Making connections and networking

Find out about how you can make connections to support your professional development, including practical tips on networking, finding alumni to connect with and how to have useful and productive conversations.

Image of student smiling and drinking coffee

Why is making professional connections so important?

Staying informed about the job market and the sector(s) you are interested in is key to securing fulfilling employment. By expanding your network, you can explore career options and gain first-hand insights into employers and roles. Valuable contacts provide personalised advice and guidance on accessing opportunities and are often more than happy to help.  

For some of us, networking will feel very intimidating.  Whatever the context it is essentially two humans having a conversation. While it can take place in a large busy space with lots of people in suits shaking hands, more often it is an informal conversation, perhaps over coffee or even via LinkedIn. 

Follow our practical advice for making connections, including how to make the most of our alumni network, and for some added career inspiration read our alumni stories on our blog, Inform.ed:

Career inspiration – Inform.ed 

Grow your professional network using LinkedIn

Whether you are an active user of Linked In or not, it is a really valuable tool for researching careers and staying up to date.  It is also a great way to build your network as it offers the opportunity to find University of Edinburgh Alumni.  You will need a profile to get started. 

Search alumni by job, course, employer, sector and location using the search function on the University of Edinburgh page – this gives you access to over 190,000 alumni on LinkedIn! See their profiles to get inspiration on next steps and possible career paths into different jobs and sectors. There is also a private University of Edinburgh Alumni group on LinkedIn with over 20,000 members:  

University of Edinburgh Alumni Group on LinkedIn (private group)

You can also join groups relevant to your interests and follow discussions and updates as well as follow employers  – you can get ideas of groups to join by looking at who the alumni follow that are working in areas of interest to you. 

Tips for contacting alumni

If you find an alumni you would like to connect with do as much research on them as you can and think about what it is you would like to know – the more specific you can be the better.

When asking to connect:

  • Go on to their profile first
  • Personalise your request (don’t send a default message)
  • Briefly introduce yourself and why you are contacting them
  • If they accept your request, follow up with a thank-you and any further questions you might have (keep this brief)
  • If you don’t receive a reply after a couple of weeks, review your message and send a polite follow up.
  • Keep in touch and update them with any progress.
  • Consider asking if they have anyone else who might be worth contacting in their network
  • Always thank them for their time

Example connection request:

Hi X, I found your profile by searching for UofE Economics Alumni working for the Civil Service.  I am studying Economics at Edinburgh currently and am really keen to work for the public sector. Would you be happy to answer a few questions and share your experience? Thank you for your time, X. 

You can watch a demonstration of the alumni search and the wider uses of LinkedIn in our short video ‘Making the most of LinkedIn’

Other ways to find alumni and grow your network

  • Start with who you know – family friends, peers, colleagues and academics; who might they know that could help you?
  • Attend our fairs and events – use the event listings on MyCareerHub to research who is attending
  • Join professional bodies and organisations relating to your field of interest 

Our tips for in-person networking events 

  • Be prepared – do your research before making contact or attending an event
  • Practise your ‘elevator pitch’ or a short summary to introduce yourself so you feel confident in what you will say when you first meet someone.
  • Think about some starter questions so managing conversations feels less daunting, for example ‘How was your journey here today?’, ‘Do you mind if I join you?’, ‘I was hoping to speak to you today as I am interested in…’.
  • To finish your conversation, you could say ‘It was a pleasure to meet you’, ‘Thank you for your time’, ‘It would be great to keep in touch – could we connect on LinkedIn?’
Image of staff and student at a careers fair

Questions you can ask during a conversation or meeting (informational interviews)

Once you have made your connection, see if that person would be happy to take some time to have a conversation about their experience.  This is often called an Informational Interview. 

Informational interviews are simply informal conversations with someone about their work or organisation, which help you to build a better awareness of their role or the sector they work in.  These discussions work just as well on the phone or online, as in person.  

It can feel quite daunting at first, being well prepared and thinking of questions you can ask will help to make sure you both get the most out of the interaction and the conversation flows more easily.  We have suggested some questions here to get you started:

What questions can I ask?

  • What attracted you to this industry, this company and this role?
  • What do you enjoy most about each of them?
  • What aspects of your career have you found most and least rewarding - and why?
  • What would you differently if you were starting again?
  • What do you see as possible next steps for you?
  • What are you most excited or concerned about for this industry, company or career path in the future?
  • If you were in the job market tomorrow, what would you do?

  • What are your primary responsibilities? How do you spend your time?
  • How do you value/measure your results and effectiveness?
  • What do you do in a typical day or week?
  • How much time are you in meetings, on the phone, on the road, and working in teams versus working independently?

  • What skills are most critical to your success?
  • What weaknesses in a person’s skill set would make him or her ineffective in this business?
  • What are the most valuable skills in your job? Which experiences enabled you to develop these skills?
  • How do you keep skills current? What do you read? What professional associations do you belong to? What seminars or continuing education do you consider useful?

  • What would you do differently if you ran this company?
  • What are the common misconceptions about working in this company?
  • What do you see as the biggest competitive challenge for your company?
  • What are some of the defining characteristics of the graduates who have been hired by your company in the past for this position? 

  • What have been your biggest surprises in this field?
  • What motivates you to continue in this business? What do you like most?
  • What are the vulnerabilities of this business? What worries you?
  • What do you expect of people starting out in this field? What educational and personal qualities in candidates attract you? How do you determine a candidate’s compatibility for the field, including education, personality, and cultural considerations?
  • Can you recommend others I can talk to about this field?

 


  • What kind of job responsibilities could I expect as a new graduate?
  • Is there anything else you think would be helpful as I consider this field?
  • Looking at my CV, what advice would you have for me on next steps if I were interested in a career in this sector or with this company?

Ask an Alum

If you would like to make contact with an Alum for your professional development, and have been unsuccessful on LinkedIn, Alumni Services can try and identify someone for you and reach out to an alum on your behalf.


The Insights Programme

Our Insights Programme helps widening participation students develop the confidence, skills and connections to consider a range of careers through introductions to Edinburgh alumni working in an exciting range of sectors and environments.


Mentoring

Mentoring can be a really impactful relationship that supports your career development.  Mentoring can take many forms but it often involves regular catch-ups with someone a few years ahead of where you would like to be and using their insights and experience to support your own professional development.  It can also be very helpful for the mentor to reflect on their own career. 

Some schools offer mentoring programmes and we have also developed a self-directed resource to enable you to find a mentor and maintain a successful mentoring relationship.


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