As a graduate you will be in competition with many others. This means that you need to think carefully about how you can stand out above the rest of your fellow students, for example how could you use Twitter to increase the “You Brand”?. Dress code and behaving in a certain manner are significant things to consider but prospective employers need to be able to contact you and have a reason to do so. Cue: networking business cards for students.
Networking business cards for students are similar to standard business cards in their purpose, namely to promote you as a potential connection or employee to those you meet. The major difference is that a networking business card also promote your “target career interest”. This is why you will stand out from the crowd using your own mini-resume.
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Size Matters
A standard business card format is 3.5 x 2 inches (though this varies from country to country) and the same goes for basic networking business cards for students. As you want to stand out from other prospects, try choosing a card that looks different but still fits in the wallet or holder. There are companies that provides sleek looking cards that can be personalized to a greater extent than many other card manufacturers.
Your Content Must Rock
Add you details to the card in the following way:
- Your Name
- Explanation of “Your Target Career Interest” and snapshot of your experience
- Home Street Address (this could be your permanent or school address)
- City, state, Post code
- Phone
- Blog (if you have one that includes posts about your target career interest)
The power in your card is ‘You Target Career Interest‘. Make sure you include a tag line that represents what you are looking for: ‘Seeking Relationship Marketing Position – [Your Name] has developed Social Media campaigns for [club, fraternity, local business]‘.
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If you decide to add a link to your Twitter or Facebook Page (not profile…) ensure these are suitable for prospective employers, that is, post content on these social media websites which reflects you as a brand, like excerpts from essays and examples of your target interest. If you are focusing on local businesses then it’s a good idea to find out as much as you can about them , social media tools can help you find out about their customers’ profiles as many companies use Twitter and Facebook to attract customers to their local businesses.
The Tools to create a Student Networking Business Card
Most word processors have templates for standard business cards and there are several on-line companies that provide these when you buy using their system e.g. Vista Print, Moo.com. Moo.com is particularly innovative as it gives you the possibility of producing cards which are individually unique, that is, each of your 100 cards have a different image or quote attached which means you can give specific cards to specific people. Again making sure you have greater presence than your fellow students.
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Dynamic QR Code Business Card
There will be a lot of people with Networking Business Cards so ensure that yours stand out above all else. For example, try adding a QR-Code to the card. This way you can add a direct link to your on-line profile where prospective employers can find out more about you. Use a QR-Code Generator to create your first QR-Code. By adding a QR-Code to your student Networking Business Card you will not only showcase that you are using cutting-edge technology but it will also help making you more memorable and if you use dynamic QR Codes then you can even update the content on the fly.
