Earlier this week, Natalie Warila, Assistant Director of Career Strategies, and Marcia Katz, Director, Career Development and Alumni Engagement, hosted a brief workshop for the International Business School attendees of the 2023 ALPFA Convention. They were joined by past attendees of the 2022 ALPFA Convention, who passed down their own experience and advice for this year’s group of attendees. In this blog post, Natalie Warila shares some key takeaways from the workshop that can be applied to any in-person networking event, conference, or career fair!
Navigating Conferences like ALPFA | Advice from Alumni and the CSE Team
Almost exactly a year ago, I traveled to Orlando, Florida to meet a group of our students for the 2022 ALPFA Convention. My favorite part of the conference was watching our students become master networkers, and impressively navigate scenarios that anyone would find daunting.
Yesterday, four of these amazing students (now alumni working full time!) joined the CSE virtually to assist with our pre-conference workshop and speak with current and incoming students planning to attend the 2023 ALPFA Convention.
I’ve included below some of my favorite bits of advice from our alumni: Shriya Chapagain, MSF’23, Enayat Ahmadzai, MBA’23, Shaurya Shounik, MSF’23, and Ishaan Saokar, MSF’23 – including, of course, some CSE tips and resources sprinkled throughout. Enjoy!
Do your homework! Your “conference” begins the moment you register
“Before you go to the conference, make sure you look at the ALPFA Conference Portal and see what companies are coming. Once you know which companies are going, make sure you go to their career pages or Linkedin pages and see what jobs are there and apply to the ones that interest you.” – Enayat Ahmadzai, MBA’23
In general, research and apply to open positions listed by employers that you’re interested in speaking with at an event before the event.
For ALPFA in particular, once you register for the conference you should begin to see emails from ALPFA encouraging you to connect with their employer partners, and often to apply to open positions and/or register for pre conference events. Definitely do this – the employers that you meet there will expect it.
Additionally, during the workshop we discovered that by searching on LinkedIn for “ALPFA Convention”, we could see several employers posting about how they plan on attending the conference and encouraging attendees to connect with them beforehand! Doing so will ensure a greater impact once you meet with them in person. This quick hack could really apply to any upcoming event or conference!
Keep your “Pitch” short, sweet, and to the point
The 2022 Attendees, Marcia and I all agreed that keeping your “pitch” short and to the point is essential to keeping the conversation flowing and natural. Why would they carry on a conversation with you if you’ve already answered every single question they could ask in your elevator pitch? Leave some mystery so that they can actually ask you questions like – “Oh, you said you had experience in consulting. Where did you work previously, or what was that experience?”
“With your elevator pitch, make it more of a conversation (1-2 lines), instead of saying everything to them at once, because then it will be like,”Oh! Like this person has it (their pitch) in their mind, and they’re just giving the same thing to every person” and then they would kind of get bored. If they’re interested in you they’ll ask to know more about you and you can tell them your story.” – Shriya Chapagain, MSF’23
“Bend your story in a way that you can show that you have interest (related to the person you’re speaking with)” – Shaurya Shounik, MSF’23
Leave the business cards at home, but bring several copies of your resume and LinkedIn Profile QR Code
The business card is dead… Well, not actually, but our alumni who are now on the other end of the recruiting process all agreed that handing out business cards at the conference is NOT a good way to make connections. Generally, if you’re offering a business card, you’re putting the responsibility on them to do the work to reach out to you versus trying to reach out to them. You’re much better off asking them for their card, or connecting with them in real time on LinkedIn.
“So I’m in the field right now and when you’re looking for a job, and you hand your business card to someone it doesn’t give a good impression. Offering your business card makes it seem like you’re trying to prove that you’re in a position of authority, and that’s not a good look.Just just hand out your resume. You’ll be fine. Continue the conversation.” – Shaurya Shounik, MSF’23
Have your LinkedIn QR Code on Hand
Connecting with someone in the moment is the best way to start collecting connections at the conference. It will also attach a face to the name, and hopefully make it easier for both people involved to remember the conversation.
Bring Several Copies of Your Resume
“Definitely print and bring several copies of your resume, because a lot of times, even when companies reject you, they will ask for a copy of your resume for other opportunities (For example, they might say, “Oh, we don’t sponsor, but we’re gonna keep your resume”). If you’re not prepared, you’ll be out of copies, so make sure you’re taking enough resumes with you. Also make sure you’re talking to your CSE Career Coach and that your resume is properly formatted and everything is correct. That’s very important and I think the CSE has some great resources for that.” – Ishaan Saokar, MSF’23
Be bold in your networking approach
“There is going to be the first one and a half days where the career fair is not happening. Use that time as the time to warm up and get ready for when the career fair hits. Go out and get comfortable talking to people; people are going to be open to talking to you. They are there to recruit. They are not there to reject you.” – Shaurya Shounik, MSF’23
“Return to the same booth over and over. Take a walk around, and after five minutes just come back to the same booth and talk to another person, because if one person didn’t work for you, maybe another person will. Basically, if you’re extremely interested in a position and/or a company, keep talking to different people in the same company.” – Shaurya Shounik, MSF’23
“Don’t be afraid to ask for an interview; so many companies at ALPFA are offering onsite interviews. I interviewed for at least ten companies in two days. Not everybody will like you and say yes, but don’t miss your chance of getting easy interviews. Usually those same interviews would take you at least 3 -5 times of reaching out to people over Linkedin, reaching out to hundreds of people to get one interview, but getting an interview at ALFA’s way easier than you think. Talk to them, and be direct if the conversation is going well, like “Oh, are you having on-site interviews? I would love to learn more about working at your company”.” – Shriya Chapagain, MSF’23
Quick Tip – Remember to practice for behavioral interview questions, as that will be the focus for most of the on-site interviews. CSE Resources like BigInterview and the CSE’s Top Interviewing Questions are a good place to start!
Dress formally but comfortably, rest up, and pack snacks!
“Don’t wear high heels. I know that makes you look smart, but don’t (it’s not worth it). Don’t make that mistake. Trust me. You’re going to have to walk a lot.” – Shriya Chapagain, MSF’23
“It’s going to be tiring. I know some of you might try to save money and book the late, late night (red eye) flight. Do not do that. You want to be fresh, you do not want to be tired. I did that and was also dealing with early morning luggage. And carry around food with you… like an energy bar or something like that” – Ishaan Saokar, MSF’23
“At first I thought I would finish the conference each day around five and then go out and visit places in Orlando, but that’s not how it works. Don’t go with that intention or motive. I would say once you’re done for the day, go back to your hotel and prepare your itinerary for tomorrow. Plan your schedule around the workshops that are happening. You can’t visit 100 companies in the same day – or research and know everything you need to know while speaking to them (when they started, what they focus on etc.). Each day pick 5-10 companies you’re going to focus on that day.” – Shriya Chapagain, MSF’23
Quick Tip: Dress in layers. For example, it might be hot in Texas, but it’s always freezing in conference rooms. Bring a sweater or a jacket.
Post-Conference follow-up can make or break your experience
“The actual work begins after you come back. Have an excel sheet ready with the contact, the company, and the position. ” – Shriya Chapagain, MSF’23
“Make sure that you collect contacts and reach out. You may not get a response from most of them. You may get disappointed – we all went through that. But there could also be people that are reaching out to you after the conference, or maybe even during the conference. Interviews are getting scheduled all the time, so make sure you follow up with them and stay connected with them.” – Enayat Ahmadzai, MBA’23
In addition to your own outreach, after the conference check daily for potential LinkedIn messages and emails from other conference attendees, even students from other universities. Just stay open and connect with everybody for as long as you can. However long you keep the follow up going, is how long you can extend the benefits of attending this conference.
What’s the best time to reach out?
During the workshop, I asked the past attendees what they think is the best time to reach out after the conference. Most people will be too socially exhausted to respond in the first few days, but you don’t want to wait too long because your conversation can go stale. Ishaan had a really great solution to this conundrum:
“One of the things that I did was that I reached out to people the day ALPFA ended, or the next day, and they didn’t get back to me. So then I just sort of went back and bumped those messages with a follow up like “Hi, just bumping this message as I was hoping to continue our great conversation, I know this is a busy time”. And when you’re having conversations with them, try and remember what they’re doing. I remember this one person I was talking to was in equity research, and he had mentioned there were quarterly disclosures next week, and he’d be busy. I mentioned this in my follow-up and it went a long way.” – Ishaan Saokar, MSF’23
Wait! Remember to proof-read your messages before you send them. Have a friend read them over. Make sure you’re not just hitting send. Make sure you spell their name right. I know this sounds crazy, but you’re so tired the next day… it happens.
Verbal offers don’t mean the work is over
A final very interesting and helpful tip they wanted to emphasize was that a verbal, onsite offer doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to receive a written offer. Typically you will have to continue the follow-up and put in the work to also get that written offer (which is the real offer).
One previous attendee even admitted that their lack of immediate follow-up after a verbal offer led to them not receiving the written offer, while their classmate who followed up immediately received the offer letter right away.
Make sure to get the full name, title, and email address of the person who gave you the verbal offer, as well as clear next steps to pursue the offer further (HR contacts etc.).
Oh and make sure you let the CSE know if you receive an offer, always!
Finally, If you’re attending ALPFA or any of the other major conferences this year, I wish you the best of luck! Remember that these experiences might be intense and exhausting, but you’ll come out of them a stronger networker – just like these four alumni did. And the best resources you have with you are your fellow students. Lift each other up and share advice. You’re going to be amazing!
