Nowadays, fostering an international mindset is of enormous importance for your future career. After all, we all live in an increasingly interconnected world. We can hold meetings across borders without leaving our desks and we can jump on an international flight arriving in time for a conference without losing sleep! What’s more, with government schemes like the Erasmus+ programme and the UK’s equivalent, the Turing Scheme, hundreds of thousands of students and learners just like you have the added opportunity of embarking on lifechanging work and study placements abroad every year. Doing so highlights how crucial having an international mindset is, because these types of experiences place plenty of focus on building connections and partnerships cross-borders. Often, students and learners who return to their home countries following these types of mobilities want to go on to work abroad on a semi-permanent or permanent basis, and employers truly value resumes displaying international work/study placements.
Going on an Erasmus+ or Turing Scheme placement of course helps to build connections – after all, you get to meet people from all over the world and make lasting friendships. But you also get to meet people in business, and in professional settings, creating your own professional network – these connections could open doors for you later on. In this piece, the experts at TravelEdventures will give you some pointers on how you can build a strong and valuable professional network to give you an even greater competitive advantage when it comes to career progression.
1. Define Your Goals
When you want to build an international network of valuable connections, ask yourself why? It may be that you just want to grow a business network for your future career or for a new job opportunity. Or perhaps you want to find a suitable mentor to help you progress? Perhaps you want to exchange knowledge or you’re considering future partnerships? Once you know which it is (it could be many), you can strategically concentrate on working out how you’re going to approach the people you wish to reach out to. For example, if you want a career in law, you may want to build connections in different types of law to help you decide which is right for you.
2. Use Social Media Channels
This works two-fold. Firstly, be very mindful about what you post on social media because future employers will always check your history! So, be careful not to be too political or impolite, or display questionable photographs etc. These types of posts could harm your future career. On the flipside, strategise your own social media to appeal to potential business connections. Of course, there’s always LinkedIn which is your number one social media channel for professional networking. Do post your own insights and comment on other people’s post (share these posts too if they resonate with you). Reach out to professionals you are interested in with personalised connection requests. You could also build a blog or post articles about the industries you’re interested in. This shows commitment and enthusiasm. Other platforms that may be useful to you include X (formerly Twitter), especially if you’re in tech or media. There’s also professional forums that are industry-specific like Stack Overflow (for tech), Behance (for design) or ResearchGate (for academic topics). Don’t forget to join online events such as webinars, virtual conferences and live Q&A sessions – you’ll get the opportunity to interact with global professionals. Then, add them on your LinkedIn!
3. Go to Trade Shows and Events
As well as your online professional presence, there will be lots of trade shows, events and conferences in your host country – it’s just a matter of unearthing them but LinkedIn will help with this. Attending these types of events in-person is great for building relationships and, arguably, doing so carries more weight as you meet people face-to-face, forging stronger bonds. In fact, it’s even better if you’ve met people before virtually and then you go on to meet them face-to-face, it further cements you in their memories! Seek out events aligning with your goals and your preferred industry sector.
4. Join Global Organisations
If you have a preferred industry, or a couple of sectors you’re interested in, join international organisations relating to those industries. You’ll get invited to events where you can connect with likeminded professionals. Some of these organisations put on member-only events and mentorship programmes. Another good example of showing willingness is to offer to write for these organisations, such as putting together newsletters or even offering to volunteer at events (or other).
5. Always Be Culturally-Aware
Every country has its own culture, some will be similar to your home country, but others will be different so learn what’s polite and what is not. Always be respectful, consider religious holidays and never assume. Small gestures of understanding will help you build trust.
6. Networking Works Both Ways
Don’t just rush in and ask new connections for help. Offer them something first, perhaps you might have some research they would be interested in seeing, or maybe you’d like to collaborate on a project? You could also promote their work on your social media or make an introduction on their behalf. If you’re valuable to others, then they will offer the same value back, even if it isn’t immediately, the point is that people are more inclined to reciprocate when you need help if you prove valuable to them.
7. Build On Your Relationships
Once you have the connections, build on them! There’s no point in having hundreds of connections if you don’t have a relationship. Check in regularly (but without bombarding), share relevant information and congratulate your connections when they progress too.
8. Share Content
Blogging is still vitally important, but if you don’t like writing, how about a podcast? Share your own expertise through these mediums or you might like to create videos? There’s something for everyone to help you get your thoughts and name out there. You could even speak at a webinar or contribute to open-source projects!
9. Be Patient, Building Valuable Connections Takes Time
You’ll need to put in the effort over time, sometimes that takes weeks, months or even years. Some connections won’t lead you anywhere, but others could grow into life-changing partnerships. Always be yourself, prioritise quality connections over hundreds of useless connections, a few meaningful connections will take you further than a load of nameless people on your LinkedIn follow list!
Wrapping Up
A global professional network will help you to grow your career and can definitely help to open doors to new opportunities. Your work experience abroad will foster some superb connections but it’s also up to you to build separate connections through digital channels, face-to-face conferences and events and being a little strategic. Networking is a combination of who you know and who knows you too. It’s also something that never stops, so start early and by the time it comes to kicking off your career, you’ll be in a wonderful position to get to where you want to be quicker than your counterparts. Discover more about work placements through the Erasmus+ and Turing Scheme programmes by talking to the team at TravelEdventures here.