Here is my CHEVENING Essay on Networking Skills. I need help to confirm that it is good to go
Chevening is looking for individuals with strong networking skills, who will engage with the Chevening community ...
Experience has taught me that networking is an art which mastery requires self-confidence and linguistic aptitude, in addition to diplomatic abilities. Engaging with friends, colleagues, professors, and the world outside academic setting has always come naturally to me. Hence, I consider my election as the president of departmental students' association in 2014 as the major accomplishment of my networking and interpersonal relationship skills.
While in active service as the president, I organized an academic excursion to International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Ibadan. The expedition not only offered participants the opportunity to meet and interact with professionals and adroit researchers in the discipline, but also established a prospect for collaborative research between IITA and the University of Benin. Meanwhile, my proposition for the trip met with strong opposition and almost outright rejection due to lack of funding. That was the first setback. The second hindrance was the odds in securing the university's sixty-passenger capacity bus, which, at the time, was inaccessible to students. Under those circumstances, I realized that onus was on me to make prompt decisions so as to substantiate my plans for the trip regardless of challenges.
At the outset, I engaged with few members who believed in the impact and possible success of the journey and delegated in-house responsibilities to them, while I masterminded engagements that involved external bodies including making contact with the management of IITA. I led the team that visited the director of Genetic Resources Centre at IITA. Through the outing, I had the privilege to network with Dr Michael Abberton, the director, and procured an approval letter for the excursion on IITA's letter-headed paper. Consequently, I met Professor Abiodun Falodun, the Vice Chancellor Academics, and discussed the benefits of the excursion and the challenges facing its success. He applauded my courage in securing a written approval for an academic expedition in one of the best research institutes in the world. Ultimately, through him, I not only received approval to use the university's bus, but also got some financial support. In the light of the progress I made hitherto, I convened a departmental association's meeting during which I gave detailed up-to-date information as regards the excursion. Before I ended my speech, ninety-five percent of those who initially refuted the idea changed their minds. In the long run, the excursion took place on 5th June, 2014 and was more impactful than I expected.
I have plans to expand Chevening Alumni Network in Nigeria. I intend to employ my networking skills in spurring local organisations in Nigeria to partner with Chevening to sponsor more Nigerians to study in the UK annually. Presently, Nigerian scholars make up 2.5% of Cheveners worldwide who commenced their studies in September 2016. I am confident in my aptitude to increase the proportion to 10% by 2030. I hope to achieve this feat through Corporate Community Development Service Scheme. Ultimately, being a Chevener will endow me with personal testimony about opportunities in Chevening's network and help make my vision a reality.
Holt Educational Consultant - / 15153
4857 Okoye, in the performance of your duty, you met these important people and got recommendation letters from them for the benefit of your school activity. Now, I have a question for you. Were you able to keep in contact with these big name professors? Do they still remember who you are? Have you become a personal friend to them? If asked to present a letter of recommendation from these people, will they willingly give it to you? Can you actually approach them, by name or position and have support you outside of the event that you mentioned? If the answer to any of these questions, or all these questions will be a resounding no, then remove that paragraph from your essay.
Your ability to network should not rely on the mention of notable names. It should be reliant upon your actual ability to create a network for yourself that you can call upon in a moment's instance. You can still use the information in that paragraph if you wish. Just remove the names of the people you mentioned before and turn it into a general discussion. Always remember that there will be instances when the information you provide will be double checked by the reviewer. For your protection and to save you from future embarrassment, it would be best to just mention the position and not the person.
While it would be better if your had a truly professional experience in relation to creating a network, what you have presented is intricate and notable enough due to the objective of the actions you took. So we might be able to create a competitive essay out of this narrative.