Why Some Universities Are Investing Heavily in Career Networking Events
Career networking events have grown substantially in scale and frequency at US universities. The investment reflects accumulating evidence about what actually drives entry-level placement.
From the volume of Career Fairs held at US universities with strong Career Services departments, five years ago (approximately 2019-2020) the typical university held 1-2 career fairs with around 80-100 employers per fair. Today, the majority of universities hold well above that quantity of Career Fairs and events – in fact, the average has grown to around 4-6 large fairs, but also a host of smaller, more-focused events such as Finance Internship Fair, Tech/Start-up Fair, Consulting Fair, etc. etc. The growth is of the amount of events as well as the budget spent on them. A recent review of (per 28 universities) on investment into Career Networking Events from 2020-2025 found the investment grew by an average of 70% per university over the 5-year period, with Return on Investment ‘measured & shown’ for the majority of the events held.
The Shift From Fairs to Focused Events
A major shift in career fairs is taking place at universities today. Gone are the days of massive fair with 80-100 companies recruiting from booths. Today’s fair are much smaller with 8-15 companies from specific industries to have more meaningful conversations with students. These events require more staff and follow up but have been proven to produce better outcomes for students looking for jobs and internships.
The Alumni Event Investment
Many universities have established programs and held various networking events to connect current students with alumni from specific industries or who are currently working in various career related fields. Students can gain insight from alumni who have experienced similar career paths and challenges. More importantly, many alumni provide more candid advice compared to employers’ recruiting representatives. Networking with alumni has enabled many students to secure job placements, some even before they graduate, at far better rates than attending a general Career Fair.
The Industry-Specific Events
University Career Services have introduced Industry-Specific Events, with university holding events for technology, finance, consulting, healthcare, government, non-profits and more. These types of events are becoming increasingly popular as they enable students to network with other students and also key employers and alumni from specific industries, allowing students to really test the waters and identify if a particular industry is for them. Worth knowing.
The Networking Skills Workshop
Beyond attending individual networking events, students are also able to enroll in a workshop in order to refine their networking skills. Importantly, however, even the most able students typically need such instruction, given that the majority of undergraduate students have no prior experience of professional dialogue. Such events lead to very effective networking at subsequent events that they attend.
Always double-check information regarding an event before committing. Once you have signed up for the event, double-check details with the career services office regarding time, location and participating employers.
The Pre-Event Preparation
While there are a number of excellent networking programs that are held and sponsored by a university, strong programs require preparation prior to the event. This is especially true for “industry” networking events in which students research companies that are attending the event, come up with thoughtful and specific questions for the employers at the event, and practice a brief, professional introduction to deliver to employers at the event. In my experience, events where students have prepared in this fashion tend to result in far more substantial interactions for the students than do events at which students attend without preparing in this fashion.
The Follow-Up Discipline
In addition to teaching follow-up communication and relationship maintenance to students who have had good interactions with employers or alumni at events, universities can get more mileage out of events by encouraging participants to introduce each other to follow-up interactions after the event.
The Outcome Picture
Measuring the Return on Investment for Career Networking Events. Students who participate in multiple networking events throughout their undergraduate years tend to have better employment outcomes than their peers who don’t attend any career networking events. This can extend to a number of different employment metrics, including percentage of employed students, starting salaries of recent graduates, and access to highly selective employers.
The Equity Implication
Are University Networking Events Good for Closing the Gaps in Higher Education for Advancing Inequitable Outcomes—or Do They Only Serve to Exacerbate the Gaps That Currently Exist? However, while students from college-educated families have the implicit understanding of professional networking that most other students do not, universities can work to close these gaps by teaching networking skills explicitly to all of their students. By leaving students to acquire these skills on their own, a university, instead, is likely to allow existing inequalities to be worsened.
What Students Should Do
However, I would offer the following points of research to consider: First, make sure to attend events in which the industry related to your major and potential career can attend. Also, be sure to research a list of specific companies and alumni with whom you would like to speak. You can also practice your “elevator pitch” or professional introduction before arriving at a networking event. It is also very important to make sure to follow up with contacts that you meet with at events in order to continue to build relationships.
I prefer the boring option. Twice it saved me from a much worse outcome.
Each event is individually cheap. It is only when taken collectively across the four undergraduate years that these investments yield a network that significantly affects the student’s postgraduation career.
The Broader Picture
The career networking investment is just one of several changes that universities are making to support the career development of their undergraduate students. The traditional university model treated career preparation as something that was to be done in the senior year of college, and left it up to the student to figure out. However, a new model of supporting the career development of undergraduate students is emerging, where the university supports the student in a 4 year developmental process of preparation for careers after college. Such universities are finding that the early career outcomes of their graduates are much better than those of graduates from universities that are still following the traditional model.
The Long-Term Network Value
The networks that you can develop in career networking events often remain in contact many years after the event. Many connections made in a student’s junior or senior year of college result in jobs, business opportunities, or referrals decades later.
The Diversity of Event Types
Universities that have engaged in large scale networking have come up with creative ways to deliver events to students. These include industry-specific events (like a Life Science networking event or a Non-profit networking event), Alumni panels, Reverse Career Fairs (where companies have booths and students walk around and have conversations), and even Speed networking events. This diversification allows students to get involved in many different types of events and learn how to participate in various scenarios to aid in their professional growth.
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