five surprisingly easy, yet effective networking tips

for students with zero working experience.

Some of these I learned from upperclassmen who at the time

had already gotten their summer internships

or full-time job offers, others I had to figure out

the hard way through lots of trial and error.

For current students pursuing a business degree like I did,

I highly recommend watching this entire video

because this is what I wish I could have had

back when I was a freshman in university.

Let's get started.

Diving right into tip number one,

leverage your alumni database.

Most, if not all higher education institutions

keep a database of their graduates.

If you don't know what I'm talking about,

go find your career center and ask them

for your login information.

Using my alma mater Emory University, as an example,

our alumni engagement team keeps a record

of my post-graduation email, and reminds us to update

our place of employment on a regular basis.

Back when I was a junior,

which by the way is a little too late.

You should start as a freshman,

I would go into the alumni directory,

select the business school and select the years

of our most recent graduates.

I was class of 2014, so it's like 2007 all the way to 2010

and click search.

Clicking into a few random profiles here,

I see they have mainly updated their information.

And if I see someone working in a field

that I'm interested in, I would just shoot them an email.

It's totally understandable to feel nervous

about sending cold emails to strangers.

But just know most of these alumni probably received help

when they were in your position and they are looking

for an opportunity to pay it back.

Be that opportunity.

Pro tip, you might wanna identify relevant candidates

on LinkedIn first, before searching for their names

in the alumni directory.

This is much more efficient than a blanket search,

clicking to a few random profiles,

and hoping to land on someone you want to connect with.

Tip number two for networking with zero experience,

leverage your professors.

Story time, I was about to graduate.

I had just accepted an offer

with a management consulting firm based out of New York,

and I was chilling.

One day, my DSCI, digital science professor said to me,

"Hey, I heard about your offer with EOI

"from an X student of mine.

"She's the manager who interviewed you.

"Good thing I didn't tell her about all those times

you missed my class, ah, ah, ah?

The point being, professors are more well-connected

than you think, and they can play an instrumental role

in landing you a job.

For example, let's say you come across an alumni

on LinkedIn you wanna connect with,

but can't find their contact information anywhere,

including the alumni directory.

If you know what major concentration

and what classes they took,

you can ask the corresponding professors to connect you to,

since they might've kept in touch,

or at least are first degree connections on LinkedIn.

Alternatively, you can try a more direct approach.

Maintain a good relationship with the professors

in the fields you're interested in,

go to their office hours, and after you successfully

charm them with your devilishly handsome smile,

ask them if they can connect you

with their previous students.

The third networking tip for students is to attend

as many events as possible, as early as possible.

And the reason is simple.

You need the practice.

Let's say you've never done this before,

and I put you in front of the hiring manager

of your dream company.

You're probably going to be extremely nervous

and not make a great first impression.

By attending career fairs from freshman year,

and talking to companies you might not be interested in,

you're essentially able to network

in a risk-free environment because you have nothing to lose.

I've never been particularly interested in CPG,

consumer packaged goods, companies like

Procter and Gamble, and Unilever.

And because of that, I remember feeling less nervous

talking with their company representatives,

and definitely got to practice networking tips

I had learned online.

For example, "It was great chatting with you today, Jane.

"I'll let you go, since there are quite a few people

"lining up, would you mind terribly if I got your email

"or business card so I could follow up with questions?"

As silly as it sounds, it took me many tries

to get that exact wording right.

To make it sound as natural and as professional as possible.

And that came with practice.

Pro tip, if your school doesn't have enough events,

you can use online platforms like Meetup

to find career and business related events near you.

Pro-pro-tip, if you're one of those lucky individuals with,

what's that thing called again, right, friends,

you can go with a friend or two to support each other.

Networking tip number four, write an effective cold email.

Instead of boring you with a walkthrough,

I'll link a template I used back in college down below.

Actually let me know if you want a video on cold emails,

because there are a lot of nuances to this.

I ended up sending 347 cold emails during my junior

and senior years, and here are three of my key takeaways.

First, the objective of the cold email

is to ask for a coffee chat or informational interview.

Since research has shown that face-to-face requests

are much more effective than emails.

Therefore, the call to action or CTA of your email

should include that objective.

Second, keep yourself introduction to the minimum,

and instead talk about things you two have in common.

The more you do this, the more you show

you've done your homework and the more likely

they'll accept your coffee chat request.

And remember, you get a chance to talk about yourself

during the meeting, and the cold email is all about

locking down that time slot.

Third, do not include a bunch of questions

in your cold email.

Typing out replies to a dozen questions

is much more inconvenient than hopping

on a quick phone call.

So just get right to the point.

Tip number five is a very simple one,

but arguably the most important, and that is,

asked to be connected with someone else.

At the end of every single one of your coffee chats

or informational interviews, literally say,

"Based on what we discussed today, is there anyone else

"you think I should talk to?"

By saying this one simple sentence,

you get a chance to tap into their professional network

and better yet, they'll most likely make an introduction,

so you don't have the pressure of reaching out

to another stranger.

As a small bonus tip, I was looking through

my old coffee chat notes and the exact wording

I used to say was, "Thanks again for your time.

"It's interesting how you're able to specialize

"in supply chain consulting after just two projects.

"Do you mind connecting me with someone

"who ended up specializing in the marketing

"and finance consulting teams?

"Just so I cover all my bases."

If you found these tips helpful,

you're gonna wanna watch my LinkedIn playlist next,

because all these people you connect with

are going to be checking you out on social media.

I go through everything from helping you create

professional looking head shots for free,

all the way to writing an eye-catching LinkedIn summary.

See you on the next video in the meantime,

(tongue clicks)

have a great one.

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