Networking Into a Business, How to Get Recommended

Networking effectively from higher education into business, is a very important part of student-Alumni relations, and it therefore something I'd like to comment on.

Students have been taught to speak only to the managers, or to the highest member of the organisation they can contact,  to network their way into an organisation. However, to be blunt, this approach will get them nowhere. It is standard practise among most businesses, that executive and high level management cannot be contacted directly. All calls, queries, and letters must come through their PA’s, who may simply discard them, or redirect them to the normal application routes. No matter how impressive the student’s liaising, or how brilliant his or her resume, the manager simply will not hire someone who is not known or recommended to him or her.

The student’s persistence will only serve to annoy the PA’s and secretarial staff on the other end, who have to take time out of their work to deal with the many speculative letters, cold calls and email queries that come their way. And to the student, the constant rejection by potential employers, can be soul destroying, even for business students, who are taught to be prepared for it.  Personal contact may also not be enough. Meeting face to face with their employer will make a difference to a graduate’s chances, but the question at the back of the recruiter’s mind is ‘if I take you on, what will you the candidate, give me in return?’

So here is a solution that I propose, both to help student-Alumni networking, and to motivate the students and Alumni to work together. I suggest that as part of their final year’s assignments, students are made to work directly with the Alumni. A selected student must learn the culture of that Alumnus' workplace, through mentoring and coaching. The student, in return, looks at ideas and innovations that could help the Alumnus in the course of their work. Let’s face it, we have a dozen headaches in the workplace everyday, and it would help to have a fresh perspective from a student of the profession, who can think outside the box, and come up with something new.

The difference between this arrangement and the existing mentoring schemes, is that it could be made a formal, integrated part of each student’s course. Since the larger organisations already have arrangements in place for knowledge transfer, the students’ ideas could be used to help Alumni with smaller businesses they know; or at a more basic level of a big organisation. If an agreement could be secured between the university and the business, then the student's assignment could become a module of their final year. 

The student would have to demonstrate that she or he had made every effort to solve the problem or issue that was agreed upon. It may not always be possible to find a solution, but the student’s ideas and suggestions will have made a difference to the Alumnus, making life a little easier in his or her profession.

I realise that placements of this kind do exist in some professions. For example, here in the UK, the Knowledge Transfer Partnership has arranged this with many universities, colleges and businesses. But my understanding is that student to business networking is arranged by their Partnership on a strategic level. That is brilliant for the students who are taking part: but I say that this option should be considered and promoted systematically, throughout our knowledge economy: for students of all professions, at all colleges and universities. Even the professions that are more individually focussed can benefit from student innovation. For example, full time musicians could benefit from new databases of clients, or improved booking systems for their concert work.

The Alumnus who works with the student can then recommend him or her, to one of the managers higher up in the business, or to another connection known to the Alumnus. As we know, a recommendation by someone in the profession goes a long way to ensuring that a graduate can secure the job of his or her choice.

In this way, we will save a lot of frustration on both sides of the application process, and make it easier for all, by arranging formal agreements between the students and Alumni. Cold calling businesses, without tangible results to offer, will not work. Students may still have better luck with the small to medium enterprises; but for these and especially for the larger organisations, it is better for their colleges and universities to have formal arrangements in place for the students to work as interns. The Alumni give the students coaching and mentoring as before; and in return, the students give the Alumni their ideas and innovations, to help the Alumni in their professions.

That is what I propose.

I welcome your thoughts on this.

Update for February 2014

Thanks to all members of this group, Let’s Build Bridges, for their information so far. I will now update you all on our progress.

Due to resourcing issues, I am told that it will not be possible to pursue Let’s Build Bridges in co-operation with Fixers as I had hoped. Therefore, from now on, this project will be a fully independent one, that is open to participation from all organisations. We will now develop an open forum, for discussion between all members, as to where student-Alumni networking has succeeded, and where it still needs improvement. Having spoken with my contact at Bright Futures UK, he has agreed to direct interested academics to this page, to share their ideas and experiences. We will be able to hear the success stories, from the people who founded the networks: and to hear first-hand, for where improvements will be needed.

The main challenge to student-Alumni relations so far, is inconsistency. It is not that students and Alumni do not network at all; but that some do and some do not. For example I have learned already that at my old university, the University of Birmingham, there is an excellent network for Engineering students and Alumni: but not one for Environmental Sciences. In the interests of equal opportunity, I say that all students must have access to the same basic networking resource, regardless of their field of study; where they study, or the curriculum of their university. And again, I am told that it is usually a handful of dedicated students from each school who network. But online networking with Alumni should be seen in exactly the same way as apprenticeships: as a logical process, leading from study, straight into the profession itself.

There are certain professions like television production, and directing in a theatre, where the career path may seem less well defined, and from the graduates' accounts of their profession, personal contacts are more useful than straightforward application. For these professions especially, more networks between students of those disciplines, and the Alumni in the business would be a clear help to all.

I understand that it is difficult to convince students that this is in their interest, but I will personally speak to any students, who may have doubts about networking with Alumni, and will tell them from 10 years of experience, exactly what they will gain. Another issue we face is of course, that each student is unique. Students of every college and school within a university have a unique learning experience: and the work of students from one campus may seem entirely different to those from another. Student-Alumni networks may not seem a one-size-fits-all solution. But we should still remember that students of every subject at every university or college must have access to the same basic learning resources: and in today’s increasingly competitive world, this should include direct access to the Alumni in their chosen profession.

So, I would like to hear the experiences from your contacts, who have helped student-Alumni relations. If you or anyone you know would like to comment on the issues involved, I am more than happy to make you Contributors to the blog, to write articles of interest. You are of course, welcome to comment on the Linkedin and Facebook pages as well. I will try to establish more links on Twitter, Instagram and other media, but would like to focus on the more obvious pages for now. It would also be good to have a wider range of participants involved, so if there is anyone you know who is interested in improving student-Alumni relations, then you are welcome to invite them to this page.

I am also waiting to hear back from a member of the Technology Strategy Board. The Board have pioneered many projects for knowledge transfer between businesses and academics themselves, and will hold useful information for networking projects from the Alumni point of view. I have given my contact the links to these pages and am waiting to discuss with him.

Eventually, I plan to use the arguments from interested parties, to determine where more student-Alumni networks are needed, and to take action to do this. The best solution so far, on the advice you have given, is to hold a competition between all schools of a university, for the most original innovation that academic year: and to encourage students and Alumni of every school, to work together to achieve this. That will ensure that any students or Alumni who are not already networking will be encouraged to do so. By working together, the students will get the mentoring and coaching from the Alumni: and the Alumni will get new ideas from the students that they can use in their professions. This will be a win-win solution, as all participants will gain something from such a competition: including the host university, who can take credit for the new innovations.

It is in everyone’s interests that students and Alumni of every profession are interconnected: to ensure mentoring and coaching of students to prepare them for a very competitive, global job market; and to give the Alumni new ideas, and innovations, to make their professional lives easier. Our efforts will go a long way to making sure that this happens.

Who You Know Not What You Know