It is the Friday after one of the most jam-packed weeks I have ever had. I can’t begin to count the number of people I have met from every corner of the world, the information and to-do lists I have been given from career consultants to new professors, and the steps I have taken for the daily commute.
I can’t really pinpoint what I was expecting from induction week, or in the USA, orientation week, but this was not whatever it was that I expected. I won’t be going into detail, but for an overview of the major events and key learnings, feel free to read.
Day One, we had hours of networking with our fellow students by everyone waiting for a “class” in a large (very hot because there is no air conditioning here) room. As uncomfortable as it is to go up to strangers and start conversations, it is more uncomfortable to stand alone in a room full of strangers. Thankfully from my Dale Carnegie class, I always remember the best way to network is to get other people to talk about themselves as much as possible because everyone enjoys talking about themselves. The other critical part about networking well is truly being interested in other people, and I believe everyone has something they can teach you, so it can really be fun to network with this mindset!
After networking, we went into a class work for a welcome from the program director and team.
Of course, a large group photo in front of the Royal Albert Hall was after that.
They really emphasize 3 major things throughout this entire week, well maybe 4.
- Imperial has an incredible career team and resources, so they strongly encourage you to take advantage of everything they have to offer.
- You should improve your networking skills and LinkedIn profile to land your dream job and meet as many influential people as possible.
- The student clubs are a great opportunity either just to meet new people with similar interests or to apply for leadership roles for growth.
- The job market is really competitive right now, so you are going to have to work really hard and be proactive for anything you want…
Day two began inside the Science Museum on Exhibition Road beside the university. It was such a neat experience to get to an Imperial student life presentation and video by walking all the way through the museum. Throughout the day we were given time to explore the museum more, grab a free hot dog (very American), and find out more of what the university offers for students.
This was a shorter day which was nice because I needed to go back to Westfield Mall to get some important things for my new studio. I ended up having to walk 25 minutes through a park with two bags full of bathroom rugs, a textbook, a new towel, and many other things, but it was a beautiful park at sunset so no complaining here.
Day three was our away day.
Very unexpected day but in a great way. We were put into groups and given various activities from large puzzles, to laser tag, to climbing to the top of a poll all with the intention of improving our teamwork abilities. It was actually a fun day and a great way to spend more casual time with classmates to become more comfortable.
Day four was a 2 p.m. start day, so I grabbed an hour gym session at my complex and then headed for campus. We
We had an incredible speaker named Joseph Lui come to provide a crash course on personal branding. I learned so much from this course but my biggest takeaways were:
- The same key characteristics you can pinpoint from a good brand such as distinctive, consistent, authentic, etc are all characteristics you want to intentionally and proactive define and live out for your personal brand.
- If you don’t build your brand, others will build it for you.
- With limited time, focus on publishing content on LinkedIn and Medium.
After this session, we had some detailed sessions about the school library and exam schedule. Our last event inside the school was the alumni panel where previous MSc marketing students answered questions about their job search and time in the program. This emphasized to me that the time will fly by quickly so stay ahead of schedule with job searching and school work while also taking every opportunity to continue networking.
The business school takeover at the campus bar (weird right? Never in America) was the final event for the night. This was a fun and bonding time for everyone, and I continued to meet new people in our large marketing cohort.
Finally today, day five, I grabbed my pret coffee and croissant since I signed up for the 5 free coffees a day membership and headed for another career advice class. Basically, we are attempting to get jobs during a recession in an industry that is continuously being flipped upside down, so there is zero sugarcoating that it will indeed be difficult to get a job and stay relevant in said job. 🙂
Next, we were thrown straight into a digital boot camp delivered by an ex-Google employee named Frederic Kalinke who gave us some of the most relevant and valuable information regarding digital marketing in just two hours. He went from Google to Meta to Amazon and back to Google keywords and ad set-up and then how to land a job in tech.
As I am reflecting on the week, I feel a mix of emotions including excitement and a bit of fear. There is a lot of uncertainty and questions to answer about myself, my career goals, whether to apply for a student leadership role, who I should be networking with, which events to attend, what companies to apply to, and how to balance everything that this year will include.