Students are Missing Premium Opportunities at Networking Events

Let’s be honest. Networking events can be awkward. Half the time, you don’t know where to start, and you may not even know how to pick the employers out from the crowd of hopeful-employee candidates scattered amongst the room. And when you’re a high school senior or early on into your college career, you may feel ultra-intimidated when finding yourself forced into one of these settings, especially if you have no idea where you want to work nor have any remote interest in a particular career path. That’s understandable.

But I wish somebody had told me just how valuable networking events are in the long run.

Admittedly, I’ve always been an overachiever, and networking events made me eager and excited about the opportunities that lie ahead. That didn’t mean I was an expert, and it certainly didn’t mean that early on I took the best advantage I could have when I was in a room with corporate managers I admired.

However, once I received my first marketing internship through a barista job at a local coffee shop, my eyes were opened to just how cognizant we should be to opportunities around us.

Now that I work with high school and college students, helping to advocate for financial literacy and financial independence and volunteering at events scheduled to propel them into their first job hunt, I recognize some alarming trends. Hopefully, these words will fall onto at least one person at the right time; that person will be strides ahead at his or her next networking event.

Just because it’s not a job interviewdoesn’t mean the networking event isn’t a job opportunity.

If you are invited to an event and volunteers from businesses in the community are out to help prepare your interview and resume skills, it’s a judgment-free zone for help, surely. But just as any moment in life, you should show up prepared, eager, and with insightful questions, because that person could be a recruiter with a job opening at that very moment.

Not all networking events are created equally. You may get a chance to know your volunteer’s name or job title. But, here’s a little anecdote. I am a woman in banking, and I helped interview a young woman, who was passionate about breaking into the finance field. [This is always exciting to hear, of course!] However, while her one-on-one time working with me was impressive, she showed up late to the table, whispered with friends in the interim, and of course had a constant text message conversation throughout the event.

We were actively hiring for an entry-level analyst position, and she would have been a top candidate.

You just never know who is watching, or who you are interacting with.

That’s not to say that a few poor moves at a “non-interview” event will be held against you, but it doesmake a potential recruiter stop and rethink before approaching you with an opportunity.

Networking events are a primary method of securing a job in today’s economy. While it’s easier and more efficient for an individual to copy and paste hundreds of resumes into a Monster.com or CareerBuilder.com website, it’s much easier and more efficient for a manager to already know an ideal candidate or two and invite them to apply for a job opening.

So even if you are not looking now, keep this integral key in mind as you attend your next networking event, stand out above the crowd, and get your business card or resume to the top of the pile.

Just because it’s not a job interviewdoesn’t mean the networking event isn’t a job opportunity.