I don’t know about you, but if I answered all my messages, I would never get anything done. At least, not in the real world. My account would be teeming with hearts and thumbs-ups for all my ‘wonderful accomplishments’, when in reality, I’m sitting in bed all day with my thumbs glued to the phone and about to cry because I forgot to say good morning AND<\/strong> goodnight to my roommates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The truth is, social media accounts only go so far. Even so, just about every career development workshop I’ve been to primarily focused on building a social media presence online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don’t get me wrong — this personally helped me practice how to communicate effectively to a general audience, but it only goes so far, especially when I’m just talking about myself all the time on LinkedIn, GitHub, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Boorrinnngg<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead of talking about myself by myself, the first step to making connections without social media is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n People love<\/em> talking about themselves. And I don’t care how boring they think their life is, because the truth is, everyone has a story to tell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Every time I meet someone new, I ask about what they like to do. This includes what their profession is, their hobbies, pets, and what they want to accomplish in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By coming up with a few questions beforehand, the conversation will naturally take off. This is best over coffee, playing a board game, waiting for the bus, conference booths, or literally in the elevator (happened to me the other day)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The biggest takeaway is to give people the space to tell their story. This is time best spent not <\/strong>trying to get<\/em> something from them. This is the time to care. Let’s face it — the world is a better place when someone cares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everyone told me to attend a career fair, talk to someone, shake their hand, reach out later on social media, cross my fingers that they like me and get a job offer. Pure. Manipulation. I’ve decided that’s not my style, although it took me 206 college credits and 3 career fairs to figure that one out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In my opinion, online reputations and career fairs don’t have to be the primary focus. I like to remember that everything I put online (similar to the clothes I wear for the day) is a reflection of what happens in real life. Not everyone posts that way, but that’s my style. So if I put more energy into giving to the real world, the online reflection grows brighter, and the real-life connections I make are deeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, online and offline interactions are equally important. I proved this myself with the following evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of these amazing people and opportunities would not be in my life without interacting with people both online and offline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whatever you do, do not stay inside all day! There is a big world out there to explore, and every day spent inside is one day less of giving to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ve found that I thrive the most when I focus on how to lessen the suffering the others in one way each day. Full transparency: I learned this tip from a Masterclass taught by Neil deGrasse Tyson back in COVID-19 pandemic days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyways, this can range from giving someone a granola bar to fixing a line of code on an open source project. But the more in-person that component is, the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For me, this comes in the form of teaching, but conferences, meetup groups, workshops, club meetings or even mentoring a cousin on mathematics for an hour are all ways to build a strong in-person community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By getting to know people in the local community, I’ve been able to learn what people care about, why they do what they do, and what they want to learn. Sometimes I make an industry connection when I am least expecting it at events like these.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most important part is to be yourself and learn what makes your community excited and happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No! However, it is easy to only post about how great I am<\/em>. Ugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I always ask myself why I’m posting something, and question what the benefit is. Am I bragging about my accomplishments? Or am I shouting out someone who deserves recognition? Does my post provide something helpful for someone who reads it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n When a post is only about how cool someone is, viewers can lose trust, feel bad about themselves, and scroll endlessly in everyone’s daunting success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t think that’s very fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n1. Ask People What They Like to Do<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nBut what about career fairs?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Step 2: Show Up In-Person to Something<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nIs it time to forget social media entirely?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nStep 3: Post What You Learned from Someone Recently Online<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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