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Lesson 22 Freshman Year II
Let’s
continue looking at things you should be doing in your freshman year to give
you an advantage over those millions of college students around the world.
In
previous lessons, we have talked about networking and mentors – now is the time
to start working on your network and your mentors.
Networking:
If you are thinking about a specific major, check out the various clubs
and organizations that relate to that major.
For example, in my field, computer information systems, there was a
student organization for those majors.
They brought in speakers and professionals in that field. One event this student organization did was a
take-off on speed dating. Each student
rotated though six to eight professionals for a five minute ‘interview’. After the interview, the professional gave
the student comments about how they did in the interview and how they could
improve. Another student organization
did an event where two professional sat with six students around a table. The professionals threw out a question and
the students took terms answering it.
Sometimes the questions were more open ended like “If you had a million dollars
and had to spend it in a week, what would you do”; and sometimes more specific
like “Why did you pick your major” or “What do you see yourself doing in twenty
years. If you have been faithful with
doing the previous assignments, you will be ready to answer such questions.
Hang
around afterward and ask the visiting professionals on how they picked their
majors and their careers. Ask them for
others to network with or to shadow.
They have volunteered their time to help students, make the most of it.
Also
start networking with your professors and others. Stop by to introduce yourself at their office
hours. Find out why they picked their
major and what path they took to becoming a professor. This can be tricky. With your own professors, they something can
think you are trying to be a “teacher’s pet” and by coming to visit with them,
you are really just trying to get on their good side. Be humble and honest about wanting to network
and find out more about careers that might interest you. Build rapport – but don’t be a pest. Never stay longer than 10 minutes unless they
seem like the want to take longer. (As a
professor, I’ve had students that stopped by talk and I couldn’t get rid of
them; and also I’ve had students who seemed to really want to know about my
suggestions for careers and we talked an hour and it seemed like 10 minutes).
Network
with others at or near your university.
Every university has an alumni network.
Stop by, introduce yourself and see if there are alumni from your major
in your home town that you can network with over Thanksgiving break, Christmas
/ semester break and spring break. Most
alumni are very loyal to their university and will try to help a current
student.
Mentor: It is time to start looking for more
specific networking help with mentors.
If you feel you have good rapport with a faculty member or other, as
them if they would like to mentor you.
Give them some ideas of what you are looking for. It needs to be a two-way relationship – they have
to get some value out of working with you and you with working with them. If you are just using the relationship to
find an internship or job, it isn’t as valuable as letting them feel valuable
in career direction and assistance.
Assignment:
Start
working on your network. Make
appointments to introduce you to your professors and possibly others.
Then
refine your relationships to look for more specific and deeper relationships
with mentor.
Quote: “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior
teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” ― William Arthur
Ward
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