“What do you mean I need to have ‘connections’ in order to succeed?”

“I have to talk to strangers willingly?”

“What even is networking?”

These are a few of the valid concerns and questions that a highschooler may ask. The ‘real’ world outside of school life is vastly different. Staying in your comfort zone and relying on your two faithful friends is no longer an option. So, how can you, as a highschooler, start early and coax yourself out of your social shell in order to meet the right people?

Why the effort?

‘Where there is a will, there is a way’. That is how the saying goes. So, the first step to networking is establishing the reason; finding your reasons and intentions for approaching others. Your ‘will’. There are many proven, but generalised, benefits of networking. In their , Ravishankar talks about how networking makes you more aware of opportunities and the industry. Also, feedback, insights, and tips ‘can result in you learning, growing, and performing at a higher level’.

Networking in high school gives you an advantage.

In the current day and age, your connections and people you know have become more important than ever. The networking game is a game that we are not taught to play until we graduate. But, what if you start the game ahead of everyone else? Starting in high school will ensure you are fully aware of requirements, tips, and skills required for your target industry. It will also allow you to be aware of any changes in the industry that may affect your choice in entering it or what you may study. The future of work is uncertain, but networking gives you the information to predict and fool-proof your career.

While these reasons may motivate you as a highschooler to start networking, it is essential that you establish your personal reasons and goals you want to achieve while networking. Here are some questions you might want to ask yourself:

What is it that I want to gain when contacting this person?

What are my strongest qualities that I can showcase when networking?

What industry do I want to network in? What type of people?

These questions will help you identify your intentions, and will help remove the indecisiveness and confusion you might experience when first starting to network.

Practical tips for networking

After you determine your reasons and intentions, it is time to take action and start networking!

1. Building your brand

First impressions are important when it comes to networking. You need to be able to catch the attention of the person instantly. It all comes down to:

• How you introduce yourself
• Your tone
• What and how you ask your questions

Your introduction should be the summary of your best self.

When introducing yourself, start with your name, what your goal is, and what you hope to achieve from the networking you’re about to do. Here’s an example:

‘’Hello, my name is Sarah. Nice to meet you! I’m an aspiring software engineer. I’m hoping you could give me some advice on what skills I could equip myself with in order to enter the industry.’’

It’s short. It’s sweet. It establishes your intentions from the beginning.

Your tone should fit who you are speaking with.

Adopting different kinds of tones with different people can greatly impact their impression of you. An informal, friendly tone would work well with peers or close friends. It creates a sense of comfort and trust. A formal, intellectual tone is more favourable when talking to an industry expert. Impress them with technical vocabulary or your research of the industry.

The questions you ask should be meaningful.

It is helpful to list a few general questions to ask all those you meet, but be prepared to improvise. This is important as the last thing you want is to seem indecisive and under-prepared. Direct and confident questioning is what catches the listener’s attention. A good example of some good questioning is . While he takes on more of an interviewing role, his confidence and tone is something that can definitely be used when networking.

2. Be curious

When networking, being curious and asking questions is essential. Pick at every detail a person gives you and ask for elaboration. For example, if you asked an industry expert how they got into the industry they might say, “Oh, I interned at a company”. Now, as this answer does not provide a lot of insight, it is time to learn more! Try asking them some of the following follow-up questions:

What company did you intern at?

What were the requirements for the internship?

Who did you ask in order to find this internship?

You will notice that these follow up questions will generally utilise the simple words: who, what, when, where, and why. Asking questions that use all these words will ensure that you get detailed and accurate advice that you can easily apply.

Being curious creates a positive impression.

Asking questions bestows upon you the title of the ‘active listener’. The person who you are talking to then perceives you as someone who genuinely wants to learn and grow. This sincerity can be the difference between someone turning away and career-changing advice. However, it is important to note that there should be a balance between asking questions and allowing the person to speak. Your curiosity should be just enough to show interest while still not overwhelming who you’re talking to.

Cold messaging is the manifestation of your curiosity towards people online.

When it comes to leveraging curiosity while networking online, cold messaging is a great way to present your interests and questions to people you want to network with but have never had prior interaction with. This method is useful on platforms, such as LinkedIn, where you can conduct your research about a certain person, inquire, and investigate their areas of expertise. The cold messages you send should be representative of your curiosity and your willingness to connect with others.

Here are some guides on writing successful cold messages:

3. Start within your circle

The metaphorical circle is made up of all your existing friends, past friends, mentors, teachers, parents etc. This is your starting point.

Start simple. This is the easiest and most effective way to remove any previous fears or stigma you as a highschooler might have towards networking. It gives you the opportunity to get comfortable with the concept of initiating the conversation. Maybe try approaching your teacher in a field your interested in. Ask simple questions such as:

What do I require to enter this field? Do you have any advice on how to start out?

You might be surprised at how much information you may gain by just starting, even if it’s just with these basic questions.

Being in school doesn’t limit your ability to network. We often overlook the extensive network already at our hands as highschoolers. Your school offers you teachers with experience you can learn from, older students who understand your struggles, or even career counsellors who can direct you to people that may interest you. Have you ever thought of asking your parents, or your friend’s parents, about their careers? Do you now see the plethora of opportunities waiting to be taken advantage of?

4. Utilize digital platforms

With current technology, almost every school has some kind of digital platform that allows for communication between students and teachers. For example, at ĚÇĐÄAPP, we utilise Slack. This is a powerful tool to easily reach out to alumni, educators, and industry experts. It is understandable that some highschoolers may find talking to people in person intimidating.

That is okay.

Directly messaging a person online is way to overcome this. Also, it gives you the opportunity to conduct extensive research about a person, or reach out to people beyond those that you personally know using valuable tools such as LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is an amazing platform to showcase your work experience, and any career-related projects you have done. Publishing articles, organizing events related to your career, courses, and internships are all things that you as a high schooler can do to populate your account and kickstart your online network.

At SoH, we have great examples of current learners’ and alumni’s LinkedIn profiles. Here are a few examples:

Networking at SoH

At ĚÇĐÄAPP, networking is one of the many essential skills we as learners are taught about in order to be career ready. My first introduction to networking was in the school’s program where I learnt what it is, and the importance of establishing a network. It was where I was introduced to LinkedIn and its use, as well as the realisation that ĚÇĐÄAPP deliberately provides you with mentors, alumni, and industry experts that are perfect starting points for a learner’s networking journey. I was given the amazing opportunity of being in an environment open to questions and curiosity. I attended conferences that the school participated in and made many valuable connections. If you’re a current learner at SoH or an alumni, use this extensive network.

As a highschooler, it is essential to start early so that you can reap the benefits early. As you can see, networking is not something limited to workers in corporate jobs, or even newly graduated college students. You can do it too. All that is left is to take that leap and ask that first question!

The post Networking for highschoolers: how your friends play a key role in success first appeared on ĚÇĐÄAPP.

is “the modern age regarded as a time in which information has become a commodity that is quickly and widely disseminated and easily available especially through the use of computer technology”, disseminated meaning spread around.

Currently, we are in the Information age. Information is now literally at our fingertips. All that is required is a simple scroll or a press of a button. However, before this, information retrieval required effort. It required skill and time. A university student had to scour library shelves for a certain book, skim pages for useful information, ask experts and trusted advisors for information. Today, this absence of effort has had an unprecedented impact on human nature.

We are satisfied with the first result that comes up after we search something. We are willing to believe a random video from a person with no apparent credentials but lots of fame. We don’t investigate or question.

There are two key skills that have been heavily impacted by the information age: critical thinking and individual thought. So, what are they and why are they more important than ever?

What is critical thinking & individual thought?

Critical thinking, put simply, is the “”. Critical thinking requires us to pause and analyse the subject or idea objectively. It requires the disregard of personal biases and opinions. We find that we are easily swayed online by our biases and our feelings. For example, a pop artist’s fan might blindly believe information given by the artist because they perceive the artist as someone likeable or trustworthy. Here, the fan has not thought critically about the information.

Similarly, individual thought or independent thinking also requires you to master the art of thinking objectively. It refers to thoughts and ideas that an individual may have that are distinct and not reliant on other’s thoughts.

Why is there a need for these skills?

1. Technology & polarisation

Despite the obvious advantages of information access, such as increased education accessibility, there are also many disadvantages. The personalisation of social media pages and sites has led to people only being exposed to certain information and narratives. Quite ironic, right? Having so much access to information has ultimately led us to limit our exposure to it. Suddenly, our thoughts and opinions are not ours but a reflection of the information we are fed by our algorithms. As a result, we no longer carry an individual thought!

Despite this all happening through technology, the consequences are apparent in the real world. According to an article by , the overall share of Americans who express consistently conservative or consistently liberal opinions (strong political opinions) has doubled over the past two decades from 10% to 21%. Simply put, people have become more divided in their opinions and ideas. People of both parties are consistently fed information that appeases and validates their group’s ideas. A more relatable example is the polarisation seen in many online platforms. There is a clear, growing division between two sides of any situation at this point! Liking celebrities or not, whether AI is good or bad…and the list goes on.

This divide is a threat to society.

People have become more divided and less harmonious. It is common sense that a society in conflict is not a successful one, and neither a productive one. The ability to think for yourself and be critical of things you are exposed and told is the best way to resist the narrow-mindedness born from the divide in the internet, social media, and society.

2. Groupthink

You might be familiar with the idea of . It is human nature for us to agree and follow a certain idea in favour of our own ideas, even when our own thoughts may be objectively better or more realistic. We seek to all agree on the same decision rather than proposing reliable solutions.

Individual thought breaks this tendency. This pattern. Instead of being satisfied with the thoughts of others, you think individually and objectively.

3. Career & education

Aside from the social benefits of these skills, critical thinking and individual thought are also necessary in the professional world. These skills are being sought out even more from employers, especially in such an unpredictable and ever-changing world. , Rashmi Mehrotra mentions how:

“Following COVID-19, the new economy puts a high demand on a flexible workforce and employees’ capacity to analyze data from a variety of sources and come up with creative solutions. In a fast-changing company, a person with good critical thinking abilities will be appreciated.”

At ĚÇĐÄAPP, learners are encouraged to be ‘future-ready’ by diversifying in skills and planning their career journey to be future-focused. Critical thinking and individual thought are from the skills that are applicable in any industry and in any context. Whatever career or project you might want to pursue in the future will ultimately require these skills. For example, a lawyer must be able to critically and objectively think about evidence presented, just as an entrepreneur has to think independently in order to sell a unique product. These skills are universal and therefore, valuable.

Of course, these skills do extend farther than serving you in your career. We are always being exposed to new information and are engaging in life-long learning. Thinking objectively about the information we consume is important. Both critical thinking and individual thought are highly useful for us not only in the workplace, but also our ‘classrooms’.

How can you achieve individual thought & critical thinking?

1. Start with yourself

Oftentimes, the main obstacle to achieving a goal or skill is ourselves. Achieving individual thought and critical thinking is not a stranger to this obstacle. Preconceived ideas, biases, emotion and education are a few of the things that stop us from thinking objectively. Thinking for ourselves. Our ideas and values may unknowingly control and affect a large part of your daily decisions.

The classic example of this is school drama involving your friend. Picture this: your best friend has fought with someone else in your school. To everyone outside your friend group, all the evidence clearly points to the fact that your friend is the one that started it all. But, how could that be? Surely a friend that is always nice and sweet to you could do no wrong? Here, it is clear that a bias towards your friend has affected your judgment. You have not thought critically nor objectively.

So, how can we recognise these personal biases and values and eliminate them from our thinking and decision-making process?

1. Write it down. When presented with any problem or decision, write it down on paper. Split a page in half and list the arguments for or against a solution, or write down what you know about a problem and what you don’t.
2. Identify your reasons and evidence. Now, go through each point and label the evidence or reason for each statement. In the previous scenario that I described, had you written down the reasons for supporting your friend and reasons not to, you would have easily realised that the reason ’because they are my friend’ is entirely baseless and unreasonable. What evidence do you have that they treat everyone the same way as you? Here, you have identified a bias.
3. Ask yourself the right questions. It is helpful to write down some questions to help you confront your bias next time you encounter a problem or when you have to make a decision. Some questions you may ask yourself are:What are the reasons behind my opinions/judgments?Was there a person, object, or personal value that I immediately thought of?Do the personal biases I know of have anything to do with my decision?Your awareness of the role of your biases and ideas will definitely improve with practice, and regular reflections on your reactions and thoughts.

Now, let’s apply these steps to our previous scenario. You’re back to weighing your relationship with your friend against the judgment of many uninvolved witnesses. You might find it hard to overcome this sense of guilt when doubting your friend. It is here that our steps come in:

1. You write down all the judgments or points for or against your friend e.g. “I know my friend to be very nice” vs. “My classmates have said that she tends to insult others”.
2. Next, you try to give reasons for these arguments: what evidence is there for each claim, or is there any at all. This will differentiate whether the argument is a personal belief or an objective truth.
3. You write down some questions that you might ask yourself next time you confront a similar situation to do with your friend. These will serve as a reminder to keep thinking critically and objectively, even when your biases are involved.

2. Check your sources

Part of thinking critically is being able to identify valid and reliable resources. Critical thinking requires you to analyse unbiased evidence and a variety of sources. Being able to check the validity of your sources is an essential step to achieving individual thought and critical thinking. Following the following success criteria will guide you and ensure you are using the right sources.

1. Is the evidence or information from a reliable, known source? Your information should be coming from a source that is trusted and known. Some examples are articles of ivy league universities as sources for academic research, or a trusted adult as a source of advice for any social problems you may have. Both of these sources come from people with experience and knowledge in the specific field.
2. Is the source biased? A source may strive to manipulate evidence and language to favour one side of an argument or an idea. This is where your skills come in. You need to be able to view the information objectively without being swayed by any biases. Unfortunately, a lot of the information today is heavily biased, especially when it comes to news. A way to mitigate these biases, it is a good idea to get your information from a wide variety of sources i.e. different websites, people , blogs, videos and more.

3. Vary your sources

As mentioned in the previous point, varying your sources can help overcome many obstacles to achieving critical and individual thought. Here are some ways in which variety can help!

1. No more groupthink! Being exposed to the same type of people, online information sources, or environment can lead to you conforming to a single view or idea. Varying your information sources or the people you talk to ensures you are exposed to all the possible ideas and takes on different topics.
2. Stepping out of your comfort zone. Like many others, you might have a set of websites or specific people that you regularly rely on for information. After all, it is much easier to click once on a bookmarked tab than to conduct extensive research. Striving to vary your sources encourages you to emerge from your ‘research comfort zone’.

4. Be proactive

When reading information or listening to someone talk, most people are quite passive. They nod along to what a person might say without asking for reasons or context. Being passive is the opposite of what you want to do. Asking meaningful questions is a great way to delve deeper and analyse information. To further understand this, let’s look at an example!

Imagine if a friend tells you that ‘chemistry is a horrible subject!’, knowing that you have never done it. Now, there are two people you can choose to be in response to this statement; the passive person or the critical, individual thinker. The passive person would accept their friend’s statement. No questions, no objections. But, this is not who you want to be. You want to be proactive. You want to be critical. The critical thinker would pause and ask, ‘Why?’, and you should too. Delve into the reasons behind the statement. Go on to do your own research. Ask other people about their experience with the subject. You can now see that there is so much action involved in critical and individual thought. So, take that action and don’t be the passive person.

Ultimately, the information you have access to is never going to be a 100% correct or completely unbiased. Naturally, as humans we make mistakes when recounting events and information. We also have biases and beliefs that affect our judgment. Even the institutes and companies that provide us with information have agendas e.g. selling their product. These things may be out of your control, but your approach to them is not.

From now on, approach everything you encounter critically and objectively. Practice individual thought and be the critical thinker.

The post Achieving individual thought and critical thinking: a student’s guide first appeared on ĚÇĐÄAPP.