Throughout a student's college career the term "networking" will always be thrown around by professors and colleagues. Networking is a great way to introduce yourself and develop professional or social contacts.
Developing a genuine connection is still monumental in the business world, no matter how much technology innovates overtime. During COVID, developing and staying connected has became difficult for everyone. As a soon to be college graduate, networking virtually has become a huge worry of mine. Here are a few tips that helped me stay connected during these difficult times while staying socially safe.
Schedule Virtual Happy Hours
A great way to stay connected are virtual happy hours. During the beginning of quarantine, happy hours were a staple for anyone over the age of 21.
The safe and social drinking experience
remained a great distraction and fed the urge
of human interaction during lockdown. Happy
hours are a great way to connect with friends,
coworkers, and clients. Zoom, Google Hangouts
and many more face call resources are great
tools to help you achieve a successful outcome with a decent amount of guests participating.
If wary on how to go about hosting a virtual
happy hour, you could always host a themed
happy hour. A few ideas for hosting a themed
virtual happy hour include hosting a book club,
creating a game night, sharing cocktail recipes,
trivia, virtual yoga, share baking recipes, remote
learning, show and tell, and much more. The
possibilities are endless. Overall, no matter
whether the virtual happy hour is themed or
just relaxing and chatting with a glass of wine,
this is a great chance to build or strengthen
these vital human connections.
Fully Embrace LinkedIn
Another great tool suggested by many
professionals and could be utilized on a daily
basis and not only quarantine, would be
LinkedIn. LinkedIn is considered to be the main
outlet for networking in the professional world.
Building and constantly updating your profile is a
great place to start. Sending messages to your
LinkedIn friends, congratulating your peers on
their accomplishments, and searching for jobs are
all great ways to keep you engaged.
If you are a soon to be college graduate like
myself, or just trying to build relationships, happy
hours, and LinkedIn are two amazing resources
that helped me greatly during a time face-to-face
interaction has to be put on standby.
Comments