2. Career
I’ve covered my process in detail in lessons learned from internship recruiting. I just have two adds:
Don’t view classmates as competition
Be of help to each other. We grow up conditioned to compete. Think of your classmates as temporary “path sharers.”
Be nice to each other.
Start a prep group
We had a four-person tech group that met nearly every week for 10 weeks. It was one of the best things we did.
3. Extracurriculars
Understand why you’re doing extracurriculars
Different people do these for different reasons. Some career switchers like adding a note to their resume about a relevant professional club. Some want to test leadership. Some others want to meet people. There are many reasons to do them. My reasons were straightforward – I am driven by people, learning and impact. Extracurriculars have helped work on ideas that combine all three. They’re a fantastic opportunity to learn more about yourself, how you lead, how you work in teams, etc. I spend a significant amount of time on extracurriculars and it has been a highlight of my school experience.
Don’t be a flake
Once you commit to a leadership role, keep up that commitment. It is not just because everyone remembers flakes or because all those people you work with might have a strong say in a future career opportunity. It simply is the right thing to do.
If you’re unable to do work, communicate and apologize
It’s the worst case scenario, but it happens.
Run good team meetings
Most team members hate team meetings. That’s because they’re generally run badly. I’ve tried hard to run good team meetings – this means preparing hard, using the time meaningfully and following up. I’ve tried to set the norm of 100% participation early on and have tried to earn my team members’ time. It is a really useful skill to learn and hone.
Learn how to build great teams with peers
The best part about school is you work on projects with peers. If you can learn how to build high functioning teams with peers who’re only doing this out of personal motivation, I believe you can build great teams everywhere. Working on teams to lead the incoming student orientation week, our technology club and two other initiatives has been an education in itself.
4. Social
This is heavily biased as it comes from the point of view of an introvert.
Look to build long-term relationships, not network
Building long term relationships take time. So take the time and be patient.
Invest in really getting to know as many people as you can
One of my wiser friends once said business school is where you’ll meet the highest proportion of people who are both interesting and interested in you. It is very true. In my case, I’ve tried setting up three or four coffee conversations every week. They aren’t ever over coffee. Every time I meet someone who I’d like to get to know better, I just put some time on their calendar (typically between classes), walk with them and swap stories. Many of these just turn out to be one-time meetings but some become really nice relationships. As with these things, it takes two hands to clap.
Maximize high quality social events
Hanging out with 100 people in a bar is what I term a “low quality” social event. Any time you meet people and talk about the weather is low quality as well. One-on-one or small group conversations that involve talking about things that matter to you are high quality. I maximize those.
For low quality social events, “HELL YEAH!” or no
If it isn’t a “HELL YEAH!”, I don’t show up. (I did warn you this is very introvert biased).
Find ways to meet random people
It is easy to shut off and find your own clique. I created an open event for my entire class last quarter on a Friday evening. Twelve people showed up, a few of whom I’d never spoken to. That was a win. This is a good reminder to do more of those.
