Career Connections

Careers and Colleges, Jan, 2001 by Jim Paterson

How networking, mentoring, and internships can connect you to the working world

NET WORKING Even Over the Spuds

As you face the job market, you'll have more success exploring careers and finding a position if you have a network of contacts--and your best connections might be passing you the mashed potatoes at the next family gathering.

"Networking is not only about putting on the power suit for a business lunch, shaking hands, and giving people business cards," says Peter Vogt, president of Career Planning Resources, a career counseling firm in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. "It can simply involve talking to someone about your interests and asking questions--the guy up the street, the person who cuts your hair, or even your Uncle Ralph."

Vogt says networking is critical throughout your career to gather information and let people know of your interests so they'll "have their radar up for you." Our best opportunities often arise through friends, family, or instructors--sometimes in a roundabout way.

That's what happened to Erica Blecich, 18, now a freshman at Fairfield University in Connecticut. She let her high school vice principal know about her interest in medicine, and he connected her with a part-time paid job at a pharmaceutical company. She worked 15 hours a week in a lab growing and examining yeast cultures. Although Blecich's con triburions were just one small part of a larger effort to develop drug therapies for genetic disorders, she says the lab experience was invaluable. Plus, she was able to make new career contacts. One contact introduced her to a researcher with Yale University's genetics department who, in turn, connected her with Yale's nationally known gene specialist, Dr. Sherman Weissman. Dr. Weissman gave Blecich a clerical job in his lab last summer. Blecich handled correspondence with postdoctoral candidates, cataloged scientific journals, and kept files in order. To make contacts, she often chatted with people in other departments. She anticipates that she will work either in th e genetics department again next summer or in the neurobiology department with another doctor she met. "It's really amazing how one contact leads to another," Blecich says.

Expanding Your Network

Say you've exhausted the networking possibilities in your circle of family, friends, and acquaintances. Now what?

Marc Kramer, author of Power Networking (VGM Career Horizons), also recommends contacting people you don't know--sending letters or emails to professionals in fields you'd like to explore.

If you're interested in fashion, for instance, contact the designer for a clothing company or the owner of a local shop you like. Explain that you are interested in the field and ask if he or she would be willing to sir down with you for a conversation about his or her career. Once you've set up a meeting, come prepared.

* Do some detective work. Research the field and the company in the library or on the Internet.

* Write a list of questions. In this case, you're the interviewer. Ask the person how he or she got started in the field.

* Keep it short. Determine the length of the meeting and keep to that timetable.

* Lay the groundwork for future contact. Ask if it's okay to contact the person in the future if you have more questions.

* Follow-up. Be sure to send a thank-you note.

Kramer also suggests making contact with a professional group. It could be the American Dental Association or the National Association of Social Workers--many career associations have smaller local chapters, whose members would probably welcome an interested student to a meeting. Association members are often active people whose goal is to promote the growth of their profession.

Finally, while you should be considerate of busy schedules, be bold, says Kramer. "Remember, people love to talk about themselves and what they do."

MENTORING The Match Game

Diana Mao says that as she got to know Anna Ouroumian, the director of an after-school program the teen attended, something "clicked."

The two first met at an orientation at the Academy of Business Leadership, a southern California training and job placement program for teens, where Ouroumian is the director. Mao, who lives in Rosemead, California, was new to the program and was immediately impressed by Ouroumian's motivation and her passion for her work. Over time, Mao noticed how Ouroumian was always enthusiastic and energetic despite workdays that sometimes kept her in the office past midnight and on student job sites well before dawn. She also grew to admire Ouroumian for her concern about the teens in the program.

"I really liked her for how she ran this organization, but she also cared about the kids," says Mao. "I wanted to learn about both those sides of her, so I asked her to be my mentor.

A mentor is someone you admire personally and professionally who takes you under his or her wing and takes an interest in your career progress, as well as your personal and educational growth.

Mao says that her mentor, through weekly phone calls and regular meetings, has helped her with school and career challenges--and even personal problems. "She also helped me set goals and taught me strategies to achieve them," says Mao, who is now a freshman at the University of California at Santa Barbara and a mentor herself to a child with Down syndrome.