Student Peers

Make a connection right in the classroom.

Your student peers are a great source of networking contacts and employer information. Many current MBA and MS students work at leading Chicago employers including Motorola, LaSalle Bank, Heitman Financial, CNA Insurance, Abbott Labs and others. Informally networking with your student peers is a great way to practice skills that will help in more formal networking situations such as job fairs, MBA Association events and executive seminars.

Here are a few tips to get started:

• Take a minute before each class or during break to introduce yourself to one new classmate. By the end of the quarter, you'll have made a dozen or more contacts.
  
• Ask the professor at the beginning of the term to allow a few minutes for introductions among the class.
  
• Be proactive and start a class list that includes name, short career background, employer name, and contact information. This information could be useful now, or a year down the road.
  
• Organize a business card exchange at the end of the term.

Building a network. Networking is simply getting to know someone else and making the relationship “click.” It increases your chance of having a personal referral to a job opportunity when it arises.