Top 10 Things I Learned in Business School
#5 – Meet Everyone
I have a little over a half hour in my last class of the last semester of my MBA. I got a job this week, which is an amazing opportunity and I am ecstatic about it. I got every offer through a personal connection. Not a family friend, but a personal connection I made while in the MBA program. Take every opportunity you have in the MBA to talk to, have a meeting with, or do a favor for someone.
- Engage your professors every chance you get. Make sure they know and respect your work.
- Go to every community event you can find. Just show up and start introducing yourself. Every city has educational luncheons and such.
- Find a conference you like (or a group of them) and ask them to let you volunteer. Pay for the flight. Sleep on a buddy’s couch. Wear a suit and shake hands.
- Get into a student organization that works in the community.
- Do consulting projects that allow you to work with different people.
- Work part time if the exposure is good.
- If you know the industry you want to be in, pick as many companies in your area as you can find. Call the managers that would be above you and ask for a 20 minute IN-PERSON meeting during your first semester. Introduce yourself and ask them some thoughtful questions about the sector. Then follow up every 6 months about positions. When you ask them for a job two years later, they’ll have known your name for a long time.
This was my strategy and it really paid off.