Networking for Business Spanish Students: Invite Former Students to Skype into the Class

by Ann Abbott

 Next time I teach this class, I will change the networking project.

For practice, I will have students look up Spanish-speaking professionals that interest them in LinkedIn and About.me, explain why there are interested in those people, and then practice "pitching" one of them to the class as someone to invite to talk to us via Skype.

For the real thing, I will have them actually pitch then invite the winners from a list of former students that I give them. (This semester students did this for practice one day.)

Here's the list of students I provided. My current students had to Google them and find out everything they could about them. Then they had to describe what they're doing now and one thing that they personally had in common with that person. For networking, you can't just come on strong; you need to find a connection, build on that, and then (maybe!) ask for a favor.

  • Hanna Solecka
  • Kelley Sheehan
  • Jessie Fauss
  • Benjamin Brodner
  • Jill Kruidenier
  • Mark Wehling
  • Amanda Peña
  • Julio Costa
  • Dave Mackinson
  • Sarah Leone
  • Tara Reifsteck
What can you find out about these former students? Would you like to network with them? Know someone whom should I add to the list?

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