Teaching Personal Branding and Networking at Temple University

Power networking, the relentless pursuit of mentorship, and job opportunities that grow from seeds. That’s what I came to share when David Thompson invited me to lead a Personal Branding class at Temple University.

I dispensed practical and applicable strategies, covering brand-building, networking, mentorship, and job success drivers. The feedback from students showed that the lessons landed exactly where they needed to.

Student Takeaways

Here’s what resonated most with the class:

• “I really appreciated how eager he is to help others, especially after having such a successful career!”
• “Make yourself valuable to others, and you will always be the person that someone else needs.”
• “The most memorable thing that he talked about was our student superpower, which is just that professionals want to help us and want nothing in return.”
• “He told us about the networking tree, and that each connection plants a seed that grows our network.”
• “All the networking tools and ideas he shared were just what I needed to learn at this point in my life.”

Practical Strategies

The students also picked up on and shared some of their favorite actionable tactics:

• “He shared his self selection bias rule to reach out to as many people and apply for as many positions as possible because if you reach out to 200, statistically you’ll hear back from enough to gain opportunities to get one job.”
• “I’ve always been reluctant to approach other people in a networking event and his conversation circle idea made so much sense.”
• “I will adopt his idea of showing my strengths, rather than telling people about them.”
• “Chris’ demonstration on how we can use Sales Navigator to get mentors and job opportunities was really valuable.”

These are the same strategies I use at events like networking karaoke and other creative gatherings where connections happen naturally.

Join the Network

The key lessons come down to this: make yourself valuable to others, embrace your student superpower (professionals genuinely want to help), and remember that each connection plants a seed that grows your network.

Whether it’s the self selection bias rule for outreach, the conversation circle idea for events, or using tools like Sales Navigator, these strategies work.

I’ve built my career on creating spaces where meaningful connections happen, from creative podcasting to unique event experiences. The networking tree keeps growing when you plant seeds consistently.