Networking in a pandemic

As the academic year is coming to an end, along with handing in all your assignments, the stress of stepping into the real-world workforce and finding a job is a precarious and daunting situation. Over the course of my master’s degree, I have been approached by several prospective students on what the possibilities of finding a job after graduating are. Though there are no rooted solutions and I myself am still navigating this entire stream (quite anxiously I must add), I have found that being proactive and following some of these networking tricks can really push you to be noticed by a prospective employer. Especially during a pandemic, where chance meetings and interactions are extremely rare, you need to make sure you are putting yourself out there, and you never know when an opportunity might reveal itself. 

Get linked on LinkedIn

I know, I might be the 100th person telling you to complete your LinkedIn profile and connect with people from your industry, but this is truly one of the best ways to find and connect with people in various firms, displaying all their work. I often find that people really appreciate an enthusiastic individual, you’ll be surprised to find the number of people that respond and connect with you, should you show interest in their work and ask for a quick chat! 

Additionally, LinkedIn is a great way to showcase and share progress in your academic research with peers as well as professionals. Most companies actively update their work and prospective opportunities on their LinkedIn profiles. Furthermore, LinkedIn Jobs regularly give you notifications of vacancies. Overall LinkedIn is a great platform to ease yourself into the workforce and build yourself a professional persona.

Social Media

Today with Instagram quite literally being an alternative city, following your favorite firms on Instagram can be a really easy way to stay up to date on the work they are doing and when they might be hiring. If you are a creative professional, creating an Instagram profile for your work can be a great way to have your work reach the right people. 

Another social media platform which is a bit more niche and intimate is Clubhouse. This platform allows you to be part of clubs that encompass various themes from arts to politics. Usually, these clubs have members who are passionate individuals in their respective fields, and you get to interact with these people through creative conversations within the safe space of the club. 

Lunchclub

Lunchclub is a unique platform to meet new people every week within the workforce. It is an intelligent system that asks you to fill in your interests and professional goals to be able to connect you to other individuals with similar interests and professional backgrounds. Every week you are set up with a new one on one conversation over lunch where you can build your network either in person or safely from your home. 

Open Studios

As the government restrictions have eased over the last couple of months, a lot of architectural practices have organized socially distant (or virtual) open days. These are the perfect form of informal events in order to be acquainted with a firms work as well as an opportunity to introduce yourself to the people working at a practice. These events are easily one of the best ways to meet new people, especially because accidental meetings are extremely hard to come by given the current climate. 

Networking and searching for a job can be a tedious task in any year, throw in a pandemic and the current economic climate and this becomes so much more daunting. However, you will be pleased to find that so many people appreciate and encourage an enthusiastic and passionate individual. So put yourself out there, make sure your work is noticed far and wide, don’t hesitate to reach out to people and you never know which doors might open themselves to you. 
 

About the author

Alankrita is a student of the Urban Design MArch at The Bartlett School of Architecture, she completed her Bachelors in Architecture in Bangalore, India and is currently part of Research cluster 14, where her research explores how data and machine learning can be used to design the city and its networks