Networking - How to leverage the power of being a student

Career Hacking with Lisa

The Woman in Tech - Gothenburg is a community of remarkable women of diverse backgrounds and experiences. Career Hacking with Lisa is a Women in Tech exclusive series aiming to empower more women to grow and gain confidence throughout their careers. In this first episode, Lisa talks about how you can get to networking while still in school.

Lisa Sjöstedt

Lisa Sjöstedt has committed her career to the pursuit of supporting others succeed in theirs. She is traditionally trained within Human Resources and has focused her skillset on the tech industry. She is a strong believer that a company is no better than the sum of its people and is therefore dedicated to attracting the talents best equipped to professionally grow in tandem with the business. Lisa is currently heading the talent field at the rapidly growing FinTech Startup Minna Technologies.

‘For two years in a row, Sweden has seen a record number of applicants joining our universities’ said a headline in an article. It reminded me of my first day at uni. There I was, finally seated in the auditorium. Proud of having overcome the worst wave of anxiety, I was placing my new notepad and pen on the desk in front of me. As I was about to take the first sip of coffee, one of my professors made a loud statement: ‘you will not accomplish anything without a good network.’ ‘Networking?” I thought. I am here to study, not be a social mingling master. My palms were sweating again. 

I know I’m not alone. So many of us experience stress, ambiguity or anxiety while networking. I propose to spend some time together talking about how we can network without feeling anxious and why you as a student possess the most powerful tool to leverage your status. Let me introduce The Student Card, a symbol for being a student looking to learn and develop, without ulterior motives. In this article we'll go over why you should use it, and how you can benefit from its power. 

Why should I use it? 

It gives you a great opportunity to meet new people who otherwise wouldn’t feel accessible. From my own experience, I have also noticed people tend to be more open to sharing learnings and success factors with a student as you are not representing a competing company wanting to take corporate advantage. Not being seen as a threat is often a huge advantage. 

Meeting and speaking to people in different roles, businesses and with different perspectives and approaches can help you discover what you are passionate about pursuing in your career. And who knows, maybe you find a lifetime mentor, thesis project, or an opening for work once you’ve graduated. What I do guarantee is that it will strengthen your confidence when meeting new people, and your networking ability will always be one of your key assets, irrespective of the career path you decide to follow. 

How to leverage its power?

You can go about it in any shape or form that suits you, but ultimately you must find what you are comfortable doing. Personally, I’m a fan of Linkedin. It’s the world's largest address book encouraging new connections and, to me, it's easier to reach out behind a screen rather than approaching someone in person. 

First thing first, if you don’t have a Linkedin account - now is the time to create it. Then, let’s get started by putting together a list of companies or people you are interested in and start to reflect on what you want to learn from them. Also, put some thoughts into how you want to get to know them. When you have gathered the courage to reach out - request to connect with them and add a message outlining why you want to be in their network (i.e. list of connections on Linkedin). You can of course go about this in different ways. I've added two examples for inspiration here. 

We can start by simply connecting with someone in order to increase your passive network:

Hey (name), 

I am really impressed with your project on XX and it has been an inspiration for me when studying XX. I would love to connect with you and have you in my network as I’m keen to follow your journey. 

Or we can go straight to the point of asking for a meeting to build a more personal relationship:

Hi (name),

You have been a source of inspiration for me as a XX student and I would love to have you in my network. I saw you had been involved with the launch of XX and I just had to reach out to you. I would love to meet you and learn more about how you did it, would you be open to grab a coffee someday? 

There are other openings as well. Have you ever been to a seminar or event where you’ve been impressed by any of the speakers? If not already, I bet you will! 

Following up after an event gives you a great reason to connect. When you’ve been to an event with a speaker you want to get to know more about, send them a connection request on LinkedIn expressing you were at the event and were impressed. 

Here is a message I sent separately to two panelists at a breakfast seminar I attended back when I was a student. 

Hey (name)! I was super interested by your talk at today's breakfast event. I would love to add you to my network. Have a great day! 

Both these professionals responded within hours, proposing we’d get lunch together. Why? Well, I can't be entirely sure what their reasons were but I suspect both were flattered for receiving praise (I mean, who wouldn’t be?) and felt positively about sharing their wisdom and expanding their own network. Furthermore and perhaps most importantly, don't get disappointed if your requests go unanswered; there could be a hundred reasons for this of which none were about you! 

Let's network and start hacking your career!