The Spire

Pam Ahearn

Center for Career Development

I recently wrote an article for The Spire focused on networking as a powerful tool throughout your professional career.  As I said in that article, “Networking conversations can help you gain clarity, expand your professional network, and enhance your social capital. Networking is a way to build connections and when cultivated, can lead to additional connections, opportunities, and future job or internship leads.” 

Two of the best resources Holy Cross students (and alumni) can use to identify professionals with whom you can network are LinkedIn and the HC Network. Both resources make it easy for you to connect with professionals to learn about a particular industry, profession and/or employer. LinkedIn also exposes you to recruiters actively seeking candidates for open positions. It’s important to update your profiles regularly in both places so the content reflects your current experiences, skills, education and contact information. 

Let’s take a closer look at these two resources:

• LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over one billion members spanning over 150 industries and includes about 28,000 Holy Cross alumni. You can identify Holy Cross alumni through the alumni finder tool.  Simply type College of the Holy Cross in the search bar and then View Page and then Alumni.  You can then search for Holy Cross alumni by “where they work, where they live, what they do, what they are skilled at, what they studied, and how you are connected.” If you want to broaden your search beyond just Holy Cross alumni simply type a name, employer, industry, etc. in the search bar and then use the filters at the top of the (Home) page to narrow your search. When you find someone that you want to connect with, click Connect and then always click Add a Note so you can personalize your connection message. This extra step can provide some context to the person and shows intentionality on your part. Finally, it’s important to monitor the messaging tool so you respond to alumni and employer messages in a timely manner. 

• The HC Network is a Holy Cross specific networking platform for students to connect with over 4,000 alumni volunteers. Holy Cross alumni are known for their desire to pay it forward. To identify Holy Cross alumni with whom you would like to connect login to the HC Network and navigate to the Connect tab, click on Community and then use the search bar and filters to narrow your search. Once you find someone you’d like to talk to, click on Message.  From there you can pick a template and craft a message to that alumni. You can also use the “request a meeting” functionality to let the person know what day/time might work best for you to have a conversation or meet. 

Please remember, it’s very important when you schedule a meeting or phone/Zoom call with alumni that you show up for that conversation. It is unacceptable to “no show” for that meeting and it could lead to the alumni no longer being willing to assist students.  Additionally, you should always send a follow up thank you email in which you refer to any particularly interesting or useful information that was discussed during the conversation. Create a spreadsheet to keep track of your conversations including the date of the meeting, helpful comments, the names of any referrals and the date that you sent your thank you email. Stay in touch. Through emails, short notes or occasional phone calls, your goal is to establish an on-going relationship. This is how you build your network and potentially even identify mentors.

Copy edited by Lauren Backstrom