We asked W. P. Carey Alumni: What do you do to maintain your professional network?
Here is what they shared:
- Prioritize & Nurture Relationships
- Balance Personal Gestures & Online Updates
- Leverage LinkedIn & In-Person Meetings
Prioritize & Nurture Relationships
Being in the recruiting industry for 16+ years post-graduating from W. P. Carey, I’ve seen firsthand what an asset your network can be throughout your career.
My biggest piece of advice overall would be to approach maintaining your network by prioritizing and nurturing relationships. My top three strategies to ensure you’re keeping your network healthy in real time would be:
1) Engage frequently with your network’s content on LinkedIn – react, comment, write recommendations. Stay active.
2) Attend networking events – whether they’re ASU Alumni events or former company alumni events – keep growing your network and community!
3) Build meaningful connections – for your trusted network – set a cadence to reach out and engage 1:1 for a coffee catch-up or video chat. Look for opportunities to build a mutually beneficial relationship through mentorship, brainstorming, and introductions. Be generous.
Crystal Warmington-North, B.S. Marketing ‘06, Talent Acquisition Leader, Starbucks
Balance Personal Gestures & Online Updates
My goal is to maintain my network without getting burnt out, so I mix it up. A casual coffee chat can give me that solid face-to-face connection, but I can’t do that every day (or even every week). That’s where LinkedIn or text comes in – a quick “Hey, saw this article and thought of you” keeps the lines open without a big time investment. Personal gestures like remembering birthdays keep people feeling special, while a generic LinkedIn update keeps everyone in the loop and allows me to engage through comments.
It’s about balancing the personal and the generic, the in-person and the online, so you’re engaged but not exhausted.
Dustin Sitar, MBA Finance, General, ‘19, Head of Growth and Marketing, BriteCo Inc
Leverage LinkedIn & In-Person Meetings
After you graduate from college, going from having a community to suddenly not having that tight-knit community can be a challenging transition. Having graduated with my Bachelor’s in marketing in 2004, I found very quickly that the best way to maintain your network was to continuously get together with those in your network.
In 2004, LinkedIn was a year old, and it quickly gained traffic. I have always utilized LinkedIn as a way to stay connected with my network, but I don’t believe that one should underestimate the power of in-person sit-downs and how strong you can keep your bond when you do have coffee with someone frequently.
As the years have passed, I have still stayed connected with others who were in the same courses as myself. We have exchanged contacts, we have done each other favors in tough times, but most of all we have supported each other throughout our journeys, something that’s crucial to do in the professional world.
Alex Ebner, B.S. Marketing ‘04, Owner, Ace Medical
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