4.2 Tip 2: use your network of contacts
In Week 6, you looked at networking with other interns, colleagues and senior managers. Now is the time to use those contacts to explore other opportunities.
Don’t just ask them for a job. Instead, start a conversation about what you want to do next. Ask for their advice and build up to whether they know of any opportunities that might suit you.
If you’ve started this conversation in person while you were working with them, it will be much easier to continue it now, perhaps initially via LinkedIn or email.
Activity 5 Top five contacts
In the box below, list your top five contacts for follow up conversations after your internship or work experience. If you haven’t found any significant work experience yet, choose five people from the list you came up with in Activity 2, Week 4 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .
Give yourself a deadline for when you want to talk to them.
| Name | Deadline for opening conversation |
|---|---|
Discussion
You can keep coming back to this list and refining it as you meet new people who you think could have a beneficial role to play in your future career. For the moment, you have nothing to lose by having an early conversation with them. Start by asking about their own career journey or asking for their advice. Most people will be happy to help and if they’re not, it’s probably because they’ve got things going on in their own lives that don’t allow them the time.