Networking Nights focus on five specific career fields

Junior Kelly Moeller realized the importance of networking after working as an intern for Disney ABC Media Networks last summer and Major League Baseball-Advanced Media the summer before.

“By meeting one person and making a good and lasting impression, they will always keep you in mind when they hear about other job opportunities in the industry,” she said. “With an economy that does not look very promising to find a job, it is important to make contacts and follow up on them because over 80 percent of jobs are filled without even being advertised and solely through word of mouth.”

The Career Development Center and Arts and Sciences Career Services understands the importance of networking in students’ future careers. This semester the center, in collaboration with the Student Alumni Association, will hold five networking nights students can attend to learn more about their career fields and speak to professionals in the business.

Each event will take place from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the DeVault Alumni Center on 17th Street. While the first networking night, which covered sales, marketing, public relations and advertising, has already passed, students can still attend the other four upcoming events.

Tonight’s networking night on tourism, hospitality and event planning has been postponed because of the weather, said Crystal Smith, assistant director of the Career Development Center. It will be rescheduled for Feb. 24.

Other networking nights will include global careers, life sciences and writing, editing and publishing. The dates of each event can be found on the Career Development Center’s Web site, iu careers.com.

Topics for each night are chosen based on wide career fields students are interested in, said Smith. The planning committee looks at numbers from previous events and tries to choose topics that will generate the most positive turnouts and student responses, she said.

Each event is made up of a panel discussion and a networking session. The panels are generally made up of five or six professionals including IU alumni, employers who come to campus to recruit and employers from the Bloomington community, Smith said.

“Some employers like these events better than career fairs because students who attend are looking for jobs in that specific field,” she said.

After the panel discussion is a short five-minute networking session, followed by a reception where students can mingle and network with the professionals from
the panel.

“It is important for students to make a good impression and talk to employers on a one-on-one basis,” Smith said. “These events give students the chance to be proactive.”