Mark and Jeff are both attending a networking event at Peirce College. Mark is a heatlhcare executive at a local hospital. He has 15 years of experience, a graduate degree in healthcare administration, and tons of connections to other professionals in the field. Mark is well-liked by people. He is the kind of person who enjoys attending networking events because he likes meeting people who are early in their career. He loves seeing their energy and excitement for a new job or a new career path. Often, Mark attends these events because he knows he needs to fill an open position in his office. He is looking for new talent.

Jeff is a senior at Peirce College. He will soon graduate with his degree in healthcare administration. He dreams of climbing the ladder in healthcare administration so that he may someday be a high-level executive of a hospital. His plan is graduate from Peirce, land a job in the field of healthcare administration, and then he wants to pursue his graduate degree in healthcare administration. He is hoping that his new company will pay for his graduate degree.  

When Mark (the executive) arrived at the networking event, he got something to drink and sat down at an empty table. Over the course of the night, he shook about 8 hands, but he had meaningful conversations with 3 people. One of them was looking for work as a lawyer, so Mark couldn’t help him, but the other two were seeking opportunities in the healthcare field. Mark took their business cards, and he made a note in his calendar for later in the week to call each of them.

When Jeff (the student) arrived at the networking event, he pulled out a stack of 100 business cards and began making his way around the room. He approached 100 people, shook 100 hands, and handed out 100 business cards. At the end, he was exhausted and felt worried that all of his hard work was for nothing. He went home and sent emails to all 100 people who he met, but he never heard back from any of them.

Over the course of the night, Jeff and Mark DID meet. Jeff’s hand was one of the 8 that Mark shook, but it was not meaningful and not memorable. It was brief. When Mark received Jeff’s follow up email, he initially wondered, “Who is this? I don’t remember this person” but then he remembered, “Oh, that’s right, I remember that person. He seemed sort of needy and desperate.”  

Questions:

1. Where did Jeff go wrong? (name at least two things)

2. What could Jeff do better next time? (name at least 3 things)

3. What are your own challenges when it comes to networking?

4. Why are networking events useful?

5. What are some things that people can do to network without a networking event? In other words, how can you network if there are no events coming up?