Running head: INDIVIDUAL NETWORKING ASSIGNMENT 1

Individual Networking Assignment

Human Resources Career Planning

HRM 4127

Algonquin College

Thursday, August 13, 2020

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Contents
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................3
Previous networking experience...........................................................................................................3
Identify relevant networking................................................................................................................4
Future networking.................................................................................................................................5
Event #1......................................................................................................................................................6
Summary of main highlights.................................................................................................................7
Event #2......................................................................................................................................................8
Summary of main highlights.................................................................................................................9
Summary of connections.........................................................................................................................10
Reflection.................................................................................................................................................12
Application of events to my future career..........................................................................................12
Lesson learned.....................................................................................................................................14
Future trends and plans......................................................................................................................15
References................................................................................................................................................16
List of Appendices...................................................................................................................................18
Appendix A..........................................................................................................................................18
Appendix B...........................................................................................................................................21
Appendix C..........................................................................................................................................23
Appendix D..........................................................................................................................................26

Introduction
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Networking is the exchange of information, contact or experience (mccormick, n.d.).

Cambridge dictionary defines networking as "the activity of meeting people who might be useful

to know, especially in your job " (Cambridge, n.d.). In any industry or career the networking help

people to make connections in a personal way and build useful relationships (mccormick, n.d.).

Previous networking experience

Regarding my previous experiences of face to face and virtual networking, I would like to

mention those I have done since my immigration to Canada in September 2019.

I have studied industrial engineering as my bachelor degree I also graduated from university

in 2012 with an MBA degree. Most of my work experience was related to quality control and

quality assurance back home. However, since I had a short-term experience in HR, I always had

this field somewhere back in my mind. When I moved to Canada as a skilled worker, I applied

for so many jobs in Indeed, Glassdoor, Job bank and LinkedIn from none of which I received a

reply. Then I thought maybe it would be a better idea to update my knowledge in Canada to find

better job opportunities. As one of my options was HR, I gathered information through statistic

websites as well as LinkedIn. I tried to find people in the filed of HR in Ottawa, then I messaged

and requested them to conduct a short meeting to ask questions about HR in Canada and mostly

in Ottawa. Fortunately, the HR manager of one organization accepted to have a face to face

meeting with me in her office. In the meeting I asked her HR market in Ottawa and how she likes

her field of work. I remember she told me the job market is good in Ottawa but she told me that

many organizations need The French language as one of their requirements, specifically for HR

positions. After that meeting I applied for the HR program in Algonquin college.
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Another experience I would like to mention is about the networking I have done in LinkedIn

to find HR professionals in Vancouver, as I am thinking to move there. Then I messaged them

about the job market of HR in Vancouver as well as what piece of advice they have for

developing in the field of HR. the screenshots of one of these networking events is available in

Appendix A.

Identify relevant networking

Students will analyze what networks they feel are important to remain connected with as their

careers progress when attending networking events, it is of utmost importance to know exactly

what is our purpose of joining the event (Schuetz, 2019). The purpose might be either looking for

a job or making professional connections (Schuetz, 2019).

Summary of main highlights

The main topic of the meeting was about the challenges of finding jobs in the COVID

situation for newly graduated students and the way the job market has changed. Atoosa thought

that in this situation volunteering has been very difficult because companies have to give

computers to volunteers to work remotely and privacy and confidentiality issues are a lot more

because of that which means that finding somewhere to volunteering is one of the challenges that

students may encounter so getting a job experience from volunteering is now harder (A. Adnani,
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2020). However, she believed that companies are still hiring, and applying and networking is the

key to find a job now (A. Adnani, 2020).

I also asked about the current situation of hiring an entry-level employee virtually and she

believes if the company needs to hire someone they will do so (A. Adnani, 2020). It is harder to

get to their place and meet personally (A. Adnani, 2020). However, with the help of a virtual

meeting, this is not a big deal (A. Adnani, 2020).

Considering networking, Atoosa mentioned LinkedIn as a good source of virtual networking

in which I can connect to people and ask them if there is any volunteer or entry-level job

opportunities (A. Adnani, 2020). She suggested I be very much more active on the LinkedIn.

Related to this part, I asked her whether it is polite to ask people a job in Canada and she replied

it is perfectly acceptable to tell people that I am a graduate student looking for a volunteer or

entry-level jobs (A. Adnani, 2020). She also mentioned that in some private companies, they

give an incentive to people that are working with them to refer to somebody (A. Adnani, 2020).

If the person they introduced goes through the recruitment process and be hired the company will

pay an incentive to the introducer (A. Adnani, 2020). This means that if these connections find

you as a competent applicant, they will suggest you to the employers (A. Adnani, 2020).

Another topic we discussed was about the opportunities that COVID brought to us and she

believed that the COVID has broken down the barriers of applying for jobs in other cities and it

is now easier to find a job in other cities with the opportunity virtual meetings have provided (A.

Adnani, 2020).

Finally, she told me that if I am interested in a particular company, I should visit their

website regularly to apply for new available positions (A. Adnani, 2020). She also suggested me
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visiting their websites for any open job opportunity and she also introduced me to a program

called ENW (empowering newcomer women) which is a program for empowering visible

minority newcomer women to succeed in the Canadian labour market (A. Adnani, 2020).

Event #2

Wendy Duross is a part-time professor at Algonquin College. She started her HR job in 1980

in RBC bank (LinkedIn, 2020). She has great experience in the field of HR as a human resources

manager, President of the Board of Directors, independent consultant, human resource

consultant, and college professor (LinkedIn, 2020).

I requested her to give some of her spare time to discuss the trend of HR considering Covid-

19 and her suggestions for my future career. the meetings were conducted through Zoom on the

11th of August at 10 AM. The communication emails as well as evidence of attendance can be

found in Appendix C.

As aforementioned, the main purpose of this meeting was to gain precise insight into the

current and future trends in the HR market and I believe Wendy, as a highly experienced and

knowledgeable person, would be the ideal one. In the meanwhile, I had visited her LinkedIn

profile and I had known that she worked in RBC for a long time, and then she became an

independent consultant. As I mentioned in the introduction my ultimate goal is to manage my

own business as an HR consultant. I am also interested in working as an HR in a financial

institute. Taking into account all these criteria I decided to ask Wendy to allocate me 15 minutes

of her time and fortunately, she accepted very soon.

Summary of main highlights

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Firstly, we discussed the effects of Covid-19 on the HR job market. In the viewpoint of

Wendy finding an entry-level job has become harder since most employees are working from

home and organizations prefer to hire those who can do their duties without supervision (Duross,

2020). Even companies with open offices such as retail stores prefer to hire someone familiar

with the HR concepts, mostly those who work in the field of OHS and Training and

Development (Duross, 2020).

Considering her idea of the future trend of the market she believes that although the available

jobs are limited, those jobs in fields of OHS and Training and development is and will continue

to be on the rise since organizations need to follow the latest information provided by health

agencies (Duross, 2020). Also, the staff needs to receive training on the latest Covid-19 protocols

and prevention measurements (Duross, 2020). She also believes that even after Covid-19 many

companies continue to work remotely (Duross, 2020). In this situation, companies look for

applicants who can work with online platforms and has experience in working virtually (Duross,

2020). It is therefore a good idea to strengthen our skills related to the virtual workplace such as

online meeting applications (Duross, 2020).

Regarding networking, Wendy also emphasizes LinkedIn as a very good source of

networking (Duross, 2020). In the COVID situation networking has become easier as people are

connecting virtually increasingly (Duross, 2020). However, it is important to note that if we want

to connect with someone, we should send them a personal message and ask them to add us to

their connections (Duross, 2020). We can then ask them a 15 minutes meeting to discuss more

our career goals and seek for their advice (Duross, 2020). Also, it is possible to ask them whether

they know someone who is looking for employees (Duross, 2020). She also mentioned that

HRPA is also another good place for networking (Duross, 2020).

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Finally, she told me that I can go through the charity village website to find volunteer job

opportunities (Duross, 2020). Then, when she understood I am a newcomer interested in

financial institutes, she told me that RBC has a diversity plan to support immigrants (Duross,

2020). She also told me that she will send me the contact information of one of her previous

students who working in the Bank Of Montreal (BMO) as an HR (Duross, 2020).

Summary of connections

introduced me to the ENW program provided by WorldSkills to new women immigrants as

well as Fatima Saadeddine, MBA, CHRP who is a Recruitment Specialist at WorldSkills

Employment Center. Wendy emailed me the information of her former student Chris Bos who is

a Human Resources Professional in BMO. The name and contact information of both individuals

is available in Appendix D.

I think both of the new connections will help me a lot in my career advancement shortly. the

ENW program is quite relevant to my situation and I believe I can take advantage of the

opportunity to find a proper job in HR. I also will connect as soon as possible with both people

to broaden my network. I appreciate the opportunity to connect with Fatima. As the background

of both of us is in the MBA, I believe we can share our opinion on how to grow in HR as an

MBA person. She also has the CHRP certificate and I am going to apply for the HRPA soon, so I

think she will have good tips for me on how to take the exam.

also a human resource professional working in the financial sector which is on top of my favorite

list. I am going to email her in the upcoming week to request a short meeting to discuss his idea

of working as an HR in a financial institute. I will also ask him about the skills required to get

hired in a bank.
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. Any opportunity to meet virtually is also highly appreciated to me. Whenever I need to make a

decision or get prepared for an interview I will ask them to provide me with their useful tips.

However, I do not like to be a nuisance, so I will make sure they have time or are interested in

staying connected with me. I will always show them my gratitude as well as how much our

relationship means to me. I also will post more HR relevant content such as the latest content or

my latest achievement as an HR on the LinkedIn. In this way, they remember me better and I

show my enthusiasm to progress in my field of work as well as my talents.

Reflection

The reflection of events on my future career planning, whether the evens were useful or not,

the lesson I learned from this networking assignment, as well as future trends, are discussed in

this part.

Application of events to my future career

Before coming to Canada, I had never experienced online networking before. I easily found

a job after my graduation in 2012 from an advertisement in a newspaper. Then my professional

network grew by face to face professional meetings from which I found my next jobs.

Nowadays, with the help of the Internet as well as Social media websites such as Facebook and

LinkedIn, the process of professional networking has changed enormously. This networking
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assignment and the connections I made have given me more confidence to network online. Now,

I feel that people in Canada are very helpful and if they think they can help you they will do so.

This conveys positive energy to me to attempt to grow my professional network in a meaningful

way.

I tend to believe that both events I participated in for this assignment have had their influence

on my future career plans in one way or another.

In the first meeting with Atoosa, I understood that although it is harder to find a volunteer job

in the Covid-19 situation, employers are yet hiring if they need someone to fill their vacant

position. Understanding this, I will more optimistically search for HR jobs in companies'

websites and network on social media websites, and I will not give up until I find a proper job.

Another application worth mentioning is that I learned there are special programs designed to

assist new immigrants. As a newcomer, I find using these kinds of programs significantly useful

as they are tailored to help someone like me. Another outcome of this even for me is that I get

familiar with the concept of networking better. I was kind of shy to ask people to meet with me

before this event, however now I know that most people not only do not get bothered if I request

them a meeting but also, they may even become happy to help others. Finally, Atoosa introduced

me to a professional HR person who studied MBA like me. I think this is a very significant

outcome of the even since I am growing my network with some people who have relevant career

experience.

Turning to the second meeting, one of the most important outcomes related to my future

career is that I realized in which fields of HR I should concentrate on the Covid-19 situation. The

next step for me would be gathering more data about OHS and Training and Development. I will

look for events and people related to these two HR functions as soon as possible. Additionally, I
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recognized how being able to do my tasks virtually is important for employers these days.

Therefore, another step would be improving my Internet or cloud-based skills to become more

competent in this scope. I also will elaborate more on my computer skills and virtual experiences

on my resume as well as my LinkedIn profile. One more reflection of this even in my future

career is that I can connect with people who have HR experience in my desired industry. In this

way, I will have a more clear idea of what to expect from working in a financial institute and

whether or not this industry is the one that I most like to work with. The final application of this

even on my plan is that I got to know that I can grow my professional network in HR association

websites such as HRPA. I will become a member of this association in the near future.

To sum up, I believe attending both meetings was a successful step to progress in my career

in the near future.

Lesson learned

1. I gained an understanding of the real meaning of professional networking with the

live experience.

2. One most important lesson I learned is how to target my networking. In this

assignment, in the first step, I wrote down my career goals and desired industries.

Then I found professionals whom I thought can assist me. I requested them a

virtual meeting and after their acceptance, I designed my questions to get the most

related responses. Surprisingly, they introduced me to people with very similar

experience to what is my future career aspiration. This thought me how a well-

thought networking plan can take me one step closer to my career plan.

3. I learned how to request people to meet with me virtually in a polite manner.

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4. I figured out the real value of professional networking. After these two meetings

now, I have access to more people in my field of study and this means my

network is growing.

5. I got to know places and websites I can grow my network are not limited to social

media. I can network in Human Resources Association events as well as event

planning websites.

Future trends and plans

Covid-19 has changed and will continue to change our world for better or worse. Although

finding a job has become more challenging, networking has never been easier before.

It seems getting a job in a different city or even a different country is easier and more

prevalent than before COVID. With social platforms such as LinkedIn, we are able to network

anytime and anywhere from the convenience of our laptop or cellphone (Balkhi, 2020). Now, we

can connect with local professionals as well as the biggest names in our industry, a chance we

would have never had before (Balkhi, 2020).

Having said that, making a meaningful relationship might be easier in a face to face meetings

rather than virtual ones. But we can make the connections virtually and be hopeful that in the

near future we can meet them in person.

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In my opinion, Covid-19 will have a long term impact on our professional world. Many

companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Shopify have already decided to work remotely forever,

and many more will take this strategy sooner or later (McLean, 2020). It is, therefore, important

for us to improve our virtual skills as much as possible. Based on my experience, Online

networking, online professional development as well as remote working will become a way of

life in the near future.

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