Network and Ressources
Meeting all these speakers is a thing! But did I connect with someone? Not quite, but here are my answers! 1. Have I networked with anyone? Not yet but I am convinced that I will. This semester at George Brown College was really busy, between group projects, finding an internship and having a part-time job it was personally really hard to deeply connect with anyone. I however connected with all of the speakers on LinkedIn and was thinking of reaching out closer to the fall, when my internship will end. I believe that with the experience I will have gained, it will be a good moment to connect again with them and maybe share what applied to my work experience. 2. What events and activities did I attend and what knowledge and contacts did that give me? As a native French speaker, I would like stay close to my roots. I am aware that there are a lot of marketers in Toronto but being a French speaker definitely help and I believe that meeting people who are experiencing the same things as I do can be nothing but positive. Therefore, I attended a few networking events in Toronto with goals to connect young french speakers professionnels who work in the tech and business industry. It was beneficial as I obtained a job interview with a non-profit organization after attending one of these events! 3. What groups did I join and with what results? I belong to a Facebook group for French speakers in Toronto and this is where I would find most of the events. I also belong to a networking group on LinkedIn but never had the chance to join any event. Once life gets back to normal, I will definitely try to attend more networking events. 4. Did I volunteer? As much as I love to volunteer and had the chance to do that during university time, I did not have the opportunity to do it in Toronto as my schedule was very busy but this is something I look forward to after the internship completion. 5. What job ressources did I use for job hunting? What was the most useful? I mainly used Google job search, Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn and GBC Careers. My favorite one is LinkedIn. As a premium user, I can easily check who works there and what are my chances compared to the other candidates and I have to say it is sometimes a little confidence booster! 6. How am I keeping contact with the network that could help me find a permanent job in marketing? I try to like and sometimes comment what the speakers shared on LinkedIn. Concerning others contact that I had, I like to check once in a while how they are doing and would send them interesting articles that I find about tech or green story telling. 7. where will I be doing my co-op? Was networking involved? I did connect with a global marketing agency who would like to collaborate with me. Sadly the world is experience a very strange situation. My internship is sadly deeply affected by it and I do not know when my start day is going to be. Networking was partially involved as I had the chance to work with one of their branches a few years ago, when I was employed by a major name in the watch industry. While reaching out to the Toronto office, I did mention that I worked with one of their branch. I kept in touch with one of the manager in their other branch and I believe that it helped building trust! 8. What networking tips and best practices did I learn? What can you share with your readers? I learned from the speakers and also from my classmates that it is easy to connect with someone! The first thing that matters the most from what I see is to have a perfect LinkedIn, resume and knowing what we want. It will add credibility once we meet whoever we want to connect with. My extra tip would be to create an attractive portfolio with previous work and school projects. Finally, trusting the timing. Everything will work at the right moment!
