By investing time in relationships today, you lay the foundation for a thriving career. In Milestone 4, you’ll discover essential strategies to cultivate a strong professional network, setting you up for lifelong career success.
Start Networking
Networking expands career opportunities for a lifetime. Build a strong network of connections to access across your career by developing and nurturing academic and professional relationships.
Download and complete the toolkit below to create a strong foundation for building relationships. This toolkit will help you identify your existing connections, learn networking best practices, and develop a professional introduction that showcases your value.
Networking is an ongoing process. Now that you’ve identified your existing network connections, learned best practices, and prepared your elevator pitch in the Networking Toolkit (PDF) or (MS Word), it’s time to expand and diversify your connections to unlock more career opportunities!
Download and review the Networking Activities Handout to identify networking activities that will benefit you most.
If you’re feeling nervous about getting started, read CPD’s Top 10 Tips for Working With Networking Anxiety.
Gain career insights from WGU students and alumni—including data on where they work, what they studied, and their top skills.
View LinkedIn Alumni Tool on LinkedIn.
Connect with industry peers, develop your leadership skills, and build a lasting professional network at WGU. Professional associations and networks offer a valuable platform for connecting with others in your field, providing education, resources, and insights to advance your career and stay up-to-date with industry trends.
Connect with Night Owls across the country who are ready to help you! Ask questions and gain valuable insights to support your career goal.
Grow your network by connecting with WGU alumni, students, and employer partners. Review these resources to learn more:
Messaging Employers in Handshake (Handshake Article).
Handshake Peer Messaging (Handshake YouTube, 3:05)
Join exclusive WGU communities to connect with your peers, alumni, faculty, and staff. Explore the communities below:
Career & Professional Development Group
WGU Alumni Group
It’s important to stay in touch with your network to maintain positive relationships, which can lead to ongoing support, collaboration, and mutual benefits. Review the content below to identify strategies for nurturing your connections over time.
To foster long-term relationships, engage regularly with your connections via email, phone, professional associations, and social networking platforms, like LinkedIn and Handshake.
*To access LinkedIn Learning videos, please first log in with your WGU credentials.
Use the “Networking Thank You Email Template” from your Networking Toolkit (Page 3) to follow up with any contacts after meetings/events or when they provide advice, insights, or support.
By: Keith Spencer, Career Expert with AI resume builder Resume Now
As a college student, you get all kinds of advice to start networking. Alumni events, on-campus conferences, and job fairs are all opportunities that faculty and staff encourage you …
Use these AI prompts to get help with common networking tasks, like connecting with someone on LinkedIn, asking for a referral, or following up after applying for a job. Add your own details, then copy-paste your prompt into ChatGPT or …
Use these AI prompts to get help with common networking tasks, like connecting with someone on LinkedIn, asking for a …
If you’ve ever thought, “I don’t know anyone there,” then this is the place to start!
This handout walks …
Whether you are currently employed in the position you desire or are searching for a new position, it never hurts …
Use this resource to identify networking strategies and activities to help you expand your network and connections.
To locate the …
Networking doesn’t have to feel awkward or overwhelming. This step-by-step toolkit helps you build meaningful connections, communicate with confidence, and …
This activity will help you identify connections and learn best networking strategies.
To locate the file, follow these steps:
