January 2019
What is Networking?
Networking is the act of interacting and getting to know people. It is about building relationships with people for mutual benefit. Being an international student, it becomes important for an individual to build relationships in order to have a comfortable stay. In today’s day and age with opportunities being created in abundance, networking is essential for personal as well as professional development.
Why is it important?
Once you land in a foreign country, you will require people to help you out with various things like, to find out from which store you can buy groceries from, how to pay your bills, understand the commute system, etc. Although these are minor reasons for networking, mentioned below are the major reasons behind why networking is crucial:
- Helps You to Gel and Be Comfortable in a Foreign Land: The more friends you try to make the less alone you feel. Interact and get to know people. Doing this will help you open up and share things with the friends you make. Talking with new students will help you settle in the new environment easily and quickly.
- Increases Job Prospects: When you start interacting with people, you start building contacts i .e you start networking. This connects you with people who can help you in getting a job. Networking and interacting will not only increase your chances of securing a job but also help you understand which career field will be more helpful for you or rather help you in making understand how to go about pursuing career in order to successfully build the right path for yourself.
- Enables Exchange of Ideas: When you start interacting and building contacts, exchange of ideas take place. This exposes one to a number of ideas, enabling him/her to understand people’s thought processes. Exchanging ideas also helps develop and broaden one’s mindset which allows an individual to think holistically.
How to network?
Initially, networking might seem like a difficult task but allow yourself to get into a habit. Once you get a knack of it, it will become a fun activity. There are various ways to network with people. Given below are the most common and effective ways:
- Attending Events: Colleges are known to organize events for students. Attending such events like annual college festival, trips, workshops, seminars, etc. opens up for you the doors to meet new people not only from within the college but also from outside of college. In events you not only get a chance to meet influential people but also make new friends who further can help you connect with their contacts.
- Join Committees, Communities, Clubs, and Societies: Every single college and its various departments have committees/clubs/societies which carry out many interesting activities and also organize events. One should join and become a member of such bodies and help in organizing its activities and events. It is through such societies and clubs that students, while organizing, meet different people from different arenas.
- Participate In Events: Apart from helping and attending events, one must also participate in them. This gives students a chance to showcase their talents on a large scale attracting attention of many. It can so happen that people can approach you and try to build a relationship. Extend your hand readily and accept the invitation. You never know when a person can prove to be helpful.
- Attend Local Fests of The City/Locality: The city you study in might have a local fest in which all the city’s residents participate. Attending these events will help you get a glimpse of the local culture making it easier for you to build relationships with those belonging to that city itself. You might also end up talking to a few locals and also make friends with some.
- Visit Local Students’ Families: Making at least one friend belonging to city helps largely. Make attempts to visit his/her home and get acquainted with the family members. Once this happens, staying in a foreign country becomes much easier as you start feeling at home. You also start adapting their way of living and understand the culture and norms in a much better way.
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