumar, marketing strategist and AU Professor Joe Gizzi, AUPRSSA Membership director Julie Sheiber, and AU Social Media Club president Chloe Troia. AU alum Alex Priest was the moderator.
The panel gave an interesting perspective of what networking has turned into today and strategies to succeed in this process by giving some of their own personal stories along with their individual thoughts and advice. Overall, the hour long panel discussion was extremely helpful as it gave us a picture of how to get our names out to employers and make contacts within our desired career areas, despite it being an overwhelming process.
If the panelists made anything clear, it was that in today’s world, it takes a lot of work to network correctly. One point they all made was to build yourself and your image up on social media platforms. They all agreed that you should have a Twitter account and a LinkedIn profile in order to network effectively. The panelists, however, did stress that how we manage these profiles is very important. They talked about how we should make anything that would be open to the public professional. This means watching what we post on Twitter, and making sure that our Facebook profiles are private if you feel the need to post that “awesome” picture from last weekend.
The one piece of advice that I found most helpful was that when going to a networking event, or any event where we will meet people we wish to become acquainted with, we should do our research beforehand. The panelists suggested that we should know who is going to be at an event and make a list of people that we want to talk to. They then advised that we should find everything that is public knowledge about these people or what they do or what their company is all about. People like to see that you already know something about them, and naturally, you can engage in a more meaningful conversation with someone once you have their background and don’t have to spend such time asking obvious or basic questions about the person or their company.
One other major suggestion the panelists made was to make an effort to really connect with the person you are trying to get a job from or who might help you with your career. They suggested that after any interview, along with emailing the interviewer thanking them for their time, it’s a good idea to send out a written thank you card. The physical form of the card says that you really care about the position, and also makes it so that you are more easily remembered. The panelists also recommended to keep in touch with an employer, as persistence will often times get you a position (or at least a direct answer). Even if there is not a job opening, if you stay in contact with an employer, they might be able to recommend you to another position at a different company. Lastly, the panelists stressed that even today, you should still give out physical business cards to people and make sure to get one from them as well. This will give both you and the employer or interviewer a physical reminder of who you are and how to contact you.
The Hyper Network definitely opened my eyes to the complex world of networking, especially in the communications realm. While a little overwhelming as I am still adjusting to city and college life, I found the content of the event very valuable and know that it will help me and my peers as we begin our professional careers.