My network include several politicians; members of Congress and ministers, as well as public figures

Networking essay - Chevening scholarship

Over the past year, I have been working at the Congress of the Republic of Peru, as a press assistant. This experience has allowed me to meet several politicians, including members of Congress and ministers, as well as renowned public figures in my country.

Last year, before the beginning of school year, I managed to contact a congresswoman from the region of Iquitos, the jungle of Peru, to help the social work organization I belong to, with her help we planned a benefit dinner to raise awareness and funds for the children in need.

During my time as a volunteer at the Ravi Zacharias International Ministry (RZIM), I managed to build a substantial network of academics in diverse fields, including philosophers, scientists, and theologists. Last year, I succeeded to set up a meeting between the Director of the Latin American RZIM, with the President of the Commission of Production from the Congress. The result of this encounter concluded in an event about the "Anticorruption Politics: the Hong Kong model," that took place at the Parliament Palace of Peru, with the former Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong and Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, as lead speaker.

Outside of my professional field, I have also managed to develop a good network of friends from all over the world. An example would be a couple I met several years ago, who are now the directors of a school in China, they have also sent several donations to the charity organization that I belong. Likewise, friends in Germany, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, have sent both donations and volunteers to help.

Another example of my networking skills takes place in 2016. A Britain Indian girl contacted me through a friend in London. She was coming to Peru to live for a while even though she knew no one. I wanted to help, so I gave her a room to stay at my house. I learned she was a First Class graduate of Film and Theory, and me being a graduate of Communications with a minor in Advertising, we quickly formed a partnership and started doing business together. She eventually went back to London, but the friendship, as well as the professional relationship, has maintained.

If I become a Chevening Scholar, is my goal to cultivate empowering relationships with other students as well as professors in my university of choice, that will allow me to develop a more enriching perspective of the needs and solutions for the betterment of my country.

Valeria, this is just a summary of your networks and networking skills. You did not amply develop the supporting facts that would indicate a strong working network on your part. The best networking references you can make in this essay are those that relate to your work a s a government press secretary. All the other references may be omitted / deleted from this presentation. With that said, you still have some major editing work to do with this essay.

Referring to your work as press secretary, there is actually only one presentation that this essay should focus on as this is the one incident in your professional career that totally encompasses all of the requirements of the Chevening networking essay. Build up the discussion about the meeting between the director of the Latin American RZIM and the president of the commission of production. There are two things that you will have to explain in order to fully utilize this presentation for the networking discussion:

1. Explain what sorts of contacts you had to use. Be specific about the name and position of the contact. Describe a brief history of how you developed these contacts and remained in contact with them.

2. Narrate the reasons why you had to call upon this contact, what the contact did for you, what you had to do for your contact in order to use his influence (if any), and how the contact put you in touch with people or assets relevant to the completion of your task.

From these two points, your conclusion should be an explanation of the results of the networking. For example, you mentioned that the conference took place, what was the result of the conference? Why do you feel that without your network, the conference may not have taken place? As a concluding statement, hypothesize about the reasons why Chevening should take note of your network and its usability for the scholarship members in the future.

These steps will help you better direct your networking essay to the point where it just might become a competitive presentation when considered along with other applicant networking essays.

@valeriavbv
I think you have to focus on one or two experiences and be more detail, rather than only mentioning all you have done shortly. For example, when you were volunteering at RZIM, you need to elaborate more on how you build networks of academics in diverse fields, how you maintain the networking after the meeting, and how the networking benefits you and your connections. Be more specific on one experience and show leadership and influencing values through real actions. I think the reviewer would want to read about that. Good luck!