The importance of knowing people in person - it is vital in creating excellent networks.

Chevening Essay on Networking

Chevening is looking for individuals with strong networking skills...

Even in this digital area, I believe meeting people in person is vital in creating excellent networks.

This November, I made it a priority to attend the European Higher Education Fair in Jakarta. Not only do I obtain more information about Chevening and the Universities, I also get a contact that could help me with the visa with no cost if I am accepted later. I also had a coffee with the regional manager of a university that was not participating in the event. We conversed for an hour about the course, the university, and the UK in general. He then able to connect me with Indonesian lecturer in the University and other Indonesia student to allow me get more information about the courses and the university life.

In my working environment, I interact with air traffic controller through the radio on daily basis yet we are not required to meet in person at all. At some point, I feel the need to know them and meet them in person. I had my friends that went to the same school with them introduced me so we were able to meet and discuss our working condition in details. It then helps both of us to develop a better understanding of each other's conditions hence resulted in better communication later. I also ended up getting along with people from other departments in their company such as the navigation and aeronautical information services. Those relationships help me and my co-workers get the bigger picture of how things are working in the airport hence allow better decision making in our day to day job. I believe great networking skill which allows you to connect with necessary individual and develop profound relationships with them are important. Understanding issues from the other side of the wall would make any negotiation or collaboration went more productively.

My active participation in XXX has allowed me to gain broader knowledge about airport management from more advanced airports managers. I managed to have a discussion with the Manager of Dubai Airport in person, sharing about the problems and best practices in Indonesia's airports as well as theirs. I also exchanged inspiring experiences with other professional women from Malaysia and Zambia airport. It was very inspiring to know that globally, professionals in airport industry are eagerly helping out to make developing airports may perform better.

In my future career, my position will require me to connect with various institutions, whether those in air transport industry such as airlines, ground handling, or air navigation companies, and also with various governmental and private institutions regionally and nation-widely.

It would truly be an honour for me to be part of the Chevening networks. To be able to see the world with more diverse perspective, to be connected and goes hand in hand with the global future leaders for the positive cause, and to connect other Cheveners with others of my contacts in order to make way for some influential collaborations.

SG, the first paragraph should be deleted or revised for a number of reasons. The first, is that saying you met someone who can help you get a visa for free if you are accepted into the program sounds very unprofessional and should never be referenced in an academic essay of this magnitude. Aside from that, none of the networks that you infer in that paragraph relate to your profession. Therefore, their relevance to your job, as it should be considered by Chevening does not exist. Hence, it is a throw away paragraph.

Your reference to your within the workplace network is one that, in this instance, is valuable because of the way that the airport works. The physical structure alone is already a network of connected hubs. That is why the importance of creating your personal professional hub within your workplace is also important and relevant to this application. Overall, the rest of the essay is well developed but lacks a reference as to why this network will be important to Chevening and its members. Why should this network matter to them? What purpose does it serve outside of the specialized world of airport management?