Why Work Experience and Networking Matters
Having a college degree alone is never enough nowadays.
This is a response to Networking Tips For Beginners.
If there are a couple of things that I've learned from my post grad years, I would have to say work experience and networking are essential to become successful in life. More so than just having a college degree alone. From my experiences alone, what made me stand out the most was not because of my degrees that I've earned, it was my work experiences and what I can offer to the table that matter.
Nowadays, when I see job postings, there's more of a stronger emphasis on work experience. Especially when entry level jobs are asking for five years of experience already for recent grads. In the back of my head, I was like, "Why is it like this and how am I supposed to get experience if I don't have previous experience already?" What really surprised me is that some companies won't consider your minimal wage job experience, internship experience, or extracurricular activities experience count as actual work experience, which is really disheartening. So what's the solution you may ask? Well one, you need to know someone, especially the hiring manager to get the job, and also, work a job that relates to your career field either part-time or full-time. Both things combine can increase your chances to get your foot in the door. As for the second part I mention about working a job that relates to your career field, you would need to get out there and network a lot and not just apply online. I've noticed more and more students nowadays either work part or full-time while attending college online, which saves them a lot of money. This is the reality of wha's happening nowadays in a competitive economy.
You don't have to network only in person. You can also network online, especially through social media. I found many opportunities through social media since I never gave up and kept looking and connecting with like minded people like myself. That's how I got into pageants, activism, modeling, and content creation in the first place. Not only that, I've noticed some people utilized LinkedIn and Tik Tok to promote themselves on what they can offer and the work they do. In a world of social media, you have to put yourself out there to get noticed, regardless of people's opinions.
Moral of the story, you have to network and work jobs that relate to your career goals. Having special projects you created yourself is a plus. If you do these things, then you will succeed more.
