How Networking Landed Me a Job

My Marketing Seminars Course

Over the past few months, I have been enrolled in a Marketing Seminars course at George Brown College. Every week, I had the privilege of listening to a different marketing professional discuss their experiences and what they love most amount being a Marketer. The professionals came from a variety of backgrounds, such as Brand Strategy at Trajectory Inc., Account Management at Trevor Peter, and Customer Loyalty at Air Canada, just to name a few. We discussed everything from how mass marketing is still relevant to how to structure a loyalty program, but one topic was touched upon in every seminar and that topic was the importance of data in the marketing industry. Marketing strategies are being driven by the insights from data in every marketing department and industry. Learning about data-driven solutions helped me embrace the importance of data and I now plan to pursue a career in marketing research.

The Marketing Seminars course has guided me down my potential career path and has taught me how to pave this pathway for myself. Every speaker that came into the classroom plays a different, but important, role in the marketing industry and they all got themselves into their roles in a different way. Some speakers had left their current workplace and found themselves back in the company years later, others were working in a completely different industry and were recruited through networking. Not a single speaker could have told me that they knew they were going to be in this role when they were my age or even what role they will be in five years from now. Yet, they all emphasized that a strong network opens a variety of doors and you never know when those opportunities will arise. Coming out of this course, I now recognize that my first job out of school will not define my future as a Marketer. New opportunities will present themselves as I gain experience and build my network, but utilizing these opportunities are what will ultimately pave my career path.

Building a Network

It is apparent that building a network is an important task throughout your entire career. Luckily, Marketing Seminars has helped me further establish my network with the speakers that attended the class. I have followed up with the speakers on LinkedIn and hope to keep connected with them for future opportunities. One individual speaker has played a significant role in my network and that is Paige Sontag from Nielsen. Following the class, I reached out to her and we arranged a coffee chat. I had never participated in a coffee chat before and was quite nervous. Paige was easy to talk to, gave me lots of advice, and was very supportive in career search. This experience changed my perspective on coffee chats and helped me grow as a person. I am no longer scared to reach out to fellow marketers for guidance. It was a very impactful experience

Another way I have built my network over the semester is through attending and volunteering at various industry events. I have found that events are a great way to make connection, as people are prepared to establish relations with other attendees. Two events this year have significantly helped me build my network: the Data & AI Conference and the Publicis Lion Fair. At the Data & AI conference I was a volunteer, so I got to network with attendees while building my resume. The attendees of this conference were very open to speaking with me when they learned I was student volunteer. Many of them remember back to when they were in my position and then love to share their experience of how they got to where they are today. At the second event, the Publicis Lion Fair, I was an attendee. This was a professional career fair for Publicis. I did not find a job opportunity suited for me at this event, but I did have the opportunity to build many connections and learn about the different roles within Publicis. I many not have found a job at the Lion Fair event, but I now have the connections for future opportunities.

It is important to remember that only you can build your network. Taking a seminars class and attending events will only benefit you if you are prepared to make connections with other people in the room. Some ways I maintain a strong network are:

Identifying which companies or speakers will be at an event that I would like to talk to

Reading about the company and speaker prior to the event so I have talking points

Jotting down notes following the discussion to use in future conversations

Following up with a personalized message on LinkedIn or email for further communication

Reaching out for coffee chats to strengthen the relationship

Landing My Co-op

In the end, I got my coop position through my network. I had interviewed with a company prior to enrolling into the Strategic Relationship Marketing Program. I received the initial interview due to a connection I had at the company, which I had made through a long-time friend of mine. I progressed far along the hiring process, but unfortunately, did not get the job at that time. Instead of being upset that I did not get the job, I maintained my relationship with the company and reached back out to them in January of this year to learn about their internship opportunities. They immediately remembered me and recognized the growth I had made throughout the past year. I am now happy to say I will be starting with this company in May of this year.

If you take anything away from this post, please remember a strong network will bring you opportunities (even if it isn’t right away) and don’t be afraid to take a risk. Happy networking!