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 a 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 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, you
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 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 hoping
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.