Networking Seminar Executive Summary Report
The training seminar on “How to Improve Your Networking Skills to Advance Your Career Path” was held on 28th July 2018 at the University of Maryland, College Park Campus. The event was sponsored by eLynk Consulting Company and was organized in collaboration with the Iranian Student Foundation (IGSF).
Objective
The objective of this seminar was to raise awareness of the role of soft skills such as teamwork, critical thinking, networking and communication skills in an individual’s career development.
The prime topics pertaining to Key Networking Skills such as; Elevator pitch, Informational interviews, Small talk, Do’s and Don’ts were all explained and exercised in the class to help the students develop practical skills and expertise in the area.
The seminar was administered in the format of an open discussion which followed an interactive style for the participants. This allowed the students to share their opinions, prior experiences and perspective with each other.
For example, one of the participants, who is doing his PhD, shared his experience with the class as follows:
“I was standing across the hall for the director of the National Industry Safety. I had my question ready. I just have to walk to him and ask about the data for my PhD research. But some part of me stopped me… I did not know how to start the conversation”
The seminar was conducted by Vahideh Hashemi (B.Sc., EMBA) who is a professional leadership coach, trainer and a consultant with a special interest in guiding individuals and organizations to achieve their goals.
With 15 years of the core experience, she leverages advanced coaching methodologies, tools, advanced performance and new leadership theories to support individuals to grow and enhance their career and business profiles.
Survey Result
After the seminar, a short anonymous questionnaire was also handed out to the students to assess its outcomes. In general, the participants’ feedback to the event was very positive. Many participants mentioned how they found those simple tips very useful and very relevant to the challenges experienced by many in the present time.
For instance, Ghazal who is the PhD student in the Mechanical Engineering and participated in the seminar said:
“Thank you for making this class happen. I liked it very much particularly because of the fact that the instructor made the materials more tangible by giving examples from her personal life and by making us practice those skills during the seminar. She was also able to explain the techniques from the perspective of the culture that I grew up in. I believe there is a need to include such seminars in this education system, for I can’t agree more that the topics would totally make sense and help us prepare for our better careers.”
Ramin, the President of IGSF, who is the PhD student in Reliability Engineering also expressed his appreciation:
“I personally did not expect the class would be that much useful, practical and interesting. I would like to encourage other students to participate in this kind of classes that will be conducted in the future as well.”
Other participants also expressed how they found this seminar as a good opportunity for networking and to extend their personal and business networks with credible people from the industry. Here is the questionnaire reposnse statistics:
Ending Note
We, at eLynk, are very excited to expand our curriculum on the Interpersonal Skill Development courses. This training seminar on “How to improve your Networking skills to advance your career path” was the first class of the Advanced Career Management series. More of such educational seminars will be announced soon.
Please contact us at support@elynkco.com if you are interested and would like to know more about our upcoming training sessions.