Who is in your network?

Think about the people you already know. Your family, your friends, your friend’s parents, your parent’s friends, your neighbours, people you know through clubs or sports, teachers and tutors, your driving instructor… when you start, you realise that you already know a lot of people. You might not class them all as friends exactly, but they are people you know well enough to say ‘Hi!’ to.

What or who does your network know?

Now you have quite a long list of people, have a think about what they know or have experienced. Do you know what job they do, who they work for or what qualifications they have? You probably don’t know that for all of them, so start asking. People are generally flattered to be asked about themselves when someone takes a genuine interest. The answers will be very different, and you will probably hear about jobs you didn’t know existed, people’s experience of university and of life in general. Not all of it will be relevant to what you want to do, but you will definitely learn lots with the benefit of their experience, and they may be able to introduce you to someone they know who could help you!

Who in your network can help you most?

Having heard some very random experiences and some very interesting ones, you can then start to identify people whose current job or previous qualifications are in line with your own ideas for the future. Don’t be afraid to ask these people for more details: Do they know if their company takes placement students? What kind of voluntary work would be relevant to a career in their industry? Do they have any advice on getting qualified? There is nothing like first-hand experience to give you a steer in the right direction.

Anxious about asking them?

Have you ever noticed that, if you don’t want someone’s advice, they usually give it to you anyway? Annoying, isn’t it! But the odd thing is that if you actively ask someone what they think, they are more likely to give you honest, genuine thoughts that feel much more useful and you avoid the lecture! If what is stopping you asking is shyness, or the fear of being lectured, or of having to listen to lots of ‘useless’ advice, we would urge you to think again. We’re willing to bet you’ll be surprised by some of what you find out!