Boost your career with networking expert
June 06, 2024
Author Maria Gallo, an expert on leveraging your alumni connections, shares networking knowledge in an upcoming webinar
To describe Maria Gallo as an alumni aficionado would be an understatement.
The author of the book The Alumni Way: Building Lifelong Value from Your University Investment, Gallo is a graduate of UVic (Dipl ’04), the University of Toronto, the University of Sheffield, the University of Galway and the University College Dublin.
On June 26, she’ll lead a webinar for current and future UVic alumni on networking strategies to help grow one’s career after graduation. We spoke to Gallo from across the pond, where she’s a Visiting Research Fellow at Trinity College Dublin, about her time at UVic, her favourite part of being an alumna and why the word “networking” sometimes gets a bad rap.
You’re a graduate of five post-secondary institutions. Is that fuelled by a love of education or a love of being an alum?
I’m a lifelong learner for sure… [But] I do stay active with all my alma maters, not just in university, but all kinds. I'm the president of the Alumni Association at the University of St. Michael’s College, which is a college of the University of Toronto. I’m also an alumni mentor at Sheffield. I’m involved as a guest lecturer at the University of Galway. I get involved in lots of different ways as an alum. So, it was lifelong learning that brought me there, and it’s the alumni that has me stay and get involved.
Has your experience as a graduate differed from school to school?
A lot of the time it stems from your student experience… It’s interesting how you pick different ways to get involved. In Sheffield, I valued having mentorship when I was a student, so mentoring students and new graduates is a way that I can give back because I found that was very valuable for me, especially as a young researcher. That also makes it interesting, because you can be different personas in different places. I love that.
What’s the most valuable part about being an alum?
The hyper network that you have at your disposal. We’re all connected. Because we have a connection, a shared formal experience to UVic, that’s pretty special. And everybody who reads the [UVic alumni] magazine or reads the newsletter or comes to the event in June, we all have a connection already. So, when people are thinking, ‘Hmm, I'd like to do this kind of specialist area of engineering, or I’d like to get involved in digital marketing… I’d like to do whatever…’ there is an alum somewhere that has done that type of work, and by reaching out you’ve already got something to break the ice. That’s a powerful thing.
You talk about university being a lifelong investment. Could you elaborate?
From the moment that you start university, you start to build that social capital...
You have these resources and people and knowledge that you are now connected to. That starts from the moment you’re on campus or you start your course and goes straight through your whole life…
The thing about an investment is that you have to actively want to invest in it. This isn’t just something where you sit back and you say, ‘OK world, OK alumni network, come to me.’ When you invest, you have to actively do something to invest in that experience.
So, when you become an alum, that might be your title for life, but in order to enact that investment, you need to go out and be active, get engaged, get involved, and that’s how you make this a serious investment. If you want to reap the dividends of your educational experience, then you need to be an active investor.
Why does the word “networking” have a negative connotation for some people?
One of the fundamental reasons is because a lot of people only network when they need something, [such as] looking for a job. Networking is an activity that you should be doing all the time. It should be something that you’re involved in. I believe in the five to one ratio. You should be giving five times to your network what you get back.
What's your favourite thing about being an alum?
It's connecting with people. I'm going back to my alumni reunion in a couple of weeks. I cannot wait to see all my old friends. But it’s also about making connections with new friends. That’s what alumni opens up to you.
Are there any plans to become an alum of any more schools?
No, but I do consider myself alum of a lot of other shared experiences. I was the alumni advisor at CERN in Switzerland. Now I’m part of their alumni network. It’s the best... Next year I will be celebrating my 30th reunion from my old high school. That's another alumni experience… Right now, there’s no more higher education, post-secondary ones that are on my radar. Unless you guys want to invite me back. So, you never know.
—Michael Kissinger, BEd ’94