Shift #46 - Speed Networking Research/Prep
Thursday, July 11, 2024 | 8:30-10 pm CST/9:30-11 pm EST (1.5 hrs)
Details
Michelle Hurt, student/intern
Jennifer Gonzalez, practicum supervisor
This is a screenshot of my research for a speed networking session. I found quite a few useful websites to get me thinking about what networking entails.
As an intern with the Library of Congress, I get to participate in practical webinars to help me with my career development. Tomorrow, I get to do a speed networking session, which is something I've never done before! However, I think I've done informal networking of sorts over the years in my professional journey - making connections with people inside and outside my department. I worked for almost ten years at UNT as an administrative coordinator/specialist and it was a great environment for networking, especially as my job required me to reach out to different departments across campus. I would also take part in events for staff so I could connect with colleagues that I had communicated with via email or phone. I found a few great websites to help me do some prep for tomorrow's session. For tomorrow, every intern/participant will have a few minutes with a LOC staff member to get to know each other. I know that conversations like that can go any which way, so I wanted to be prepared.
One website I found focused on conversation starters. I am not a shy person so I thought these questions could be helpful in engaging the various LOC staff:
- What's going well for you right now?
- What's an interesting project you're working on?
- What are you passionate about outside of work?
- What are you learning right now?
- If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?
- If you could have dinner with any person today, who would it be?
Another website gave me some other question ideas: What aspects of your work most energize and excite you? Is there anything you don't like about it? What is a career pivot you've made? In thinking about all these questions, they're not just questions for me to ask the staff member; they might ask *me* these questions! Lastly, I wanted to craft a general statement that I could use each time I moved onto a different staff member. This is what I've got: Hi, I'm Michelle Hurt, and I'm an intern with the Creative Digital Publications program in the Law Library. Thank you for giving your time to meet with us interns! I can give you a quick background on myself and then if it's alright, I have a few questions I'd like to ask. I'm a nontraditional student getting my master's degree in Information Science including a graduate academic certificate in Digital Content Management. I also work full-time at the Environmental Defense Fund as a coordinator in the Energy Transition department. I've had more than 15 years of administrative experience, mainly in academia, and I'm excited to figure out the next phase of my career, whether in the information science field or in programmatic work at my current organization, or if I can find a role that melds several of my interests. Could you tell me about yourself and how you came to your current role at the Library of Congress?
I'm so excited to do this tomorrow!
Comments
Post a Comment