Networking: Mythical beings, figures of speech, and a call to action

UCFs College of Business is not unique in that it leverages curricula and services to ensure students navigate their programs of study successfully and secure meaningful employment after graduation. In a survey of AACSB-accredited colleges of business, 70% reported that they offer some kind of career class and 70% of those schools require all students to take the classes. With almost 9000 undergraduate students, the college IS unique in the scale it has to do these things and the approach it takes to deliver career development education.

Our career classes are structured as sequential experiences taking place over four semesters because, as our Dean, Paul Jarley, has said, “Figuring out what you want to do with the rest of your life and getting a job doing it doesn’t just happen on Tuesday.” Career and professional development, and the expectation that students will be actively engaged, is part of our culture. If we didn’t do it this way, then students would have the option of “checking out” and we’d only succeed in engaging the already engaged. Our large size means that overwhelmed or intimidated students are already inclined to be anonymous so we can’t have that; checking out is NOT a strategy for success.

As a result, I teach four classes each semester with an annual student enrollment of approximately 10,000. Our career classes generate more student contact hours than most individual academic programs at UCF. To tailor these classes to the needs of our highly diverse student body AND support the culture of engagement and active learning in our college, I’ve incorporated the Career To-DO List assignment into every class. Students are required to complete a minimum amount of self-selected extra-curricular activity. This can include workshops, events, club meetings, networking, and community events; it all depends on what the student chooses to do. Whether my students love or loathe it, this assignment sets the college’s expectation of activity and gets my students moving. 

To give the assignment a persona, I came up with the GEB Points Fairy. Like the tooth fairy who rewards children for losing teeth, thus softening the blow of what can be a scary experience, the Points Fairy rewards students for completing activity, softening the blow of a student stepping out of their comfort zone to do something outside of the classroom. The Points Fairy, then, is a metaphor representing my call to action, my expectation of engagement, and my system for rewarding them in class. 

Over the last year I surveyed students in the fourth and final class. Since the overall goal of the career classes is post-graduate employment, students in that class can submit a job offer, promotion, new business, or acceptance into graduate school for final exam credit; over two-thirds of the submissions are for new job offers. In the class survey I ask if they are submitting an opportunity, their feelings about the opportunity, and a host of questions about the actions they took while in the career classes. 

More than 1200 students participated in the survey and here’s what I found out:

·      35% - the percent of students in the final class who said they submitted a new job, promotion, business, or acceptance into grad school for the “Got the Job” final exam option

·      41% - the percent who had a job AND said they selected activities that helped them build a network

·      46% - the percent who had a job AND said they know more than 3 professionals in their career field

·      51% - the percent who had a job AND said they met formally with 5 or more professionals in their career field

·      55% - the percent who had a job AND know more than 3 professionals and met with 5 or more professionals in their career field

·      57% - the percent who had a job AND feel that they are a much better than average networker

·      60% - the percent who had a job AND feel that they networked much more than average

·      63% - the percent who had a job AND feel that they are both a much better than average networker and networked much more than average

Students who incorporate networking, specifically interpersonal, one-on-one networking with professionals in their chosen field AND feel good about that networking have more success in their job search than students who don’t. Surprisingly, this isn’t just for students who come in as good networkers already. These results also hold for those students who choose activity based on ease or convenience in the beginning but change their approach to choose activity that builds skills and grows their professional network.

Additionally, networking is the foundation for success using more traditional university recruiting like career fairs and internships. My survey says students who leverage networking in addition to attending career fairs and completing internships get more job offers, accept more job offers, work more internships, and get more out of their internship experiences. Networking is how they build the critical interpersonal skills needed to present their qualifications and tell a compelling story AND a pool of professionals who not only know them but are willing to refer them if needed.

The Points Fairy, as a I said, is simply a metaphor for action. However, it’s also an opportunity. I don’t choose activity for students, they choose it. To maximize utility, they need to choose activities purposefully and complete them with diligence and sincerity. And if they do, they are rewarded with so much more than a few points in a class assignment…