Hello, and welcome to EduKatedSTEM.

I am Kate, the founder of EduKatedSTEM,

and today we're going to be talking

about networking, So sometimes you

might be qualified for the role. You might

apply for the role, but you don't even

get interviewed. And maybe if you had

utilized your network or had built a network,

you would have a completely different

outcome. So, this is one of the reasons

why I'm going to encourage you to develop,

build a network, and then nurture it so

that when you are ready to move on,

you can work with your network. Let

them know that you are looking for

another opportunity, And maybe you

can utilize them to get informational

interviews or other things. But the first

thing is, you need to network. Now, when

I mentioned that word did a chill, go

down your spine? I've had a lot of

conversations with individuals who

think networking has kind of a horrible

connotation. It's slimy. It is kind of

using people you know to get your

own way or for your own benefit.

But it goes both ways, right? So,

they're in your network. You could

potentially help them. They might

be looking for that as well. And

you're going to be building a network

of friends and colleagues. So, these

are going to be people that you want

to be connected with. You're not

going to be, hopefully meeting someone

that you don't want to be talking

to in the future, because that is going

to be uncomfortable for you. So, let's

talk about maybe networking at a

conference because, as a scientist,

this is what you're going to be doing.

Hopefully you're going to go to a

conference you're going to listen

to presentations. You're going to

learn new information. You might

present a poster, you might present

an oral presentation. And then

hopefully you're going to talk with

your peers, maybe meeting new

people. Maybe figuring out who

you might want to be working for

or with in the future. So, networking

isn't a bad thing, But I'm going to

encourage you to go in with plan.

And I've seen a number of networking

talks. At ABRCMS I saw a talk

specifically for networking for introverts,

which was very, very good, but I

thought a lot of the information

was also quite pertinent to people

who were not introverts. So I'm an

introvert. I find the concept of going

to conferences and going to networking

events. It's challenging. It really is.

But I force myself to do it because

you know, the more you do it, the

easier it becomes. And I take advice

from my friend Mary Mitchell and

she always said, when you go, just

have a goal in mind. So, if your goal

is to meet a certain person, then

that is what you try and do. If it's

to meet a certain number of people,

then you know three to five individuals

in and to have a good conversation

with them, then that is what you do.

Once you have met your your goal,

your requirement, it's then up to you

if you then choose to leave the

networking event. But hopefully

by that point, you will feel comfortable.

You've made some friends. You

might actually want to stay. When

you're going to a conference,

especially nowadays, a lot of the

time you will get information on a

conference app. so ABRCMS

definitely does that. The National

Postdoc Association does that.

And they actually use the same app.

I might completely kill the pronunciation

Whova, I'm not sure but it's a good

little app. It has a list of all of the

attendees. It has the presentations,

where they are, what the talks are.

You can go on and you can highlight.

Yes, I want to go to these presentations,

and then you have an itinerary,

and then the app can say, you know,

you've got to talk in 10 minutes in this

place, so it's very, very helpful. But

you can utilize the app to kind of

come up with a plan for what you

want to do for networking. So, maybe

there is someone in your field that

you are absolutely dying to meet.

Are they on the list of attendees?

If they are, are they speaking? If

they're speaking you absolutely

know where they're going to be

at one point of time. So you could

try and go and speak to them after

they have finished. Or maybe you

just know that they're going to be

there so, maybe you try and have

a conversation in a more relaxed

setting. So, maybe over a coffee,

or you see them at a lunch table,

and you ask if you can join them.

Whatever it is, if there are certain

people that you want to meet,

then let's try and make that happen.

Why do you want to meet them?

Maybe you want to potentially work

with them in the future. You just

want to have a chat about an

experiment or a paper that they've done.

Whatever it is. So let's focus on

what we want to get out of that.

And maybe there are other people

there who would be helpful, someone

who works at an institution that

you're interested in working at, but

not necessarily that individual.

You can have a conversation with

them and find out is it a great place

to work? Maybe you'll have a

chat to them and go. Oh, I don't

want to do that. I don't want to move

on. So look at the conference

attendees and see who you might

be interested in working for or talking

to. And the next thing is be prepared.

So, as a graduate student, you might

not have the opportunity to have

graduate sorry, to have business cards.

But maybe your graduate school

will purchase them for you. We used

to make them for our graduate students.

So that was a possibility. If not

Vistaprint or something very similar,

will make you cards for actually quite

cheap. So, I designed my business

card on Vistaprint. I think I got a

thousand of them for $25 or

something. It's really not that

expensive, and you can, you know,

put your name, an email address,

I don't put my phone number

because I don't want people

phoning me at random times.

And if you've got a website, then

put that information on there.

You could always, if you get a

obviously a smaller number of

them, you could say where you

currently are, that you're a graduate

student or a postdoc, you can

always personalize it even more

and say, you know, this is your field.

I'm looking for jobs or whatever it is.

You can pop it in there. So even

if your institution won't give you

a business card, then maybe you

can kind of get some made. You

might want to take a few copies

of your CV or resume with you.

You know if you have a particular

person that you want to meet

and you want to share your work

with them, you could always print

a copy of a paper or an abstract

or something and attempt to give

it to them. I will say that people

have tried to give me CV's, resumes,

papers in the past, and I'm gonna

be honest. You get home, and

you don't really do much with

them. Business cards, yes,

know, I have a big stack of them.

Then it's really funny because

somebody will email and be like,

Kate I met you at this conference.

We spoke, and if I can't remember

them, then I'll go through my

stack of business cards. I'm like,

did I meet you? Because if I know

that I've met you, then you know

my response is probably gonna

be more helpful. Or like, if you see

me speak and you say, Kate, I saw

your seminar on this, rather than

Kate, I want this from you. Then

obviously, I'm going to be more

helpful to the person who you

know opens up with I saw you

at this thing and I would like your

advice. So I don't know about

giving things other than a business

card. But you want their business

card. If they can give you a business

card that's really helpful, because

then you can find them on LinkedIn.

You can send them an email. And

even if it's just you know it was

wonderful to meet you at this

meeting, I would love to stay in

touch. Or if there's a question or

something that you can kind of

talk about following your conversation.

Kind of move it along then that's

always really helpful to kind of get

them into your network. Obviously,

if they're at a conference and you

email them that night or something,

then it might take a few days for

them to respond because they're

at a conference too. They might

be socializing and hanging out.

Or you might want to wait until

the conference has ended and

then send them an email because

they'll have got home, and they

will have more of an ability to respond.

I'm a huge fan of just randomly

talking to people around you. I've

met some really cool people whilst

waiting for tea, not coffee. Or in a

line for lunch. You know, you just

randomly start talking to someone,

and you find out that they're a really

cool individual who does something.

And so just have an open mind, just

see where it goes. You might meet

someone who does something that

you've never considered, and you're,

like, oh wow, that sounds really cool.

I might be very interested in that. So,

be open to meeting new people.

Be open to new information. But

don't overstay your welcome. So,

if someone's kind of shifting from

side to side, looking at their watch,

checking their phone, trying to

make eye contact with someone

who's walking past. They want to

leave. They don't want to talk to

you anymore. So, if someone is

making kind of the body language

that they've had enough, let them go.

Don't hang on. You know that's

when you say it was lovely to meet

you. I would love to to stay in touch.

If you haven't already exchanged

business cards that's, you know,

can I have your business card and

I'll leave you to to it? I've got to get

to my next session, or I'd like another

cup of tea, or whatever. Make your

exit graciously. But what you don't

want is for them to get irritated

with you, because then they're not

going to want to help you or or stay

connected to you in the future. So,

consider that. Then you follow-up.

So, again, you're going to find them

on LinkedIn, if they're on LinkedIn,

you're going to send them an email.

Maybe they've got a social media

profile? Whatever it is, you're going

to connect, and try and connect

with them a few times, so you can't

just say, okay, you're now my connection

and in a year or two, I'm going to be

reaching out to you and

that you can help me find a job

because they're not going to remember

you. They're not gonna necessarily

think yes, it was that person. I met

them at this conference. They were Fab.

I absolutely want to assist them.

You need to make sure that they can

give you good advice for you because

they know you as an individual. If you

are asking them to connect you with

someone for either an informational

interview, or because there is a job

available. They need to know that

you're good. They need to know that

endorsing you isn't going to embarrass

them, so you need to know them

sufficiently so that they can do that

for you. So, you need to continue

to network. So, even if it's, I saw this

paper in your research field and I

thought it was really cool. Or, I had

a question on it would you mind

taking a look? Or if you, you know

that they love a particular sports

team and their sports team wins

you're, like, hey, just, saw that your

team won at the weekend,

Congratulations, I'm sure that you're

on cloud nine or something. Whatever

it is, you just need to kind of keep

in touch with them every so often.

Obviously, it doesn't need to be

every day, every week, every month.

But just occasionally, you just go.

Oh, remember me, I'm here. I'm

in your network. And then hopefully

when it comes time to reaching

out to your network, they will be

in a better position to help you.

So, networking can be scary. I truly

appreciate that as an introvert,

but it does get easier. So please

don't be put off. If you're saying, no,

I can't go out and do this take a

friend, take a friend with you. And,

you can kind of walk within groups

yourselves and talk. The only issue

I would have for that is if your friend

might be more of an extrovert than

you, and you don't get to talk. They're

happily networking, but you're like

the quiet little mouse in the corner.

You do need to interact with people

in order to build your network, so

going with a friend is very helpful.

It can definitely break the ice, but

your friend also needs to give you

the opportunity to shine. Or you

get to the meeting and you disappear,

you're in the same room, but you

are networking at different times.

And then you come back together,

so that makes sure that both of

you do do the work necessary in

order to network. Well, I hope that

helps. Good luck networking. If you

have advice for networking and

connecting with people, I'd be

interested to know it. Pop it in the

comments below. Please like and

subscribe, and I'll see you next time.

Thank you, bye bye.