Graduate networking has changed its course over the last few years. Previously, face-to-face human interaction dominated the scene. Students usually crowded the campus space to cultivate professional relations. While in this fast-paced era, who has time to step out and socialise? People look for simpler solutions like a chat over a phone call or zoom meeting. But, clearly, this isn’t helping us either. So, eliminating the need to travel, graduate networking events are hosted online on a digital platform. A virtual platform offers ample opportunities for student career building and professional networking among fresh graduates, alumni, leading professionals and recruiters. For instance, it helps graduate students secure job leads and, likewise, helps recruiters connect with the perfect candidate for the job role.
How would you create a global networking experience for graduate and post-graduate students across the world? Virtual Days Platform has become the first choice of global organisations to host remarkable networking events. We have helped 100s of institutions and organisations from the UK, USA, Europe, and Asia organise virtual networking events. So if you wish to plan an impressionable graduate networking event, then you have landed at the right place. But before we begin preparing your event, here’s why it is important for you to host graduate networking events.
Why Host Graduate Networking Events?
We have all attended a career fair at some point in our lives. The event somewhat looked like a gathering where recruiters from prominent organisations displayed open positions at their respective booths. Basically, a graduate career fair is an open house for fresh graduates, industry professionals and employers. It offers students the opportunity to connect and network with professionals from their own fields. Sometimes the prominent alumni blessed the occasion with their wisdom and advice on career paths. It helps students see through the options and choose the best career path for themselves. Generally, these events encouraged students to invest in personal connections that would further help them land a perfect job. After all, networking events are meant to help graduates search for a job.
Have you heard the term ‘job leads?’ Today, job aspirants rely on trusted connections to help them land a job. It may be word of mouth, getting someone an interview call, or simply sharing links for job openings matching their expertise. These goodwill acts are binding professional relationships not just locally but globally. Wondering how? The global graduate networking events are hosted online to allow anyone and everyone to join in and build promising connections. Everything here is happening in real time. Undoubtedly, virtual networking events have revoked the spirit of professional networking.
Students greatly benefit from these connections, and this gives a hard push to their careers. Here’s how professional connections help individuals in the long run:
- Allows like-minded individuals to share their interests and develop relationships that go strong for a lifetime
- Individuals connect and discuss the possibilities of working together or launching a business on professional partnerships
- Allow employers to connect and filter potential candidates that might prove valuable for their organisation
- Equip students and graduates with the art of conversing with individuals operating in the field so as to put forth their ideas convincingly
- Allows students to inquire professionals about their journey, learn from their mistakes and follow their advice
- Facilitates global networking of employers with potential job seekers
So let’s explore how our platform is the best approach for virtual networking and graduate hiring.
Global Networking and Hiring with Virtual Days
At present, educational institutes are facing a hard time bringing students and employers to a single platform. Most are still stuck with the old practices of networking, which is less beneficial than it was in the past. People now prefer connecting with employers over a zoom meeting. That clearly, we have witnessed with most hiring being conducted virtually. So, at this point, event organisers have realised the importance of online networking and globalising the reach with a digital footprint. They now look for a solution provider platform that allows hosting alumni networking and graduate careers events.
With support from the right platform, organizations now set up virtual networking events globally. It is to ensure millennial networking, early careers talent attraction, and graduate recruitment drive. Consequently, graduate students easily network with remote hiring managers and explore career options. It is the most sustainable and profitable substitute for traditional physical events. The immersive virtual experience and online communication tools fully support the live networking of millennial graduates.
Here’s how Virtual Days helps you with hosting a virtual networking event.
Graduate Career Networking
Students have surely learnt the value of building personal connections if they wish to progress in their careers. Hence, they look for innovative solutions to network with peers residing at far ends of the world. Grabbing each opportunity, graduate students either continue expanding their connections and making the most out of them. Not just that, recruiters get a chance to connect with the finest of students. Thus, virtual career day proves beneficial for organisations, hiring managers, alumni, students and fresh graduates alike.
With globalising reach, career networking is made easier for students. They now can connect with anyone over the internet without needing to meet in person. Building strong connections with a lot of professionals helps gain leads for potential employees. In fact, fresh graduates are more inclined towards accepting new opportunities, whether on-site or remote. Nowadays, virtual conferences, meetings, open houses, alumni networking and other events prove best for millennials’ interactions. And, before we know it, graduates either receive a job offer or good recommendations for their careers. Through graduate networking, you can achieve the following mutual benefits.
- Global networking
- Valuable connections
- Talent acquisition
- Job hunting
- Candidate hiring
But always remember, once you have cultivated new connections, make sure you follow up with them consistently. One way to do this is by connecting with individuals over suitable social media platforms. However, you must make sure not to intrude on their space and breezily greet them. For instance, a follow-up email after the event or a formal message on LinkedIn would sound professional.
Graduate Recruitment Drive
Graduate students begin looking for career opportunities soon as they step out of the classroom. This is where the employers target potential talent and consider them as the missing block in their company. At this step, recruitment drives are run at the university campus, where reputed employers converse with the students and eye those who might prove a good fit for their organisation. Later, employers offer jobs to candidates that are most suitable to their skill set. The process was previously lengthy and time-consuming. But, with a virtual platform, graduate recruitment is much easier and more convenient.
Today, virtual platforms facilitate organisations with hosting networking events online that welcome a global audience. Generally, it encourages employers to maintain job boards and attract candidates to apply for open positions. For that matter, VRD leverages its platform for organisations to run their recruitment drives and secure fresh talent. Here’s how student networking and hiring can take place through our virtual events platform.
- Virtual job fair
- Online careers fair
- Alumni networking
- Virtual graduate careers
Generation Z Hiring
As per statistics, around 90% of graduate students look for job opportunities online. Students usually trust the google search engine, job boards, social media, careers online, social media job ads or digital events. However, we have witnessed that the younger generation is more likely to turn to digital means when it comes to hunting for jobs. In fact, most students prefer to go through the hiring process online instead of showing up at an office location. Recently, we have discovered that gen Z is inclined towards digital networking forums to begin their careers.
In reaction, we have observed hiring managers and recruiters turn to host virtual career fairs or graduate recruitment drives. These events welcome job seekers to explore the early career opportunities and roles most suitable for them. Here, recruiters host students from across the globe without the need to travel to a physical location. It is a far easier approach to networking compared to mainstream events hosted at the campus. That’s not all. Virtual hiring is the most sustainable solution in the current tech-savvy era. Here’s how VRD helps you with generation Z hiring:
- Helps create an immersive experience with 3D animation and visualisation
- Welcomes attendees aboard to a real-life replicated virtual environment
- Allows multiple recruiters to set up exhibitor booths at the fair
- Hiring managers get to post job boards at their respective booths
- Leverages tons of networking and engagement features for attendee networking
- Facilitates attendees with a good chance to learn about their new job
- Accommodates thousands of fresh graduates around the world
- Offers live reports on event progress and return on investments
- Career day event is accessible to anyone and everyone at the same time.
Virtual Networking Features
How does VRD facilitate organisations and institutions in graduate networking? Our virtual platform leverages tons of live networking and engagement features. Replicating the physical venue, the platform gathers international graduate students, professionals, alumni, recruiters and hiring managers in one place. Everyone onboard easily sifts through the platform, striking up conversations with each other. It is a safe space to introduce oneself, ignite discussions and simply indulge in professional networking.
Live Chat and Conferencing
Our virtual platform has embedded live chat options for private and group discussions. You can engage students in text chat, audio or video conferencing. It is the easiest way to connect with others onboard. Basically, the exhibitor booths crowding the virtual space have built-in chatbots to facilitate on-spot communications. Multiple exhibitor booths are installed at the platform, encouraging graduate candidates to try their luck with career opportunities. Once the individuals engage in live discussions, recruiters get to learn about the potential candidates, their skillsets, degrees and more.
Profile Matching Technology
VRD is a high-tech platform that has top-notch match-making technology. Once the recruiters categorise their job descriptions, the platform works its magic with automated matching algorithms. The system filters the candidate profiles that are best matched with the jobs on job boards. Recruiters receive filtered profiles and easily connect with potential candidates. Later, the top candidates are interviewed, screened and shortlisted for final hiring. This feature helps both graduates and hiring managers to connect and network with top talent from across the globe.
Meeting Scheduler
Interestingly, our virtual platform encourages attendees to book meeting slots with professionals onboard. This way, each one of them has a chance to interact and communicate with managers from reputed organisations. For instance, students book meetings with professionals in advance despite their busy schedules. Likewise, recruiters or professionals schedule private meetings with potential candidates to get to know them better or simply make job offers.
Roundtable Discussions
Roundtable gatherings spark group discussion at its best. With our roundtable discussion feature, attendees get a chance to put forth ideas and discuss career options. Usually, the roundtable is crowded by graduate students, one moderator and the group leader. It is a private space for sharing confidential data, resource materials and more. Moreover, attendees experience a real-life taste of face-to-face human interaction and engagement. So, why not engage graduate students in a roundtable discussion and watch them network with remote professionals all at once?
Webinar Hosting
Our feature-packed platform allows hosting live, recorded or on-demand webinar sessions. Basically, the webinar rooms display a 3D animated virtual environment that immerses the audience in live networking. Here, speakers host live sessions with an audience allowing them to participate in discussions. Mostly, webinar sessions come with live polling, Q&A sessions, quizzes and games. It is a great opportunity to encourage participation from attendees.
Gamification and Recreation
Some engaging activities are key to making your virtual networking event a success. Our platform extends its gamification feature for the hosts to engage attendees in healthy activities. For instance, you can go for a scavenger hunt, trivia games or leaderboards. On the other hand, you can create some recreational activities to tone down the boring environment of professional interactions. For instance, you can get the audience to smile for a selfie, set up reading sessions or ask everyone to share their embarrassing moments. These activities create a healthy and fun environment for the attendees. You could either schedule games as icebreakers or freshen them during tea breaks.
In Conclusion
Virtual networking events are considered ideal for connecting remote professionals, building graduate career networks, interacting with alumni, hunting top talent and cultivating professional connections. As discussed above, VRD presents its platform for event organisers around the world to hop online and create impeccable networking events. Be it a student career fair or alumni event; we are the complete solution provider platform for virtual networking.
Join Virtual Days today to get a free demo of our platform facilities and plan your next event with us.
Author | Mubashrah Rahim
