All right. Well, let's go ahead and get started. Thanks again. Everyone for joining tonight. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Oops. Let me go back. Sorry my name is heather. Fortenberry. I am the career exploration coach. My preferred pronouns are she her and I work for the Central Office, so I know we have lots of people joining us today from whether you're a newly admitted or newly enrolling student to Cornell or any of our undergraduates, or even graduate students, just to kind of recognize that in addition to our central office and we're in Barnes Hall. You also have your college career services offices to use as resources as well. I'm super excited. I love this topic. I present this throughout this semester. Every every semester and I really enjoy this opportunity to interact with students, but also to share a little bit about this lovely word, this lovely action in the networking, which has a lot of great benefits, but can sometimes be a little bit anxiety and do so, depending on Heather Fortenberry (she/her): what your comfortability is with this we're gonna go ahead and start. It looks like some people are already in there with a poll everywhere. I would love to see who is joining us today. You know we got a lot of our undergraduate students. Maybe we have some of our newly admitted and or enrolling students as well. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): but always hopeful. Yeah, we've got a couple great wouldn't. This is a great opportunity for you to see some of the great resources that we have, and also to interact with some of our current students. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Great thanks, Everyone for participating. So pull everywhere is fun. I really like cool everywhere. I enjoy using this and all of my workshops, even when i'm doing in-person workshops, for sure. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): So a little bit about what we're gonna cover tonight. I'm really gonna be focusing on kind of see you. You links a little bit on linkedin. Honestly, we do a whole presentation on just linkedin, and we've got some great resources on Linkedin. So i'm gonna just touch a little bit on that really, specifically focusing on our alumni. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): But we are going to talk about networking overview in general. Talk about some of our other resources. I always like to leave students with those next steps, because I'm going to give you a lot of information tonight, and so I want to make sure that you have some good action items moving forward. And then, as I mentioned, I will be answering questions throughout the session, but feel free to stick around, and, you know, happy to unshare my screen so that we can just kind of chat about Heather Fortenberry (she/her): this process and other resources we have as well. I always like to start off our workshops with our career development cycle. It's a great reminder that each of us is kind of in a different category or a different aspect of our crew, development and career exploration, and even just career paths in general, including myself. It's helpful to recognize that this is a cycle. So even if you're like, yeah, I already have an internship. I already have a job after I graduate Heather Fortenberry (she/her): before you know it. You may be right back in that understanding yourself to kind of reflect on what are your interest. What are some of your goals? What are some of the strengths and skills that you have? But typically in our conversations with students, regardless of where you are, whether you're in that understanding yourself, and still kind of really kind of understanding who you are. or moving into that exploring options, and really Heather Fortenberry (she/her): kind of seeing what's out there, and how you can take advantage of some of the resources to help you explore more or in that taking action where you're actually maybe have a resume that you want reviewed or cover letter. Want to practice your interview skills, or even actually go through the interviewing process. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): This we support students, and really all of these different categories. So and also as you're exploring graduate school or law school. So keeping that in mind that there's a lot of different areas that both our office, our central office, as well as our college career Heather Fortenberry (she/her): colleagues, will support students in those areas. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): All right. So let's we're talking about networking today, and that kind of falls in not only the understanding yourself component of the crew cycle, but also then in the exploration area. But I would love to kind of have a sense from you all. How do you feel about that word networking when you think about those interactions? And I saw questions that you all submitted. So I really appreciate that as you registered. And yeah, there is there's yeah, love it. Some people are super excited about network, and and it's just like a great way for Heather Fortenberry (she/her): for you to interact other people. Maybe it's a little bit more inside the inducing. Or maybe you're just like not really sure what this even means. Love it. Thank you. I'm not really sure what the otter one is, but love it maybe just cool and smooth sailing. But yeah, it looks like there's like a couple of groups of like, Yes, i'm really excited. Maybe you feel very comfortable, and others where you're like, maybe a little bit unsure, or maybe not quite as comfortable. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Perfect. Thank you all for sharing that super fun. So when I think about networking and and networking is a big part of what I do in my role as a career exploration coach, because it's a great way to learn from other people, and and honestly learn about yourself in many cases as well. I use the word networking, because that's what most people are familiar with in kind of this career context, but I also really like to rephrase it. And think of this as really relationship building. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): connecting with people right? Ultimately, networking is a conversation in the most basic sense of this work. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): because you are asking questions, and that individual is sharing information. And likely, even if you're kind of going into that situation with questions. Likely you're also providing some great expertise, or at least your experiences which are unique. So you know, again, from a clear context, it is basically a conversation. It's also a way to really explore. I love using this term knowledge sharing, because, as I mentioned again, you're sharing information that individual sharing Heather Fortenberry (she/her): information. I will kind of address those of you who maybe are feeling a little bit more. It's secure or unsure about. How to do this is that it does help to kind of prepare. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): We're gonna talk a little bit about what that looks like, and how you can do that. But I will also mention. And this is very beneficial. Even those of you who are, you know, maybe very skilled at networking, keeping in mind that Heather Fortenberry (she/her): networking is just not something that you do, only as you're looking for jobs or opportunities. It really can be a great place where once you even have that opportunity, that, having those conversations and interactions Heather Fortenberry (she/her): is a great way to learn more. And sometimes, even just as you're exploring and have it trying to get a better sense of who you are. Yes, you can have networking conversations and interactions. Then you and that's really beneficial, and we'll really add value as you continue to move forward Heather Fortenberry (she/her): potentially as you are looking for an opportunity. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): We're gonna do a little activity. And I know especially for those of you who are like I'm not sure ready to have these this in person or not really in person. I'm gonna put you into breakout groups in just a second. Here, please stick around. Would love to have you be part of this. Give me 1 s, because i'm here all by myself. I want to make sure that we've got everybody assigned to a room Heather Fortenberry (she/her): I will mention. We do have one group here. I'm not putting you all into a room so that you can interact with each other. But if you can go ahead and just like split into some groups that you probably all know each other, but Heather Fortenberry (she/her): kind of practice, practicing it very quickly. Give your name, your college, your program, your field. Where are you from? Maybe those of you who are in a a group. You can go a little bit step further and think about what are some areas that maybe you are feeling a little bit anxious about networking. I'm going to give you a very little bit about a little time to do this, but absolutely as you are going through. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Let's go ahead and let's see here, if it's gonna let me do this. It's not. But I will close the room and just a bit. I'm gonna give you about 2 min so very quick. Your name, your college, your program, your interest, and where are you from? All right. You're gonna see this little invitation. If you don't see it, come back to me. You should be able to come back. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): and I will let you know You should see a little invitation. So it's nice and quick. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): and if again, if you're in a room all by yourself. Come on back to be. I'll see it too. But Heather Fortenberry (she/her): 3, Heather Fortenberry (she/her): 2, 4, Heather Fortenberry (she/her): you Heather Fortenberry (she/her): i'm just gonna give you about 30 more seconds, and then i'm gonna close the room for Sigma Alpha to say, you know. works Heather Fortenberry (she/her): welcome back those of you who are joining Heather Fortenberry (she/her): hopefully. You had time to. Looks like there's a couple of people still in the rooms Heather Fortenberry (she/her): to introduce yourself and hear from other people. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): All right. We're just waiting for a couple of more groups to come in. Okay. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): And my zoom is my slides are going fast. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): all right. We just have one more room that's coming back. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): All right. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Welcome back, everybody. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Alright, Well, that was fine. That was a a very quick little networking activity. And of course we're in a zoom world. But still there's lots of networking opportunities that are via zoom are our remote. I hope you enjoyed it Heather Fortenberry (she/her): So a lot of times when i'm interacting with students, I get this kind of, you know. Oh, I don't have a network. I'm not really sure who to connect with, or how to connect with people. And I again. I'm really excited to show you some other resources. But to be honest, you know, even though students who are newly admitted, they are newly enrolling at Cornell. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): You have lots of people that you interact with on a daily basis. Certainly our Cornell students, as soon as you step foot on campus, even before you step foot on campus. You're interacting oftentimes with different college offices or different program offices at Cornell. Obviously, you have your faculty myself, Cornell and other Cornell. Staff. You also have, you know, maybe family, friends or other relatives you will have obviously, in your classes and clubs and organizations and other contacts that you have Heather Fortenberry (she/her): throughout your time here at Cornell you are starting to already build that network even as you're sitting next to someone in class and kind of strike up a conversation. You think about some of those friends and colleagues that you have those interactions with, and you may not necessarily think of them as your network, because Heather Fortenberry (she/her): maybe those individuals you connected with them just in a very natural Heather Fortenberry (she/her): kind of way. But they know people. Those people know people. So it's really a great way to kind of think about these individuals who you do have connections with, and who can provide some answers, and in some cases really have common interest as well, which is really nice way to think about this, as it makes it a lot easier. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): But as you're thinking about how to build your network how to kind of increase those individuals that can potentially provide some expertise and knowledge and information. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Again, you know, in addition to kind of thinking about all the people that you've already connected with kind of just sitting down and thinking about that Those list of individuals, maybe it's people that you knew from high school or people that you know in your Major, or that you maybe you have some volunteer experiences or clubs and organizations where you can have these great individuals that you know Heather Fortenberry (she/her): are connected to other people that potentially can have some input and insight. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): This sometimes can be challenging for those of you who might feel a little bit anxious about meeting new people. But Heather Fortenberry (she/her): you know, even just now it's remotely, hopefully. You have an opportunity to have the interaction at least introduce yourself and hear from some other people in your breakout group who you know where they came from, or what their interests are, and maybe you have the opportunity to welcome a new student, or to reconnect with someone that you know. But anytime you have an opportunity to meet with new people. You are absolutely expanding your network. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): It can be really helpful to develop a strategy, or even think about some of those goals that you have prior to even participating in a a networking opportunity. I will just mention at point. Now, you know, in addition to something like this, where you can kind of have these. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): maybe a little bit more informal interactions. There are number of alumni panels and employer info sessions where you could try to do everything. But obviously you're not going to be able to you. Your time is valuable as well. So kind of taking a step back and thinking about not only what types of opportunities do you want to participate in, but also to think about Heather Fortenberry (she/her): at these different experiences? What is your goal? Maybe it's to, you know. Ask one question. Maybe it is to connect with somebody, or to leave with an email address where you can follow up with that individual. Maybe it's just about exploring career. So having that strategy is going to be really helpful prior to kind of thinking about networking in general. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): because absolutely quality versus quantity, you know, having one really great opportunity to interact with. Somebody could be better than attending, you know, or reaching out to 10 people that you, you you're not even really sure what questions you have so really thinking about that strategy behind this, so that you can make sure you're making the best used honor of your time Heather Fortenberry (she/her): following companies, organizations, and influencers could apply to a platform like Linkedin or other social media platforms. And this is, you know, you may think, like oh, well, I'm not actually like connecting with that company owner. But you are potentially in a network of individuals who are all really interested in. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): You know, a certain influencer. I definitely had students who have, you know, let me know that they had a great conversation with someone that they DM through, you know Twitter or Instagram, or other social media platforms because of that similar interest. But obviously in Linkedin for a more professional platform where you're following companies and organizations providing some really great insight as well. And this is, you know, I would say sometimes it can. This can feel more of like passive networking. but it's still not working, and you're still getting Exposure Heather Fortenberry (she/her): requesting introductions is another great way of kind of continuing the conversation likely with people who are in that individual's network. So this can feel a little awkward sometimes, but it's a really great way to kind of continue a conversation and get some more resources. I really encourage students to think about a phrase like Wow, Heather, this has been so helpful. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Are there other people, or even other resources that you feel would be helpful for me to connect with. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): and that kind of puts the onus a little bit on that other individual. But in a really, you know, kind of a a way that allows that person to think about, who in there, who in their network, or even what resources in there that they have that might be really helpful for that individual. That's a nice way of kind of saying, hey, Could you introduce me to some other people that maybe could provide some insight Heather Fortenberry (she/her): as you're preparing we talked about. This is a great way of just like feeling more comfortable in this networking process, but also it gives you a sense of some professionalism, because you are coming into that conversation with some clear objectives Heather Fortenberry (she/her): likely doing some research is going to be helpful for you just in terms of what you're doing so. For example, if you're going to the career fair, for example, we do have big career fares in the fall, and also in the spring, we do this remotely. you're clearly you won't have time to meet with every single organization. Or should you? Because likely your interest, you should really be matching your interest with the organization that you're you'd like to learn more from. But doing a little bit of research prior to those conversations will give you a better sense of what questions you have, or even what the organization does. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): and we'll help you feel more prepared, obviously coming up with those questions again, doing some research is going to help you generate questions that are going to be applicable for that conversation. Sometimes you go to a networking event, and you're not even really sure who's gonna be there. And so you know, with in that in mind, you you know kind of thinking about what questions you have that Heather Fortenberry (she/her): you enjoy asking people? Oh, what you know. What do you like about what you're doing right now? Your career path, or even what do you find challenging about the industry that you're in, or even as simple as can you tell me about more about what you actually do in your role again coming in with some of those questions that you have in various situations will make your experience a little bit more enjoyable. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): and you'll get some good answers to your to what you're what you're curious about. I'd love to be curious as you think about networking. I think a lot of times it really pulls in some of that genuine aspect of why you're interacting with people. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): I we have a nice long list of questions that you can ask in the informational interviews, or even in interviews themselves. But honestly, that curiosity really drives the conversation from your standpoint, and again really helps that interaction. Be a lot more genuine than if You're just pulling a list and asking questions just to ask questions. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): It will be really valuable for you to have that preparation and and know how to introduce yourselves. So I had you all do a very basic introduction. You i'm sure you did great. Maybe it felt a little awkward at first. Maybe in other cases. Maybe you were right on, and you knew exactly what you wanted to say. But practicing is going to be helpful. you know, having an introduction as simple as Hi. My name is. This is my major, and this is where I'm. From perfect. But in many cases you're also going to incorporate your interests. Maybe some of your goals or opportunities that you're thinking about. Exploring your skills likely is also gonna be something that's incorporated. We call this kind of your. You call this your pitch, your personal pitch, or an elevator pitch, but sometimes you're just kind of starting to incorporate some of those components. and it can be helpful sometimes to ask or answer the question like, Why am I here? Where am I going? What do I want to do, or what are my interests. Kind of that. Why, where, what, when, who, and how sometimes can help really build this introduction for yourself as well. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): in addition to just kind of that initial interaction. They're maintaining connections, and I know many of you had this question in, as you registered for this workshop like how you continue these conversations. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): and this is absolutely an important part of networking in general, that building the relationships they're not going to necessarily maintain connections with every single individual that you have an interaction with, but there will be certain people that you're really interested in continuing that conversation. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): It can be helpful for you to organize your contacts. Make sure that you take some basic notes. Even as simple as this is what we talked about. This person is doing research in this field or this person was in this position, and they talked about this resource that I should follow up with. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): So again, basic basic information, so that when you're ready to reach out again. You have some context to remind yourself of what you talked about, and you can incorporate that in the email as well. even developing a little bit of a communication plan. I actually just have this conversation with the young alone today in terms of like, how can you incorporate some sort of language to even help. You have some. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): you know, action moving forward, I usually will say something like Well, this has been a great conversation. Thank you so much for the information you've shared as I am continuing to explore careers, or as I'm. Continuing to explore my skills, Would it be okay if I reach back out to you. If I have more questions. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): it really gives you that opportunity to have that open-ended kind of invitation Heather Fortenberry (she/her): and then likely that other person can be like. Oh, my goodness, of course yes, absolutely reach out to me. It does allow for that second impression. Usually give yourself a little reminder like. Oh, make sure i'd reach out to heather, you know, in a month to just like Give her an update on that resource that she shared that article that she encouraged me to read. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): And you know we talk about networking a lot with students as we think about job search or internship. Excuse me, internship search as well as just opportunities in general. Even if you're thinking about graduate school moving forward, how great would it be to have a conversation with a a current student, or even an individual who, you know, potentially works at that University of professor, etc. To learn more about that experience. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Networking is a really really good way for you to just learn in general. And as we talk about this, we're networking kind of the goal of this is for you to have this opportunity to really sit down and chat with somebody. Have that conversation. We call this an informational interview. Some of you may know this term others. Maybe you're not as familiar with this, but it's a really great way to have a prolonged conversation, and usually it's going to be either in person or via zoom. It could be through phone as well. It's less likely that it's gonna be like just chatting, you know. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): kind of dming back and forth, but you know it could, because it's really an opportunity for you to ask questions for that and the other person to share their experiences, and for you to give the opportunity to talk a little bit about your like, what's driving you, or what your interests are. But Heather Fortenberry (she/her): it could be as short as a 5 min conversation. It could be as long as a couple of hours, and it really could lead to opportunities where you could maybe observe that person in their career, or what we call shadow. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): it could actually lead to an internship or a job after you graduate or another opportunity that you might be searching for. So this is a really great way to really build that relationship. And again, those conversations will be more helpful than just kind of. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): You know. You could absolutely send a quick email. But this is a way to have those interactions. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Alright, i'm gonna skip through a little bit, but skip over that one little interaction to talk a little bit more about our virtual networking. So again I do this workshop a lot in person. I just happen to be doing this one today, virtually, but regardless. I really pull this these kind of tips in as well, even for those in person workshops, because a lot of the times you're here on campus. and you're not able to go to wherever that alumni, for example, is Heather Fortenberry (she/her): at the time they could be all over the world. And so you're likely going to be using some sort of networking or remote platform or through the phone. But we'll talk specifically about zoom, because I think that it's helpful to kind of keep this in mind. Some just general tips. Make sure that you're examining, or you look at the the platform settings. I will say that zoom does updates on a regular basis. Maybe some of you even had to update your Zoom Platform before you join the workshop today, but make sure that you're before you have that interaction that you're updating some of that information. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Make sure that if you're doing Skype or zoom that your address, or your kind of name is up to date. For example, you can see my name. You can see my preferred pronouns. We've had plenty of up at times. Where, like you know, maybe you're chatting with friends, and you change your name. And then, all of a sudden, you're in a professional setting, and You've realized that you did not change how your name is listed. So keep that in mind. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): especially if you're doing a remote chat. make sure in a quiet space, that turning on notifications. So key, even if you, for example, have your phone on your desk and it's buzzing likely that comes through in the zoom as well. But any kind of notifications that might come through email, or even like sounds that might pop up. You want to make sure that those are turned off. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): closing any browsers that might like accidentally pop up a kind of I've had times where i'm meeting with somebody, and all of a sudden, you know their music goes off in the background because I had something going on that they pause for a moment and accidentally clicked on that button again. and making our contact. This is hard. I mean, this is something that we all kind of focus on. But you know, even if you put a little post it up by your camera, or just make sure that you're really like looking at your camera every now and then, so that it feels a little bit more natural as well. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): I wanna just kind of highlight one of our really amazing resources, which is our Cornell outcomes dashboard and see the QR. Code there. This is a public facing a resource, and compiles all of our post graduate data. So students who are graduating so seniors who are on this call, as you know what you're doing, moving forward, do make sure you go in and fill out this survey. But those of you who are, you know, undergraduates or new incoming students feel free to check this out around in here to see kind of major 2 career pads is really interesting to see. I bring this up because one of the aspects of this dashboard Heather Fortenberry (she/her): indicates how students have found their opportunities. So Heather Fortenberry (she/her): i'm gonna just highlight networking specifically. And there's lots of different ways, as you can see that students do find their opportunities, but you can see right off. It's like Linkedin Facebook or other social media platforms, and that's not working. I'll skip down a little bit personal contact absolutely previous summer job or volunteer experience. Yes, that's not working too right. People really know who you are. They know how you work, and they're excited to have you back. or they're excited to share or introduce you to other individuals. So networking is definitely a very helpful tool, and also, yes, absolutely for obtaining that opportunity. But i'll also share that. You know the more you know about an experience that you're interested in. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): You're a much stronger applicant. And also you know that this is an opportunity that you're really excited about. So again, thinking about some of those questions that are important to you, and how to kind of move forward on that is going to be really valuable. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): All right. We're jumping into finally, right you like. See you. This is what we wanted to chat about, and we'll talk about linkedin, too, and some of the other resources. But let's talk a little bit about some of these networking resources before I jump into these, though I am curious. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): What is one concern that you have about connecting or networking, and we're going to specifically again. Talk about alumni. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Yes, that you'll be nervous absolutely for sure. Again, some of that preparation will be helpful. But questions you can ask. Oh, I cannot wait until we talk about the creative element tool. Okay. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Yeah. Worried about that alone won't return email phone call message. That is, it's challenging right? It's. It feels a little bit like a rejection. But honestly, worst case, scenario, and and in most cases Heather Fortenberry (she/her): I will say that Heather Fortenberry (she/her): it happens to all of us, we get really busy. And so there's nothing wrong with sending a really polite Follow up maybe a week or so after you send that initial contact. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Hi, Heather, you know I'm sure you're really busy. I just wanted to make sure that you saw my email Heather Fortenberry (she/her): perfect. Oh, my goodness, i'm so, Mayor. Thank you so much for reaching out to me again, and I will respond. That's typically the response that happens from that you're not wearing concern, not sure how to connect. So really glad that we're going to be walking through some of these really great platforms. And I want to address kind of this, like i'm worried that alumni are not interested in speaking with me. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Yeah, you know that's I. That's a pretty common. A lot of these kind of concerns come up frequently in our conversations. I and I want to put you in that kind of driver seat of Imagine somebody reaching out to you, maybe from high school, let's just say, and even those of you who are newly admitted students think about. You know a first year student in your high school who reaches out to say, hey, You know I see that you're at Cornell. Can you tell me a little bit about your experience? Tell me a bit about your Major. What do you like about it? What do you find challenging? How would you? How would you respond? You know, kind of in your head. Think about that, or even seeing a family on campus with a map, and they look like they're a little bit lost, and they might come to you like, hey? Do you know how to get to Day Hall? Heather Fortenberry (she/her): You're likely gonna feel good about helping that individual? So really, alumni are in that same place. They're really excited to connect with students and to talk about their experiences, and maybe to share a little bit more about what they You know, a a favorite class that they had, etc. So Heather Fortenberry (she/her): yes, it's a little bit. Maybe i'm worrisome, but also once you do it. Once you practice a little bit, it becomes a lot easier. Thanks. Everyone for for for participating. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): All right. So we're really. Again, we're focusing on C, You links mostly because this is our amazing alumni platform, our I'll say our community platform, because this is a place where Cornell alumni can go and Heather Fortenberry (she/her): indicate that they would like to be a resource for students so that they can share their experiences. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): This is obviously also a platform for students, our current students. So new students, if you have actually enrolled. You can join our platform if you're still exploring no worries. Once you decide that Cornell's where you want to be, you can join here as well, but we have over 12,000 alone who have volunteered to participate Heather Fortenberry (she/her): over 6,000 students as well. We have clearly more students that can join, and hopefully. You all join now that you see this platform. But this is a great way for students to actually reach out to Cornell alumni, alumni Heather Fortenberry (she/her): kind of sit and wait for students to to reach out to them. Alumni can connect with each other, but they can't reach out to students until a student has reached out to them for students and alone. You can use this platform to explore. You can read the discussion page. You can send messages and request meetings. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): We do have something called projects which are short term really experiential opportunities. So short term projects that alumni will be posting. It's still kind of a work in progress, but know that that's to come. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): and you can actually use this on your phone as well, if you just like, if you're using your phone right now to access the QR code, you'll see it's basically an icon that goes on to your your home screen. So if you want to, if you haven't already feel free to join Cu. E-links and start a profile we call. So see you Elink we love acronyms at Cornell. So it's Cornell University Heather Fortenberry (she/her): e electronic. And then the link stands for learning and forming networking equals knowledge sharing. So right there we're really focusing on that knowledge sharing. And even as a first year students. You have experiences to share on this platform for sure. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): I'm gonna walk you through kind of what the platform looks like, and how you can use it to connect with people. So what you're seeing right now is our dashboard is basically your home screen. When you sign in to see you aaling. So always see this. You're gonna see it's gonna look a little bit different just because I have the administrative view. But it's pretty much the same. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): So as a student, and I want to focus as a student, because alumni have a slightly different view. They're not able again to reach out to students, but as a student you have access to the Cornell network, which is where the Cornell alumni are. You can also access your peers, and I want to emphasize that peers Are any any student at Cornell so undergrad through Ph. D. Nba. Students Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Law School. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Quite a while. There are a number of different students who are on this platform. So this is a great way to you know. Let's say you're looking at grad school, hey? Phd. Student, tell me what it's like to be a Phd student, or maybe you're interested in as a first your student. You're trying to figure out Heather Fortenberry (she/her): because you're in arts and sciences like what, Major, do you want to explore? You can reach out to a senior who's in Econ as well as history to kind of learn a little bit more about their experience Heather Fortenberry (she/her): programs. These are smaller kind of communities within our larger platform. Right now. It's more to our professional graduate programs. We have a really great discussion, Page. We just had a whole bunch of questions coming in from both students and alone. So you'll see those in the discussion, page, and you can absolutely just kind of review those questions and the alumni responses typically in the Atlantic are responding. But we do have some students that will respond to those questions as well. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): There's great resources. We're going to talk about crew, development, toolkit in just a moment. But you do have access to some great resources. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Projects again. These are those short term experiential opportunities that students can gain some skills. But we're we're right now holding off on that. But we'll see some more postings in the coming months. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): and i'll just kind of emphasize that you can always access your profile to make some updates. So I say that because sometimes students are like. Oh, I don't have a profile picture, so I didn't post my. You know my profile. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Just get in and explore. You can always add your profile. Picture down the road, and i'll again for your current students. I'll show you some of those great resources that we have to. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): So how do you connect with people? This is a great question, and this is where it makes it so easy. And so you links to connect with individuals. I'm. In the Cornell network. Tab. So again that's where the Cornell alumni are. And if you as soon as you click on that tab, you're gonna see a bunch of search filters so similar to Google. You can just go into that search bar and type in whatever you want to communication, for example, and click on apply, and then that's gonna pull up any profile that has the word communication in there. So if you're looking for communication measures. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): maybe this gets frustrating because other people are putting the word communication, and they're not communication, Major, so i'll show you how to kind of filter that down a little bit, so that you're finding the right people. I want to point out that as soon as you join you, you you're part of the Cornell community so unlike Linkedin, which is also amazing. But, unlike Linkedin, you don't have to request to to like be connected to any people in this platform. It is a Cornell platform. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): So in order for you to kind of make sure that you're finding, you know, an alum that you thought was interesting out of the 12,000 plus alumni who have volunteered. You can do something called bookmarking, and this is kind of where you would search for people who you have bookmarked. I'll go into this in a little bit more detail. You can find people that you connected with, or that you contacted, communicated with. You could search by location, and you can absolutely search by majors or fields. But the industries is probably a really good place to start, because once you click on this, you're gonna get this long list of very broad industries that you can explore, and it's, you know it is broad for a reason, so that when you're looking for you know marketing. You're gonna see Heather Fortenberry (she/her): people from all different majors in a marketing field in addition to communications and business and Econ and history majors. So this is a really fun way to explore. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): And obviously, then you can click. Apply Heather Fortenberry (she/her): The other really unique aspect of this platform is that we have more filters to help you search a little bit more, and one of the really exciting aspects of this is their help. Topics so kind of conversation topics as an alum. When you are joining, you indicate. Yes, I'd love to talk to students about networking and informational interviewing, and then, as a student, you could be like, oh, I'd really like to talk to a lungs a little bit more about how to network and how to do informational interviews. and then you can find people who are interested in talking about this a little bit more. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Once you find some filters that really help you kind of find a smaller group of individuals. You can set search alerts. This is a great way. It makes life easier for you. Basically. Once you click on that, you can. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): you can title your search anything you want to, and you can indicate how often you want to receive alerts. So I do this with students all the time. Maybe like once a week I got a couple of alerts. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): mostly because I turn off, some of them indicating when new people, new alumni, join the platform, and there's new people every single day who kind of meet those same filters. So you're not having to go back into the system over and over again to find those same filters, and add, in looking for who might have joined that was new. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): So it's a nice way of of kind of making your life a little bit easier. Once you find some people that you think are interesting, and we'll use our wonderful Michael Cook as an example. You'll see. This is kind of just the the tile view of his profile. As I mentioned before. If you're trying to bookmark people or find, you know, kind of indicate people that you are interested in in connecting with again. You just kind of click on that upper right hand banner, icon, and then back in those filters you click on that icon, and it'll pull up every single individual that you were interested in exploring. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): When you click on the individual's tile you're gonna see a lot more information, and this is just really like the header of his profile. But you can learn a little bit more about their background. What careers They've had, what positions they've had similar to Linkedin. You can actually link your linkedin profile to see a link as well which makes things a little bit easier. So you're not recreating the wheel. But i'll just mention, as in addition to kind of some of those like standard networking platform fields. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): we also have added some Cornell specific field. What clubs are organizations where you a part of. So I know we have a couple of clubs that are part of the workshop tonight, too, so you can search by your club, or if you're an athlete, you can search by that sport, or even if you're not in that that athlete, you could still search by that sport, so you can filter things down a little bit more by your interest, which is really exciting, and it interesting as well. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): If we want to reach out to Michael because we have some questions. You can just click on this message, Michael Button, or the message whomever the individual's name button. And what's gonna happen is the system is gonna prompt you to kind of walk through some of these really these pretty typical networking steps. So here we are. We're going to write an email. You could start off and just write your own email. I know some people had some questions about like, what do I say again, through the Cred Development toolkit, which we'll talk about in a second. There's some really great templates that you can just choose from. But what's nice about you, Elinks? Is there already? Are some templates that you can just kind of incorporate, or at least start from it Might kind of help you start those questions. So we have networking a base for exploration, and choosing a major, which again, for some of our first and second year students, this might be really useful, as you're trying to narrow down some of those majors depending on what college you're in. Of course. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): let's just say if we click on networking advice. It's gonna plug in some very basic language. You can see that there's a nice little feedback pop up that that gives you some ideas of like what maybe you should do, moving forward this one specifically. It's a little bit short, so it's an encouraging you to add a little bit more information. Maybe. Here's what you say, a little bit more like. Oh, my first year student who's looking at, or i'm a senior getting ready to graduate, and i'm exploring a little bit more and trying to connect with people. Do you have advice moving forward? Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Sure, great. You could absolutely send this email Heather Fortenberry (she/her): as is, if you wanted to, but I would encourage you to think about the feedback on the side there. But you can also request a meeting. And again, this is something that's really unique about you. You links, and that not only do you send a message, but the lungs are volunteering to connect with you via zoom. Everything can be done through this platform. So you don't even have to give like your own zoom link. There's a camera. It's it's basically zoom but it's just connected to the platform. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): If you click on request a meeting. the system is gonna prompt you with kind of here. Some here are some things to do right. You're gonna choose a couple of days that maybe work for you. Obviously not in September. 2020 moving forward September 2023 baby. How do you want to interact? Sure, video call? Maybe you decide because you're let's say, in a city where this alone is, you know that you could be in person or phone call. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): How long do you want to talk to them? What are some times for each of these dates that work? And then you click on request meeting. I promise you it's not going to send that request yet. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): but it will actually pull it into the email. So now it's nice. It's there When you press, Send now, the alone will not only get your message, but also see that you'd like to request a meeting. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Other functions of see you feelings. I mentioned the discussion platform. I'm just gonna pull up like some some sample questions that have come in in the past couple of years we have hundreds of questions that are listed there. This is another great way to learn from other students questions, and see how what a lungs have responded. You can even message those alone which makes it really easy. You see that they've already interacted, and Heather Fortenberry (she/her): in many cases they there's some really, really good advice. So it's. Sometimes it's very clear focused. Sometimes it's more just about experience. Sometimes it's about graduate school life. So I encourage you. If you have questions again, I administer. I maybe I did actually share this, but i'm one of the administrators for this platform, and Heather Fortenberry (she/her): I really encourage you to submit questions that are really generating a conversation. So we always get students that are like, I don't have a job for the summer, which you know. Do you have this? Does any alone have any ideas. No, that's not really generating a conversation. But maybe you ask questions like. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): you know, i'm i'm new to networking. What are some great questions that alone have suggested that will that they really like incorporating in their networking conversations. Yeah, I get you anything you get like 4 or 5 alums that will send in some good questions that they have, and likely that's a great way to continue that conversation, hey? Thanks for submitting that response. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): But I do encourage you to use a discussion platform, even if you're just looking at questions and or the answers that alums have provided, but feel free to send out a question as well. It'll come to me. I'll I'll I'll email you if I have any questions before we approve it. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): So that's a very I mean again, quick overview of ceiling. It's pretty intuitive, but I really hope you just like, Get in and play around in the system again. Don't worry too much about your profile. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): You may want to kind of build it up a little bit as you move forward, but this is a really good like learning platform as well, and the lungs had been in your shoes not that long ago. There's young alums there's a lot that have retired that are in the system. There's Ceos. There's owners of companies. There's people who are just starting out in their career who are in medical school, so really have fun with this platform Heather Fortenberry (she/her): as we talk about networking. Of course we have to talk about Linkedin and those of you who are current students. I wanna just remind you that you have some really great resources. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): for example, linkedin learning. And we're going to talk about that which basically gives you access to thousands of courses that you can explore. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): but also other things that are really kind of the kind of answer the why should you have a linkedin profile? Is that there are hundreds of millions of users, and that includes recruiters. It also includes Cornell alumni. It also includes, you know, really ways to explore industries and connect with with companies Heather Fortenberry (she/her): and influencers, but searching for jobs as well. And it's just a really fun way of using this platform to explore careers as well. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): So again, i'm focusing really on the corner alumni part of this those of you who are current students, but also those of you who are newly admitted and enrolled here at Cornell you can go to the Cornell University page. And basically how you would do that is on your linkedin search Bar. You're just gonna type in Cornell University. It'll take you to this page. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): some of you. You may. Even your high schools may even have an alumni page, and I would say, make sure they like. Go in and check it out and join if you aren't already following what's nice about this Cornell alumni page, though, is that? Look at that there's a nice little alumni tab that you can click on, and that's gonna give you access to really have fun and explore on this platform, so you can see there's hundreds of thousands of alumni who are part of the linkedin page. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Once you kind of are in this tab you can explore. It's really fun, because you can see where they work. You can see where they live. You can see what they do so like, what their position is, what they majored in, and also what skills they are really kind of leveraging, and that's a really great way to explore. So again, even if you don't connect with anyone just getting into this platform and playing around. This is a really easy way of doing it. Of course you could go into the search bar and type in Cornell Alumni finance, and you're gonna get a whole list of things. But you could also go in here and type in finance in that search, bar, and see what companies they work for. They could filter it down a little bit more. By what positions or what they do. It's a really great way to connect and then find those individuals and obviously reach out to them. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): and they're reaching out. Sometimes it's a little bit overwhelming. But again I'm gonna show you some great resources to help you Really. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): craft a message that you feel comfortable with. So again, yeah, you can see kind of where they work where they live, etc., etc. I already mentioned this, but I will again. I'll send you these slides, all of you, so that you have access to these. But while you are a coronel student, you have access. Kernel is paying you to have access to linkedin learning, and you can absolutely connect it to your linkedin profile. But just keep that in mind, current kernel students. You should be able to just go in, and it's probably gonna Heather Fortenberry (she/her): give you that little like request to Duo. If it's prompting you to pay you, you went to the wrong page. You're gonna want to go to the Cornell. It page, and it'll walk you through how to do this. But i'll give you. I'll give you a couple of links to explore, so that you, making sure that you're going to the right place. But Heather Fortenberry (she/her): part of the reason why i'm showing you this is that if you do not have a linkedin profile and you're. Like oh, I know I should have linkedin or people keep talking about linkedin. There's a great linkedin learning class. It's about 45 min, and it's on how to build your profile. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): It really walks you through. You can absolutely come to career services as well, and we will walk you through and and also review your linkedin profile if you're not 100% sure what you want to do. So. Yes, Linkedin, great resource as well as see you links Heather Fortenberry (she/her): some other resources for our current students. We have in our office again. I'm. In Barnes Hall. I'm right next to the campus store, right across from Willard, straight on Ho! Plaza. We have a profile picture kiosk. So if you're like, I don't have a profile, and that's why I haven't created a linkedin profile, or a. C. We links profile. You can go ahead and schedule a 15 min appointment. It's self. Serve. So you're like literally. You. You literally walk by my office to get to this profile Heather Fortenberry (she/her): a picture kiosk, and you just have this opportunity to just kind of like. Sit there there's an ipad. There's a little like, keep off. So you can take pictures, a really nice background. And then you email those pictures to yourself, and you can Heather Fortenberry (she/her): crop them and edit them as you want to post on whatever site you need to to have a profile, that professional picture. If you do schedule an appointment and you walk by my office, and i'm not in with the student. Feel free to like, leave or stop by the other stuff I was at your presentation, but really easy to do, and a great resource. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): All right. I've mentioned this multiple times again, if you are, if you have a cornel that I need. So i'm speaking specifically to our new admitted and or enrolled students, Our enrolled students like we can access this our admitted students who haven't quite committed. Yet Heather Fortenberry (she/her): you will be able to access this eventually. But this is an amazing tool. Current students. You probably have this attached to your canvas platform already, but maybe you Haven't, actually explored. If nothing else, you could go into the networking what we call like mini career course. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): and you can access a whole bunch of different. You know, kind of a emails or linkedin messages and copy, paste them and use them, maybe customize them a little bit for your messaging. There's a lot of other resources in the networking platform as well, and I really encourage you to get in and explore and play around with these. In most cases, these little career courses that you're seeing here. Take about maybe 1520 min, and it's a really good way to get your get your career started, and to explore a little bit more as well. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): All right, we are Heather Fortenberry (she/her): wrapping things up. I I want to just recognize that some some students, as you were registering wanted to know a little bit more about like how to find jobs and how to find internships. And clearly this is not something that we're talking about in this specific workshop. But there's a lot of great resources in our media library. We still have some workshops coming up, so i'll. I'll just mention that, too. But Heather Fortenberry (she/her): here are some next steps. Do you think about networking? Specifically. absolutely Just kind of sit down and create that list of people that you're interested in connecting with. What are you curious about? Who are some people that you already know, or who are some people, or what are some areas where you don't know people that you're trying to really find those connections Heather Fortenberry (she/her): great like even just kind of having things a little bit more organized for you is going to be helpful for you. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): And obviously you can always schedule a meeting with us. So yes, organizing yourself is gonna be helpful finding opportunities to network, whether you're you know wherever you are in your career there are opportunities here on campus, but also even over the summer, potentially in your hometown, or even virtually, there might be some other opportunity. So Heather Fortenberry (she/her): keep go to handshake. Those are current students to see what opportunities there might be practice. You see, you, E. Links use linkedin to practice that networking again that at that point it'll be like more remote. And Heather Fortenberry (she/her): I think a big, a big barrier for many students of like we're always used to comparing ourselves to others for embrace your uniqueness. You've got really cool experiences. However, you got here to Cornell and beyond Heather Fortenberry (she/her): the classes that you've taken the clouds or organizations, you might be a part of your experiences are unique. So embrace that. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): and a colleague share this, and I love this kind of that power of an invitation. Everyone likes to have that little invite. Invite a friend to coffee, invite somebody new that you've never, you know. Maybe you've seen, but never introduced yourself to grab a like walk to your next class. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Remember that people that's like so powerful, and people really appreciate that. So if you extend that invitation, likely others will as well. And again we covered a lot of information, and it the intent is not to make sure that you have everything complete and organized, but to just give you a good taste of what is out there, and what you can do, and how networking can be powerful. If you're feeling overwhelmed, or have questions absolutely schedule an appointment either with your college career services, office or with our office, and i'll give you some links there. So in just a bit, so that you know how to do that. That's kind of people are already in playing around. I was gonna say, what are some next steps that you're planning to do as you think about networking and building your community. It looks like people have already started responding to that Heather Fortenberry (she/her): got a good number of people creating profile, exploring your network schedule, an appointment with career services. I will give you that link in just a moment. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): absolutely the Core development toolkit is amazing. And maybe it is that cool to create a linkedin profile. Sometimes students are like, you know what i'm gonna wait until after the semester is over, and I'm going to do that over the summer. Perfect. That sounds good. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): Seniors who are graduating try to do that. Get access to that linkedin learning before you graduate, so you can get a little bit of experience, and some of those courses, too. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): All right. Follow us on on Instagram. We've got some really good stories and tips, and we highlight a lot of our programs through here as well Heather Fortenberry (she/her): workshops. So we still have some workshops coming up. And actually, there are a couple that are coming up next week that I just wanna end later this week that I want to highlight tomorrow, I believe, is the just in time. Iv. Plus Heather Fortenberry (she/her): career fair. We still have some career fires coming up again. You're gonna go to handshake to find that so? Those of you who are seniors and or who are to current students who are looking for internships do go participate in that career fair. Again, it's listed on handshake. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): We have law school workshops, a lot of our prestigious scholarships and fellowships are coming up as well. There's an international networking event again for students who are who are at international and or who are interested in in international experiences. These are all listed on handshake. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): I love feedback. So if anybody pros and cons like, what could we do better? It's a short amount of time. We covered a lot of information, but feel free to to give me some feedback, and it makes me do my job better. So appreciate that for sure. And again i'll send these some of these links out with my email to. You can see right up here to schedule an appointment with our office again. College offices have a slightly different. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): a differently. So if you have questions, let me know. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): feel free to connect with me on Linkedin. You could practice your messaging. Heather Fortenberry (she/her): and I am going to just say thank you all for participating and for joining me Tonight Heather Fortenberry (she/her): I am going to.