In conjunction with the Career Fair on Thursday, Feb. 26, the Career Planning Center offered a Networking Workshop for students in the Aloysius P. Kelley Center.

The workshop, which took place on Tuesday, Feb. 24, was an opportunity for students to learn more about how to effectively develop relationships with potential employers.

Despite the workshop’s proximity to the Career Fair, the event received low attendance, with only one student attending.

According to the Assistant Director of Career Planning Sue Quinlivan, “60-80 percent of the job opportunities are hidden; they’re not announced. It’s more through employer relationships with individuals, employees that work there, friends of friends, [people] get referred and that’s how they get hired.”

Quinlivan stressed the importance of beginning the networking process at a young age, explaining that even though students might not have a specific idea of their career choices, “by talking with different people in areas that you’re thinking about … [this] will help you discover jobs that you hadn’t heard of before.”

Freshman Julia St. Germain, who attended the workshop, agreed that it is important for students to get involved with the networking process as soon as possible.

“I don’t think it’s ever too early to start, so that’s one of the reasons why I am here, to figure out the direction I can go,” St. Germain said. She added that while she already has a major picked out, like many other students, she doesn’t have a career picked out yet, and that networking is a great way to figure this out.

During her presentation, Quinlivan stressed the importance of creating a strong network through social media sites such as LinkedIn, which have made it easier for students to form as many connections with potential employers as possible.

For St. Germain, creating a strong network through social media is important because “the more people you talk to, the better.”

St. Germain felt that Quinlivan’s presentation on the steps students should take in forming a strong network of employers was effective in showing her additional ways to get it touch with employers.

For St. Germain, the advice Quinlivan gave on conducting an informational interview, where a student collects information about a job, in addition to a job interview, was “what [she] took away the most.”

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