page 6
The Fourth Wall
Networking can be the
single most important skill to pos-
sess to land a job right out of col-
lege. At least 60% - in some reports
higher - of jobs are landed due to
networking. Many college students
might ask, “What do you mean by
networking?” Networking can be
defined as a support system to
share information and services
among individuals or groups of
individuals that have common in-
terests. So really it’s developing
relationships with people and/or
groups of people who can help you
find a job in the field you are inter-
ested in. If you're shy, the very
thought of networking might make
you want to jump into a closet or
hide in a corner. You might have a
vision of the cheesy salesman try-
ing to pitch you the latest product
and you think you couldn’t possi-
bly just start up a conversation with
a complete stranger to try and sell
yourself! You have to tell yourself
that you can and there are ways to
get started with ramping up your
networking skills. The beauty now-
adays is you have face to face net-
working and you have social net-
working such as Twitter, Facebook,
and LinkedIn to name a few. There
are several things to keep in mind
when beginning to think about how
to network face to face. First of all
you want to normalize it by think-
ing about it as making a new friend.
Don’t go into a room of business
professionals with a mindset that
they are intimidating or scary...
think of them as a potential friend
or someone you can have a casual
conversation with. You might want
to have a few thoughts or questions
you could ask any of these profes-
sionals before approaching them.
Set some goals before entering an
event where you could potentially
be networking. Tell yourself that
you would like to get at least X
amount of business cards before the
end of the evening or that you
would like to introduce yourself to
at least X amount of people. Setting
these goals will give you a focus
for the event and may alleviate
some of the stress associated with
being new to networking. Be sure
to be prepared for a networking
event by doing research on compa-
nies that may have employees at-
tending. This will give you a start
for conversation and you may have
an opportunity to “wow” the right
people. Be sure to do a whole lot
of listening which will allow for a
whole lot of leaming. Don’t con-
sume a conversation with nervous
babble. Be sure to ask questions
and really hear the answers. Lastly,
never leave a conversation without
a business card! You will want to
be sure to follow up with that indi-
vidual after the event.
Some statistics on social
networking from 2010- 1.5 million
businesses had a Facebook page
and there were 400 million active
users, Twitter had 24+ million visi-
tors per month and 500 million
tweets per day, and LinkedIn had
60+ million professionals world-
wide, including all Fortune 500
companies. These numbers have
only increased. What should this
mean to you? Social Networking is
HUGE and as a potential employee
you should be taking advantage of
learning to use these websites as a
tool to network professionally. So-
cial networking allows you to ob-
tain information on a company and
connect to key people within that
company. If you are a Facebook
user you will want to be sure to
clean up your account before
friending potential employers. Be
sure that your pictures are appropri-
ate and you don’t have goofball
friends writing inappropriate com-
ments on your wall for everyone to
see. You can also use Twitter as a
tool to follow the most up to date
information on a company.
LinkedIn might be the most useful
resource as a professional network-
ing tool. Registering with LinkedIn
will give you access to connecting
with professionals within your field
to give you opportunities to learn
through them and their connec-
tions. LinkedIn also provides a job
searching engine and many times
will provide a contact (within
LinkedIn) for that particular posi-
tion. All of these social networking
sites require some time and energy
in learning how to best utilize
them . So what’s the bottom line?
Get out there and NETWORK!!
Meet people...mingle...and show
them who you are and what you
can bring to their business!
Project TEAM (Cont)
The program is used
every day at the school. Students
receive “Teamwork Tickets” for
doing good things and displaying
one of the six foundations. “I al-
ways tell teachers they shouldn’t
be looking for extraordinary be-
haviors, they should be looking
for the behaviors they expect,
because students need to know
that that’s good,” Linsey explains,
“Students know if they get a tick-
et, it goes in the house and goes
towards the common good of the
school”. Students can earn tickets
by class, grade level or as an indi-
vidual.
An example of this was
seen at one of several assemblies
that are held throughout the year.
Students could earn tickets for
being quiet while the speaker was
talking. During the assembly,
each class got to stand up and
sing and dance along with their
class song while lyrics and anima-
tions were shown on a projector
screen. Each class had an inspira-
tional pop song, such as Taylor
Swift’s “Mean” or Katy Perry’s
“Firework,” assigned to their
class. They also have a school
song, Survivor’s “Eye of the
Tiger.” When these songs are
played during a normal school
day, it means double tickets for
the class whose song is played, or
double tickets for the whole
school if the school song is
played.
At the end of the assem-
bly, the school reads the Project
TEAM pledge together. Covert
designed the pledge following the
format of her favorite poem,
“Anyway” by Mother Teresa. The
pledge reads:
“Today I am making a
pledge to Project: TEAM.
I am pledging to help
those around me when in need.
I am pledging to make
the right choice even if the wrong
choice seems easier.
I am pledging that 1 will
pick myself up when I am down
and help pick up those up around
me when they are down.
I am pledging that I will
not bully and I will help those that
are being bullied. :
I am pledging to help
make this school and this world a
better place by always being will-
ing to give a helping hand and
work together as a team!”
Covert is hoping to or-
ganize a club on campus for stu-
by emailing her at
ldr146@psu.edu, calling her at
717-749-6104, or visiting her at
her office in 101D General Stud-
ies.
Career Services Office Information
101D General Studies
www.ma.psu.edu/careerservices
Hours: Tues/Wed/Thurs: 10-5:30
. Phone: 717-749-6104
Email: Careerservices@ma.psu.edu
Facebook.com/PSUMAC Careers
| dents that would be interested in
| helping with Project TEAM, as
| well as career services. Penn State
| students involved with Project
| TEAM would be able to go to the
| schools and work with the stu-
| dents and promote activities such
l as THON. Penn State students
would go through training to pre-
| pare them to work with Project
TEAM. Students that are interest-
| ed should contact Linsey Covert
Mon - Thu: 5-9pm
Fri: 5-10pm
Sat: Noon-10:00 pm
Wheeling & Dealing
Industries
1 717.655.6007
Video Games,
Buy
Sell Consoles,
Trade Movies,
Bring your PSU ID and get 10% off until the end of the Spring 2012 semester!
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