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- Hey, friends in this video, I'll be talking about
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five surprisingly easy, yet effective networking tips
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for students with zero working experience.
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Some of these I learned from upperclassmen who at the time
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had already gotten their summer internships
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or full-time job offers, others I had to figure out
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the hard way through lots of trial and error.
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For current students pursuing a business degree like I did,
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I highly recommend watching this entire video
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because this is what I wish I could have had
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back when I was a freshman in university.
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Let's get started.
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Diving right into tip number one,
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leverage your alumni database.
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Most, if not all higher education institutions
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keep a database of their graduates.
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If you don't know what I'm talking about,
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go find your career center and ask them
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for your login information.
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Using my alma mater Emory University, as an example,
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our alumni engagement team keeps a record
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of my post-graduation email, and reminds us to update
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our place of employment on a regular basis.
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Back when I was a junior,
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which by the way is a little too late.
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You should start as a freshman,
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I would go into the alumni directory,
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select the business school and select the years
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of our most recent graduates.
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I was class of 2014, so it's like 2007 all the way to 2010
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and click search.
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Clicking into a few random profiles here,
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I see they have mainly updated their information.
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And if I see someone working in a field
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that I'm interested in, I would just shoot them an email.
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It's totally understandable to feel nervous
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about sending cold emails to strangers.
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But just know most of these alumni probably received help
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when they were in your position and they are looking
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for an opportunity to pay it back.
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Be that opportunity.
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Pro tip, you might wanna identify relevant candidates
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on LinkedIn first, before searching for their names
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in the alumni directory.
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This is much more efficient than a blanket search,
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clicking to a few random profiles,
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and hoping to land on someone you want to connect with.
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Tip number two for networking with zero experience,
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leverage your professors.
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Story time, I was about to graduate.
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I had just accepted an offer
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with a management consulting firm based out of New York,
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and I was chilling.
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One day, my DSCI, digital science professor said to me,
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"Hey, I heard about your offer with EOI
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"from an X student of mine.
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"She's the manager who interviewed you.
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"Good thing I didn't tell her about all those times
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you missed my class, ah, ah, ah?
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The point being, professors are more well-connected
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than you think, and they can play an instrumental role
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in landing you a job.
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For example, let's say you come across an alumni
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on LinkedIn you wanna connect with,
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but can't find their contact information anywhere,
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including the alumni directory.
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If you know what major concentration
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and what classes they took,
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you can ask the corresponding professors to connect you to,
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since they might've kept in touch,
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or at least are first degree connections on LinkedIn.
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Alternatively, you can try a more direct approach.
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Maintain a good relationship with the professors
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in the fields you're interested in,
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go to their office hours, and after you successfully
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charm them with your devilishly handsome smile,
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ask them if they can connect you
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with their previous students.
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The third networking tip for students is to attend
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as many events as possible, as early as possible.
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And the reason is simple.
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You need the practice.
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Let's say you've never done this before,
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and I put you in front of the hiring manager
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of your dream company.
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You're probably going to be extremely nervous
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and not make a great first impression.
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By attending career fairs from freshman year,
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and talking to companies you might not be interested in,
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you're essentially able to network
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in a risk-free environment because you have nothing to lose.
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I've never been particularly interested in CPG,
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consumer packaged goods, companies like
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Procter and Gamble, and Unilever.
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And because of that, I remember feeling less nervous
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talking with their company representatives,
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and definitely got to practice networking tips
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I had learned online.
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For example, "It was great chatting with you today, Jane.
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"I'll let you go, since there are quite a few people
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"lining up, would you mind terribly if I got your email
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"or business card so I could follow up with questions?"
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As silly as it sounds, it took me many tries
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to get that exact wording right.
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To make it sound as natural and as professional as possible.
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And that came with practice.
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Pro tip, if your school doesn't have enough events,
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you can use online platforms like Meetup
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to find career and business related events near you.
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Pro-pro-tip, if you're one of those lucky individuals with,
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what's that thing called again, right, friends,
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you can go with a friend or two to support each other.
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Networking tip number four, write an effective cold email.
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Instead of boring you with a walkthrough,
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I'll link a template I used back in college down below.
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Actually let me know if you want a video on cold emails,
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because there are a lot of nuances to this.
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I ended up sending 347 cold emails during my junior
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and senior years, and here are three of my key takeaways.
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First, the objective of the cold email
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is to ask for a coffee chat or informational interview.
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Since research has shown that face-to-face requests
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are much more effective than emails.
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Therefore, the call to action or CTA of your email
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should include that objective.
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Second, keep yourself introduction to the minimum,
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and instead talk about things you two have in common.
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The more you do this, the more you show
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you've done your homework and the more likely
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they'll accept your coffee chat request.
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And remember, you get a chance to talk about yourself
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during the meeting, and the cold email is all about
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locking down that time slot.
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Third, do not include a bunch of questions
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in your cold email.
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Typing out replies to a dozen questions
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is much more inconvenient than hopping
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on a quick phone call.
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So just get right to the point.
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Tip number five is a very simple one,
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but arguably the most important, and that is,
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asked to be connected with someone else.
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At the end of every single one of your coffee chats
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or informational interviews, literally say,
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"Based on what we discussed today, is there anyone else
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"you think I should talk to?"
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By saying this one simple sentence,
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you get a chance to tap into their professional network
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and better yet, they'll most likely make an introduction,
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so you don't have the pressure of reaching out
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to another stranger.
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As a small bonus tip, I was looking through
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my old coffee chat notes and the exact wording
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I used to say was, "Thanks again for your time.
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"It's interesting how you're able to specialize
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"in supply chain consulting after just two projects.
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"Do you mind connecting me with someone
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"who ended up specializing in the marketing
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"and finance consulting teams?
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"Just so I cover all my bases."
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If you found these tips helpful,
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you're gonna wanna watch my LinkedIn playlist next,
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because all these people you connect with
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are going to be checking you out on social media.
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I go through everything from helping you create
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professional looking head shots for free,
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all the way to writing an eye-catching LinkedIn summary.
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See you on the next video in the meantime,
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(tongue clicks)
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have a great one.
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(logo whooshing)