2013 [BUSINESS ENGLISH PORTFOLIO]

Future/ Networking Plan
During the past three years of my study program I had the chance to meet and work with many
different people from different surroundings. Everybody could contribute on their own kind of
way, but always of high quality. That is how I started broaden my network and keep in contact
with friends and colleagues on a regular basis. It is always of great benefit for both parties to
exchange experience and knowledge about projects and companies. As a student of Stenden
University you learn and especially see how important it is to network your way up to good
chances.
To my biggest networking areas I would count LinkedIn, Stenden University, BMW Group
colleagues, Facebook and of course my family and friends and their friends.
Social networks are nowadays the most important platforms to connect with people worldwide.
I benefit a lot from Facebook because it allows me to stay in contact with friends even in New
Zealand, share some pinnacle moments with my family in Italy and get up-to-date information
about interesting topics such as bands and brands. LinkedIn on the other hand, helps me to build
and maintain my acquaintances in business life. It is an ideal platform to get information about
job vacancies, interesting discussions and simply inspiration and job opportunities. Stenden
University allows me to work on projects with companies and social organizations as well as
visiting Networking events and international conferences to get an insight of it and develop
further skills. Maintaining contact with my BMW Group colleagues is very beneficial because I
can always get updates about job opportunities in the department I did my internship in the
past. On the other hand I can offer them my help when it comes to really rough times. It is
important to keep a balanced degree of giving and taking.
Networking does not depend on the quantity of the contacts but on the quality of it. It is of great
importance to cultivate and intensify as well as getting in touch and relate to them. This will
benefit much more in the future and I can be sure that I will get more benefits out of it. For the
future this is what I want to focus on. I would like to do something for my contacts and
colleagues on Facebook and LinkedIn as well as for my family and friends. Either recommending
a company or an article or maybe introduce two of my contacts to each other for a collaboration
or because they simply have the same interests.
Though, there is also a downside of networking on social platforms which everybody should
take care of. It happened quite often in the past that privacy settings went wrong and this led to
transparency of the own profile. Those vulnerabilities in social networks allow the
reconstruction of the entire CV and private life. This is not just a threat for the private life of
every individual, but can also have a negative impact on the own reputation, especially because
nowadays it is more common that recruiters do research on their candidates on the Internet. Of
course I will not stop networking on social platforms, but with more prudence on what
information about myself is actually really important and what I can add during a face-to-face
conversation for a further stun-effect.