Build your professional network

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Use your network and online presence to explore your career options and make professional connections.

When considering your future employment or graduate pathway, never underestimate the importance of connecting with others and making your skills visible. A strong online presence will help you to build professional relationships, find opportunities, and promote yourself.

Build relationships

Take the opportunity to seek out industry events and contacts while you study. You could attend company or industry seminars, presentations, open days, or University events and careers fairs.

Make the most of your attendance by signing up for newsletters, taking business cards when they’re offered to you, and making conversation with your peers and industry professionals.

If you attend an event or establish communication with an individual, try to maintain contact if you can. Be careful not to contact them too frequently, but remember that occasional, relevant communication can be well-received.

Examples could include a thank you email following an event, a follow-up question or comment, or a LinkedIn post expressing enthusiasm for a seminar you attended. Make sure that you only contact individuals via professional channels, or through details they gave you directly.

Join professional associations

Professional associations are organisations that exist to bring together people working in a particular profession or field. They may also set professional standards and offer further education together with representing the profession to government and the community.  Most associations will offer a range of membership types – including an option for students or those new to the profession. Here are some tips on finding an organisation and making the most of your membership:

Identify one or more professional associations that are relevant to your field or career. A search for your field or discipline plus professional association (e.g., “{keyword}” “professional association” site:au) should provide results. There may be Australian and international/global associations of interest to you.
Investigate what they provide for their members, how to go about joining and any costs associated (often discounted for student membership).
Meeting people working in your field brings all kinds of benefits to your career – but networking can be challenging, especially when you are starting out! Networking through a professional association can make the task a little easier, as there is usually a networking element to most events. You might find yourself engaging in conversation before or after a guest speaker event or heading along to an informal meet up – all effective ways to access career information and industry insights.
Professional associations may offer a listing of current job opportunities. Even if you are not quite ready to apply for a role, reviewing job descriptions affords you insight into the types of skills and experiences sought after in your field. Members might also have access to careers resources or events.
Keeping up to date with current issues and trends in your field will allow you to build knowledge and demonstrates your commitment to your development as a professional. To access current information, look for news sections, member LinkedIn groups, seminars, and newsletters.
Some professional associations offer formal continuing education and in some fields your learning will count towards a certification program or registration requirements. Other associations may offer more informal learning and skill development opportunities through online learning or short courses.
Once you have joined a professional association, take a proactive approach to making the most of your membership. Take a look at what is available and consider what would benefit you.
You might like to set some goals around how you are going to use your membership. Do you need to build your network of people working in the field? You might plan to attend events or join a LinkedIn group around a particular topic. Do you need to understand how to progress in your career? Set a goal to find this information out through resources, events, or networking with others.
Include a Professional Memberships section in your resume and LinkedIn profile to demonstrate your professional commitment to potential employers. List the association/s you belong to.
Action your membership and set your goals for how you will engage with your profession!

A great way to build your professional network is to connect with a professional mentor. Guidance from a mentor can help you to get the most out of your study and to expand your knowledge of future options and strategies post-study. The University has a variety of mentoring programs, explore your options on the Career mentoring page.

Research your industry

Read as much as you can about your area of interest to stay on top of current events. You can do this by setting up Google alerts with key search terms, regularly monitoring the business sections of news services or publications, and by visiting national or international sites that report on industry trends.

This information will help you understand what career options align with your interests and skills. It will also help inform the types of questions to ask when communicating with potential clients and employers, and shows that you are interested and committed to the industry.

Build your professional brand

Whether you’re based in Australia or hope to work overseas, your online presence is an important tool you can use to engage employers and stay current in today’s job market.

Get started by building a professional profile as soon as you start university. Include information on your studies, interests, and work experience (volunteering, internships etc), and continue to build your profile over time.

Linkedin is a great place to start developing your online profile. It’s a powerful platform for researching employment pathways, identifying industry contacts, connecting with University alumni, and joining professional interest groups.

Potential employers might also view your personal social media accounts, such as your Facebook or Instagram account. To control access to your personal accounts, consider updating your privacy settings, choosing a less recognisable username, or removing content that you don’t want a potential employer to view.