Networking in Student Affairs: A Graduate School Guide

Introduction and Purpose

Graduate students preparing to enter student affairs and higher education administration have much to consider, including professional development and networking. Ideally, that networking should start well before graduation is imminent, because it allows the student to develop contacts in the professional world before moving into that world on a more permanent basis. Students who have professional contacts before they finish graduate school are more likely to achieve career success earlier, which can help ease the transition from an educational institution to a professional working environment.

While networking and professional development do not guarantee success, they represent one of the most significant steps a student can take toward career placement and advancement in a chosen field. The literature addressed in this review focuses on networking among graduate students in general, with as much emphasis as possible on those moving into careers related to higher education administration. Since the literature on that specific career path is scant at best, an overview of networking and professional development in the graduate student population is provided. This overview illustrates both the valuable information graduate students need regarding networking and the significant gap in the literature where higher education administration, graduate students, and networking intersect.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to detail the information that is important for graduate students focused on professional development. These students must learn all they can about their chosen profession, and there are several ways to do that. The knowledge they acquire in the classroom matters a great deal, but so does the networking they engage in while still at their educational institution. Mixers and other events where graduate students meet professional contacts in their chosen field can be among the most vital means of gaining valuable connections that will serve them well once they have completed their academic work.

The central question to be answered is why it is so important for graduate students in higher education administration — and young professionals in student affairs — to network while still in graduate school, along with how this can best be accomplished. Addressing both of these issues provides the necessary insight into the topic.

Key Terms

The following key terms are defined to ensure that the study is clear and complete.

Graduate Student: A graduate student is one who is enrolled in an institution of higher education for a degree that goes beyond the baccalaureate level.

Higher Education Administration: Those who work in higher education administration oversee educational institutions and the students who attend those schools.

Student Affairs: Those who work in student affairs are focused closely on enrolled students, working to ensure those students have a positive experience and are prepared for professional life after graduation.

Networking: Networking involves interaction with others who can provide help, advice, and information as it relates to a particular project, career, or life path.

Limitations

All studies have limitations. This study is limited to what is examined through the literature review and the information gathered from a social event that allowed local university and college student affairs groups to meet one another. That exchange of ideas was important, but it may be difficult to extrapolate that information to all other colleges and universities throughout the country. Regional, cultural, and other differences must all be considered. The lack of a guiding manual for students entering graduate programs in higher education is also of particular concern, as many students are left struggling with networking and related professional development issues.

Significance of Professional Contribution

This professional contribution will help fill a gap currently seen in the literature regarding specific information on networking in higher education administration. Additionally, the creation of a manual for handling higher education administration networking — and other related factors — is long overdue. The importance of such a resource cannot be overemphasized, as it can provide significant insight into what graduate students in this field of study should be looking for and how they can network properly to form the right kinds of professional contacts.

Differences in Graduate vs. Undergraduate Networking

Networking for professional development is nothing new, but new approaches to the issue have appeared in recent years. As technology advances, the ways in which people relate to and interact with one another have changed to some extent. Meeting in person, however, remains the best way to develop good networking skills. Being able to put a name with a face is important and helps people build trust and rapport they might not otherwise have (Rhoten & Parker, 2004). That is not to say that social media and online interaction have no place in networking for student affairs and higher education professionals, but only that the more traditional route is generally the best choice. Knowing when to network, who to speak with, and where to find appropriate professional gatherings are all challenges that people new to a particular profession must navigate (Rhoten & Parker, 2012). These are among the reasons why forming proper connections while still enrolled in a graduate program provides a meaningful advantage.

It should be noted that there has been rather extensive research on undergraduate students when it comes to socialization into professional roles through networking and other means. However, very little has been done in this regard for graduate students. Researchers like Gardner and Barnes (2007) identified this literature gap and determined to focus on graduate students and what they were — or were not — gaining from interaction with professional contacts. Several issues had to be addressed, including why graduate students were not being studied, whether they were receiving adequate interaction with other students, and whether their institution's administration was offering them anything practically useful when it came to finding and connecting with professional contacts. It is one thing to recognize that networking in graduate school is important; it is another to know how to do it correctly and to have the tools and opportunities to do so.

Gardner and Barnes (2007) determined that there are many differences between the ways graduate and undergraduate students network. With more than 1.5 million graduate students enrolled in master's and doctoral programs throughout the United States, a large number of people will be graduating within the next few years and moving into careers for which they have been training — in some cases for many years. Concerns within graduate education include, but are not limited to, attrition rates, time-to-degree completion, job availability in chosen fields, and the overall value of the educational experience for those pursuing master's and doctoral degrees (Gardner & Barnes, 2007). Among the fears of those who undertake graduate education is the challenge of networking properly in order to be successful — a challenge that is particularly acute for those who complete their entire academic career without working in their chosen field and therefore lack professional contacts (Gardner & Barnes, 2007).

Undergraduates generally face fewer networking obstacles, in part because they enter their chosen field after a shorter period of academic preparation and have less to prove to potential employers (Gardner & Barnes, 2007). Once a person embarks on a master's or doctoral degree path, he or she enters territory that most people will not attain during their careers (Gardner & Barnes, 2007). With that advanced standing comes added difficulty. Most graduate students must either postpone career aspirations until their schooling is complete or take a break from an existing career to pursue a higher level of education (Gardner & Barnes, 2007). Some are unemployed, while others attend evening courses after a full workday. As a result, they are often short on time to network and may not know who to contact or how to reach others headed toward the same career path (Gardner & Barnes, 2007).

Mentoring and Networking

This situation places the graduate student at a distinct disadvantage compared to the undergraduate student when it comes to networking. Gardner and Barnes (2007) are not alone in recognizing and being concerned by the ways in which graduate students can fail to build the networks they need in order to be successful (Summers-Ewing, 1994). A certain degree of mentoring is therefore important to help graduate students develop the skills needed to network properly. According to Fedynich and Bain (2011), mentoring is a vital component of ensuring that graduate students receive a complete experience that will prepare them for their career path (Summers-Ewing, 1994). That mentoring can take many forms, including one-on-one sessions and group settings where the graduate student has an opportunity to learn and be coached (Fedynich & Bain, 2011). While both options are valuable, the group setting helps blur the lines between mentoring and networking, easing the graduate student into networking behavior and allowing him or her to begin forming contacts in the chosen field (Fedynich & Bain, 2011).

Faculty mentoring carries an additional advantage for graduate students headed into higher education administration and student affairs: it helps them learn to network with peers, superiors, and students who are pursuing lower-level degrees or who are not as far along in their studies (Fedynich & Bain, 2011). In other words, it prepares them to network with people across all levels of a professional hierarchy — something especially important for anyone who plans to make a career out of working with students. One cannot adequately help others without first learning how to interact and network with those individuals and the people who may be valuable to them (Fedynich & Bain, 2011).