Proactiveness and interaction are what you need for professional relationship building

Hi all, this is my

Networking essay for Chevening

, any input is appreciated! Thanks!

Networking
Chevening is looking for individuals with strong professional relationship building skills, who will engage with the Chevening community and influence and lead others in their chosen profession. Please explain how you build and maintain relationships in a professional capacity, using clear examples of how you currently do this, and outline how you hope to use these skills in the future.

Although the emergence of social media has changed the way we interact with others, two things remain unchanged when it comes to relationship building - proactiveness and in-person interaction. Furthermore, a successful network should enable you to open up other possibilities no matter where you are in your career.

Thank to my proactiveness I secured my first job as a project assistant soon after my undergraduate studies. During my time as a student at xx University, apart from pursuing academic success, I actively took part in the events at the Department, and this was where I heard about an opening for a government-funded project. So, I took the courage to knock on the door of the professor's office and express my keen interests in the position. After a long interview, I was offered the job. Since then, I started to build my own professional network by interacting with other academic and non-academic staff at departmental and university meetings. Two of the professors from the workplace became my referees supporting my postgraduate applications, and a decade later, due to this networking, my dream of becoming a researcher and lecturer came true after my doctoral studies. In order to expand my academic circle, I gave guest lecturers at other universities, attended conferences and contacted other scholars to seek collaboration opportunities. I managed to build partnership with two research units, in which they provided me with the materials I needed for my research and, in return, I shared my data with them. This experience has taught me that initiative, interaction and desire for excellence are critical building a strong and sustainable relationship.

My professional network in the academia has played a pivotal role in my career change. Without their support, I would not have managed to raise more than £2000 within a month for xx, a UK-based NGO, and myself, and take up a voluntary placement in Nepal. My current responsibilities at xx requires considerable liaison with local stakeholders and beneficiaries. As a Nepali beginner, I never hesitate to engage in the focus group discussions and meetings along with my local colleagues. Presenting myself in front of our partners and beneficiaries is one of the ways to show that I care about the relationship. Moreover, whenever a chance arises, I take the initiative to interact with local governments and other international NGOs because I know that a network will not last long without in-person interaction.

The strong professional relationship building skills I have developed over the years not only will enable me to tied together Chevening experts from different fields, but also open a new window for the future Chevening scholars who plan to pursue a career in international development. Through my networks in the UK, Taiwan and Nepal, they will be able to access to a variety resources, including grant applications, fundraising techniques and strategic partnership building. I am confident that both my past and existing networking will make me a valuable asset to Chevening. (495 words)

Hi Yun,

I think this is a really strong essay. The only thing I suggest is, maybe consider making this Networking essay about how other people benefit from you, for example on the second paragraph you can elaborate on how your data has helped them.

Hope this helps and good luck

Yun, you just wrote a summary of your network and its relevance to your profession and/or civic activities. There is a lack of clear networking examples that show how you build, maintain, and use these relationships. The networks do not even sound like these are still active at the moment, which is a definite requirement for this essay. If your network is inactive, then it will not be of any use to Chevening and its community members.

You will need to write a new essay that shows how you developed your networking skills. You may keep the university network presentation, but it must evolve into a presentation of your professional network. At the moment, your network sounds more like it is civic oriented than profession related so you may want to think of a better sample for your professional network in action. By in action, that means you must narrate a situation within your profession that you would not have been able to perform the required tasks unless you had help from both a local or national network. Mention some seminars and programs that you attended that helped you build these networks, explain who the people who helped you are, how did their help result in something positive for you at work?

The essay will be effective only when it has supporting facts attached to it. At the moment that is lacking because you decided to write a personal statement rather than a networking essay. Read the sample networking essays here to get you started on the right track. This is not the essay that should have been written for a networking essay.