Networking is getting acquainted with people in order to obtain certain benefits in the future. Simply put, networking is about getting connections. Friendship for the benefit has always existed in many societies, we can’t deny it. A wide circle of friends and acquaintances can help us find a job, find a valuable employee, get good tickets to the games, good doctor’s appointment, etc. We network for someone to tell another person “I know a person who can…”, and we never know what doors with opportunities it can open for us.
Networking as a scientific trend originated in the 1970s in the US. It all started with the so-called “6 handshake rule” – a theory that says that any two people on Earth are separated on average by only five levels of mutual acquaintances (and, accordingly, six levels of connections). It was proposed in 1969 by Americans Stanley Milgram and Jeffrey Travers. The hypothesis suggested by them in their “Study of the small world problem” was that every person on Earth is indirectly familiar with any other inhabitant of the planet through a short chain of mutual friends. (Travers & Milgram, 1969). For example, according to that theory, we all know the Queen or, say, a star from our favourite movie through only 5 friends of a friend!
The more we connect with people the smaller and more open the world becomes for us. Networking is something worth doing and dedicating time to it.
SESSION
The most efficient way to network in the contemporary society is through social media. The abundance of social media platforms nowadays (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, VK (FSU space) gives us outstanding opportunities of connecting and keeping in touch with people. This is exactly what we talked about in our group’s presentation: networking and networking through social media. We discussed the pros and cons of social media networking, pros being: wide connectivity, collaboration, great source of information available and opportunities to share information in professional communities, finding employment opportunities. The main cons of social media networking are accessibility (anyone can find out everything about you if you do not care to make things private); distraction and spending too much time on social networks’ webpages.
Teacher’s Networking. In our discussions we agreed that the best ways to network for teachers would be attending conferences, connecting to people of your field online through interest groups, social media, following the professional organisation’s / union events, making contacts to schools you would like to seek employment from. The latter is particularly important in Finland. The practice of being a substitute teacher by which a teacher can make contacts to schools is widely spread. School principles would preferably give sub hours, as well as employment, to the teachers they know than to total strangers. When you register as a sub teacher in the city substitute teacher database, they tell you straight away to make sure the principles of schools you’d love to work in know you!
When I came to Finland it was rather challenging for me to grasp that it’s not so easy to get a teaching job here without a connection or good referral. It is because the teacher’s profession is respected, well-paid and the positions are rather competitive to get. In my home country, it’s not competitive to get into teaching in basic, secondary and upper secondary education; teaching jobs are rather abundant, and ambitious young graduates are not very motivated to pursue them, because teachers in public education are rather underpaid. There is no big need for networking and connections to get a teaching job, there is a lack of teachers who want to teach. However, getting a teaching position in a university is rather competitive, and there you need to have connections to get in.
Student Networking. We discussed the fact that as teachers we need to promote networking among our students, as, like I said in the beginning, it can open many doors for them in their future professional lives.
Below are a few ways that can expand and strengthen student connections:
-all kinds of student organizations, including international ones, it’s enough to join and participate in various events;
-volunteering – find something that you enjoy doing and don’t mind time, then you will really enjoy helping your neighbors;
– social media.
Social media can also be a valuable tool for students to start building their professional portfolio from early on in their professional career, which they can then share with their prospective employers and the latter can track the progress and achievements along the students’ educational/professional paths.
OWL. Reasons, tips and musts for networking were given by team Owl today. Quite valuable tips were on Do’s and Don’ts of networking. When we network, we need to set goals, be concise and most importantly follow up the connection. We shouldn’t distribute our resumes, remember that quality is better than quantity and not try to connect with many people at once.
Owls this time chose a very interesting approach to teaching. They carried out their presentation asking us to be what they called “guest lecturers”. They gave us a pre-task to make a video of 3-5 mins and talk about a list of things they provided. To be completely honest, I had mixed feelings about this task. I understood the purpose of it only at the end of our online session, when they revealed that it was meant for us to practice making an elevator speech. I believe, what was missing personally for me in this task from the beginning was clear objectives of the task, I didn’t clearly understand the purpose of it. I believe if team Owl had given us clear objectives, why we were doing it- to practice making an elevator speech/ to make a recorded elevator speech- it would have been more motivating, as it is indeed a good exercise for networking. Also, what remained unclear for me – if the elevator speech is supposed to be very short and explicit, what was the purpose of the second part of the task included in the video and making a long 5 min video? In my personal opinion we could have benefited by shooting a short up to 1-minute elevator speech, which we could then use also for our purposes when we network and connect to organisations. So this task had potential to bring a real-world value for us outside of the studies, in the working life. The idea of the video and elevator speech in the session for networking in my opinion was rather brilliant, however, maybe the setting the clear context and purpose for it was missing from the execution.
The Owl teacher stayed professional and supportive throughout the session. Despite certain technical problems in the beginning, she remained calm and confident, and her voice and intonation always create a very safe study environment. I really enjoyed this session as well as I enjoy every session with this Owl teacher.
BASTUS this time presented on social network theory and we looked at theoretic side of social networking. They chose the lecture format with points for discussion. The teacher felt comfortable presenting the theoretical information and he clearly showed his extensive knowledge of the topic. I really appreciate this teacher’s enthusiasm about teaching, he remained very supportive throughout the session and facilitated the discussion well.
My teaching and Groupwork.
Apart from the technical problems experienced in the beginning, I think my teaching went rather well. I taught to the same audience as the previous couple of sessions and, what I realise, the confidence builds up and the initial intimidation fades away once you get familiar with the students.
The topic of social networking is important in everyday life as a teacher, but in my opinion it is rather a skill that needs to be obtained via practice rather than something theoretical. In this light Owls material and presentation was of the most practical use with their idea on the elevator speech and the practical tips of how to network.
Our team work went smoothly, we successfully divided the tasks between three of us and executed them. The hardest part was for us to come up with an interactive activity on the topic, which we decided to cover with discussions throughout the presentation. We also decided to include a short silly video from a well known sitcom in the middle of our session to demonstrate the cons of social media for employment in order to make our presentation a bit light-hearted, however, since we cannot see or hear our students when they watch videos, it’s hard for me to tell whether this humorous moment played its role.
Personal networking experiences.
As a student I participated in a US Department of State Global UGRAD exchange program which was really the start of my networking life. In this program I was sent as a cultural ambassador of my own country to a US university campus where no one before had met a person from my country. In the role of a cultural ambassador I had to actively participate in university and city events, international on- campus and off-campus organisations, and workshops in Washington DC. There, within one year, I met a lot of people who constitute my global network till now. Apart from the feeling of belonging to certain community, I cannot say I ever benefited professionally by knowing these people. We usually exchange knowledge, advice, help sometimes using Facebook, sometimes Skype, WhattsApp.
I hadn’t taught professionally before I came to Finland, and when I started, I realised that I need people to share the experiences with or ask for advice, and I updated my connections to the people from my hometown university who have been teaching for years. Last summer I participated in a Cambridge teacher training program, where I met fascinating people from many countries with extensive experiences in teaching, and our group of teachers stays actively in touch sharing our teaching experiences and concerns.
In Finland I have been creating my network mainly through the immigrant integration system. When you come to a new country you must call home, at the start it’s very confusing about where to go and what to do. I went to the first place every immigrant is being sent to by the city authorities -Multicultural centre Villa Victor. First, I came to study Finnish there, then I was able to get a trainee place from there and get to know the people who are mostly in charge of multicultural and immigration affairs in Oulu. There I met a teacher who suggested me to go and ask a training place in Oulu upper secondary school for adults, where I basically started my teaching career. At some point last summer, I was asked by Villa Victor’s administration to fill the job opening of an English teacher. I got that job only because they knew me there and I was active to get in and work there. By getting the job because people knew me, not straight from the interview process like I got all my previous jobs, I really understood how important networking in Finland is. I’m planning to grow my network consistently as much as I can to be an active part of the community I now belong to.
Sources:
Travers, J., & Milgram, S. (1969). An Experimental Study of the Small World Problem. Sociometry,32(4), 425-443. doi:10.2307/2786545
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