{"id":92,"date":"2016-10-03T11:58:36","date_gmt":"2016-10-03T15:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/semba\/?p=92"},"modified":"2016-10-03T12:00:34","modified_gmt":"2016-10-03T16:00:34","slug":"networking-and-launching-a-career-in-sustainable-enterprises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/2016\/10\/03\/networking-and-launching-a-career-in-sustainable-enterprises\/","title":{"rendered":"Networking, and Launching A Career, In Sustainable Enterprises"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s Note: SEMBA’s goal is to launch its graduates into\u00a0a deep and tightly connected network of people and companies dedicated to building sustainable enterprises, and to an ethic of disrupting, innovating, and reinventing business in a world that demands it. As part of this effort, SEMBA gives students a myriad of opportunities to meet, network with, and be mentored by sustainable business leaders and entrepreneurs from around the world, and around the corner. In our first event of the academic year, SEMBA students will be connecting\u00a0with our Council of Mentors on the evening of October 4, 2016.<\/em><\/p>\n

In light of that event, Caroline Hauser ’16, offer insight and tips on successful networking — and job hunting — in the world of sustainable business.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As a former recruiter and an experienced job searcher, I know a few things about networking, and building careers — it takes a lot of time, a lot of grit, and a lot of hustle. I don\u2019t have all of the answers, but wanted to offer some\u00a0tried and true advice to job seekers, in hopes that it helps to get someone at least a bit closer to landing a position in a sustainable enterprise that is fulfilling and exciting.<\/p>\n

Go to events that draw people you want to meet<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNetworking Events\u201d feel forced and awkward. If you\u2019re a total extrovert and love approaching strangers, then by all means, attend every networking event your heart desires. For everyone else who doesn\u2019t<\/em> love striking up conversations with multiple people they\u2019ve never met, I recommend attending an event that might draw the kind of people you want to meet. Whether it\u2019s a hobby, an interest, or something that you want to learn about, there are tons of meetups<\/a> and events that bring people together around something besides simply \u201cnetworking.\u201d At a social gathering with a theme other than networking, you will have more in depth conversations than the redundant, \u201cWhat do you do, where are you from, what do you want to do, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n

Look up business organizations in your area, university events, nonprofit fundraisers, and documentary screenings. You don\u2019t have to be a computer whiz to go to a tech meetup, and you don\u2019t have to be a policy wonk to go to a city council meeting. Do some research on interesting things happening in your area and get out of your comfort zone. Inevitably, some events will be a little disappointing, but keep trying\u00a0— you are bound to meet a number of interesting people that are outside of your usual network.<\/p>\n

Build a network of people that you find interesting<\/strong><\/p>\n

I used to think that networking meant meeting as many people as possible who work in important positions. As it turns out, that\u2019s a pretty boring (and difficult!<\/em>) way to network. Sure, it\u2019s helpful to know people in leadership roles, but great people exist at all levels of any organization. Instead of focusing on title or team, keep in touch with people that you find interesting and with whom you feel a genuine connection. When people tell you to keep in touch with them, do it! It makes you stand out, I promise. I worked as a recruiter for a while and I\u2019d estimate that only one out of every 200 candidates to whom I gave my business card ended up actually getting in touch. And if someone doesn\u2019t offer their information, don\u2019t be afraid to ask for a business card or email address. Either way, follow up! My typical follow up emails are short and simple, and include some variation of:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great to meet you at ________. I enjoyed our conversation about _________. Did you see the news story about _____? It made me think back to when you said ________. Are you free for coffee in the coming weeks? I\u2019d love to meet and chat more about _______. I look forward to keeping in touch! Take care.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

You never know where a relationship might take you. Inevitably, you will come across people with whom you just don\u2019t click. Don\u2019t force it, regardless of how powerful or influential you perceive them to be. Your time is valuable, and there are too many pleasant people in the world to waste your time on the unpleasant ones. And odds are, if you think someone is a jerk, other people probably think so too, and we are unfortunately judged by the company we keep. By maintaining relationships with people that you genuinely connect with, you\u2019re more likely to get into an organization that shares your values.<\/p>\n

Stay organized<\/strong><\/p>\n

Find a system that works for you to keep in touch with your network. Some find spreadsheets helpful, others have a stack of business cards on their desk. I like Google Inbox\u2019s<\/a> feature of \u201csnoozing\u201d emails. It allows you to snooze an email to a date and time that you select, and on that chosen date, it will pop up to the top of your inbox as if it were a new email. I frequently snooze emails for 3-6 months, and when they pop back up, I\u2019ll check in to say \u201chi,\u201d talk about what I\u2019ve been up to, and ask what\u2019s happening on their end.<\/p>\n

I like to use Google News Alerts<\/a> to follow companies and topics that interest me. It sends a digest every day of whatever news topics you specify. For example, an executive at company I follow recently won an award. As it turns out, I\u2019d met this executive at an event I attended a few months earlier, so I had her contact information. I reached out to congratulate her and to check in on what\u2019s happening in her organization. I asked if she was free to meet for coffee in the coming weeks, and we have a meeting scheduled to chat soon.<\/p>\n

On the topic of organization, keep a resume updated and a email elevator pitch handy. You never know when someone might ask you to send along a resume, and you don\u2019t want to delay them receiving it because it hasn\u2019t been updated since your most recent role. I keep one resume as my \u201cmaster resume,\u201d including basically everything I\u2019ve ever done, and then when I apply to positions or send it to people I\u2019ll tailor it down to be relevant to the role or the company. I also save all of these tailored resumes so that in the future, if I\u2019m applying for a similar position, I can go back to an already tailored document, update it, and get it sent along more quickly.<\/p>\n

Tell stories about what you\u2019ve done and what you\u2019d like to do<\/strong><\/p>\n

Humans love stories<\/a>, and telling good stories makes you more memorable. I actually have a document on my computer called \u201cCover Letter Stories.\u201d It is a collection of stories, tagged with descriptors such as \u201cleadership,\u201d \u201corganization,\u201d and \u201cteamwork,\u201d that I can draw on when I\u2019m filling out a job application and need to write a cover letter. This allows all of my letters to be customized to the role, company, and requirements, but also saves me time because I don\u2019t have to start from scratch for each new application. Whenever something happens that I think would be useful to tell a future potential employer, I add the story to that document and tag it with the appropriate keywords so that it saves me time in the long run.<\/p>\n

Stay optimistic and open minded<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even if you don\u2019t have that \u201cdream job\u201d in mind, it helps to think about past roles and what you\u2019ve really liked about them. What kind of things do you pay attention to? What news stories can you simply not resist reading about? Take note of these things, and craft stories about what kind of problems you like to solve. This will help you to narrow your focus, and give others a good idea of where you might fit into their organization. Don\u2019t rule anything out from the beginning. Explore every opportunity that even sparks a bit of interest, you don\u2019t want to turn down a great job just because it\u2019s a company you\u2019ve never heard of or the job title isn\u2019t quite perfect.<\/p>\n

Above all else, stay relentlessly optimistic. You\u2019ll land somewhere great, you just have to hustle to get there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor’s Note: SEMBA’s goal is to launch its graduates into\u00a0a deep and tightly connected network of people and companies dedicated to building sustainable enterprises, and to an ethic of disrupting, innovating, and reinventing business in a world that demands it. As part of this effort, SEMBA gives students a myriad of opportunities to meet, network … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Networking, and Launching A Career, In Sustainable Enterprises”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3919,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[46457,38462,26],"tags":[6901],"class_list":["post-92","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jobs","category-interviews","category-learning","tag-networking"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8b9n0-1u","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3919"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions\/97"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}