Today, we conclude our series on networking that Cassie Thompson, a practicum student in Career and Professional Development, is sharing with us. Please find step 1 here, step 2 here, and step 3 here. Thanks again for sharing your insights with us, Cassie.
Time to follow-up and then move forward. Within 24 hours of meeting with a contact, write a thank you email. This doesn’t have to be long. Simply say thanks for taking the time to meet, add something personal about the experience to show you were listening, and if they gave great advice on something you should do next, tell them how you are going to move forward on that advice! Showing gratitude can get you far in this world as so few people do it.
Hopefully from your meetings you have come up with new names to contact and grow your network, and one day, one of those names will be the key to the right job! Additionally, maybe you were given other pieces of advice to focus on. Perhaps someone told you your resume needed some help, or that you needed more customer service training in order to work in that field. Make a list of all the advice given to you and start working on all of it. Add those new names to your spreadsheet and start sending more emails!
Congratulations! You now have a bona fide network!
