Let’s be honest, networking can be intimidating. The fear of knockbacks, rejection and making a fool of ourselves, can cause us to be hesitant, or give up altogether. This is perfectly natural, and (almost) everybody feels this way when they start networking for the first time. However, the only way to get rid of the fear of networking is to go out and do it. 

Back when I was touring full-time as a musician, every time we visited a city for the first time, we knew we had to convince at least 10-15 people to show up to watch us play, otherwise the venue wouldn’t invite us back again next time. As a result, we used to go to each new city a few hours before soundcheck and walk around shopping centres, town squares and any other busy public spaces we could find, then break into groups of people and talk to them about our music. And it was terrifying. Initially. However, as we started to do this for hour after hour, day after day, the fear started to subside, the knockbacks seemed less personal, and the whole process became more natural. We no longer hesitated before approaching groups, as we were no longer worried about the outcome. We didn’t focus on the possibility of a negative interaction, as we had enjoyed enough positive interactions to know that it would likely be ok. We trusted that it would all be worthwhile, in the end.

As a student, you can go through a similar process simply by attending as many career fairs and employer events as possible – virtual or otherwise – and just having as many short conversations as possible with new people. Don’t worry too much initially about what you’re going to say or how you’re going to come across. Just aim to build your confidence, and the rest will come. You’ll naturally pick up on and learn from the positive things that other, more seasoned networkers are doing, so you can start to adopt some of these techniques yourself.