The holidays offer us the opportunity to reconnect with family and friends, and offers your student time to consider their career goals without the pressure of daily assignments and exams. You can bring these opportunities together by introducing your student to people you know in a field of interest to them. Connecting with professionals can help students find careers they wish to pursue, related opportunities, or even a mentor to guide them through their professional development.
To facilitate such meetings, let your student know the names and background of people you know in a career they have expressed interest in. Offer the person’s email, phone number, LinkedIn, or Facebook information to your student and encourage them to contact the individual. Knowing they already have a connection to the professional makes reaching out to them easier. Help your student prepare questions they might ask the professional in an informational interview, such as those found here: http://careers.unl.edu/creating-networks.
After the meeting, remind your student to send a thank you to the individual. By following up and maintaining a connection with them through LinkedIn, your student will have increased their own network, which may result in future professional opportunities.
Using winter break to reconnect and relax can reenergize your student for their academics. Through just an introduction or two, you can help them expand and energize their career development, too! For more information about career resources available to your student, visit http://careers.unl.edu.
More details at: http://careers.unl.edu/creating-networks